Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Understanding
33 Teach me, Lord, the meaning of your laws,
and I will obey them at all times.
34 Explain your law to me, and I will obey it;
I will keep it with all my heart.
35 Keep me obedient to your commandments,
because in them I find happiness.
36 Give me the desire to obey your laws
rather than to get rich.
37 Keep me from paying attention to what is worthless;
be good to me, as you have promised.
38 Keep your promise to me, your servant—
the promise you make to those who obey you.
39 Save me from the insults I fear;
how wonderful are your judgments!
40 I want to obey your commands;
give me new life, for you are righteous.
21 (A)“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner; remember that you were foreigners in Egypt. 22 Do not mistreat any widow or orphan. 23 If you do, I, the Lord, will answer them when they cry out to me for help, 24 and I will become angry and kill you in war. Your wives will become widows, and your children will be fatherless.
25 (B)“If you lend money to any of my people who are poor, do not act like a moneylender and require him to pay interest. 26 (C)If you take someone's cloak as a pledge that he will pay you, you must give it back to him before the sun sets, 27 because it is the only covering he has to keep him warm. What else can he sleep in? When he cries out to me for help, I will answer him because I am merciful.
23 (A)“We are allowed to do anything,” so they say. That is true, but not everything is good. “We are allowed to do anything”—but not everything is helpful. 24 None of you should be looking out for your own interests, but for the interests of others.
25 You are free to eat anything sold in the meat market, without asking any questions because of your conscience. 26 (B)For, as the scripture says, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you decide to go, eat what is set before you, without asking any questions because of your conscience. 28 But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat that food, for the sake of the one who told you and for conscience' sake— 29 that is, not your own conscience, but the other person's conscience.
“Well, then,” someone asks, “why should my freedom to act be limited by another person's conscience? 30 If I thank God for my food, why should anyone criticize me about food for which I give thanks?”
31 Well, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for God's glory. 32 Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God. 33 Just do as I do; I try to please everyone in all that I do, not thinking of my own good, but of the good of all, so that they might be saved.
11 (C)Imitate me, then, just as I imitate Christ.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.