Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹² Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His heritage.

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven, He beholds all the sons of men;

¹⁴ From His dwelling place He looks [intently] upon all the inhabitants of the earth—

¹⁵ He Who fashions the hearts of them all, Who considers all their doings.

¹⁶ No king is saved by the great size and power of his army; a mighty man is not delivered by [his] much strength.

¹⁷ A horse is devoid of value for victory; neither does he deliver any by his great power.

¹⁸ Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness,

¹⁹ To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.

²¹ For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted (relied on and been confident) in His holy name.

²² Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³ You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.

⁴ You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

⁵ You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,^(A)

⁶ But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷ You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

⁸ [Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God).

⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within your gates.

¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His purposes].

¹² Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you.

¹³ You shall not commit murder.

¹⁴ You shall not commit ^[a]adultery.^(B)

¹⁵ You shall not steal.^(C)

¹⁶ You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.^(D)

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.^(E)

¹⁸ Now all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain, and as [they] looked they trembled with fear and fell back and stood afar off.

¹⁹ And they said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die.

²⁰ And Moses said to the people, Fear not; for God has come to prove you, so that the [reverential] fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.

²¹ And the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

5 Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.

² Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

³ Blessed (happy, ^[a]to be envied, and ^[b]spiritually prosperous—^[c]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

⁴ Blessed and enviably happy [with a ^[d]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!^(A)

⁵ Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, ^[e]spiritually prosperous—^[f]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!^(B)

⁶ Blessed and fortunate and happy and ^[g]spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God ^[h]enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be ^[i]completely satisfied!^(C)

⁷ Blessed (happy, ^[j]to be envied, and ^[k]spiritually prosperous—^[l]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!

⁸ Blessed (happy, ^[m]enviably fortunate, and ^[n]spiritually prosperous—possessing the ^[o]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!^(D)

⁹ Blessed (enjoying ^[p]enviable happiness, ^[q]spiritually prosperous—^[r]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the makers and ^[s] maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God!

¹⁰ Blessed and happy and ^[t]enviably fortunate and ^[u]spiritually prosperous ^[v](in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

¹¹ Blessed (happy, ^[w]to be envied, and ^[x]spiritually prosperous—^[y]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account.

¹² Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you.^(E)