Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 The Lord is loving and merciful,
slow to become angry and full of constant love.
9 He is good to everyone
and has compassion on all he made.
10 All your creatures, Lord, will praise you,
and all your people will give you thanks.
11 They will speak of the glory of your royal power
and tell of your might,
12 so that everyone will know your mighty deeds
and the glorious majesty of your kingdom.
13 Your rule is eternal,
and you are king forever.
The Lord is faithful to his promises;
he is merciful in all his acts.
14 He helps those who are in trouble;
he lifts those who have fallen.
The Lord Calls His People to Return to Him
1 (A)In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was emperor of Persia, the Lord gave this message to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo. 2 The Lord Almighty told Zechariah to say to the people, “I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors, 3 but now I say to you, ‘Return to me, and I will return to you. 4 Do not be like your ancestors. Long ago the prophets gave them my message, telling them not to live evil, sinful lives any longer. But they would not listen to me or obey me. 5 Your ancestors and those prophets are no longer alive. 6 Through my servants the prophets I gave your ancestors commands and warnings, but they disregarded them and suffered the consequences. Then they repented and acknowledged that I, the Lord Almighty, had punished them as they deserved and as I had determined to do.’”
An Illustration from Marriage
7 Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live. 2 A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him. 3 So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man. 4 That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God. 5 For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death. 6 Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.
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.