Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 So teach us to consider our mortality,[a]
so that we might live wisely.[b]
13 Turn back toward us, O Lord.
How long must this suffering last?[c]
Have pity on your servants.[d]
14 Satisfy us in the morning[e] with your loyal love.
Then we will shout for joy and be happy[f] all our days.
15 Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,
in proportion to the years we have experienced[g] trouble.
16 May your servants see your work.[h]
May their sons see your majesty.[i]
17 May our Sovereign God extend his favor to us.[j]
Make our endeavors successful.
Yes, make them successful.[k]
The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel’s Response
22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said.[a] Then he inscribed the words[b] on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me. 24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory,[c] and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us[d] that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living. 25 But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us? If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die! 26 Who is there from the entire human race[e] who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived? 27 You go near so that you can hear everything the Lord our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he[f] says to you; then we will pay attention and do it.” 28 When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he[g] said to me, “I have heard what these people have said to you—they have spoken well. 29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey[h] all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever. 30 Go and tell them, ‘Return to your tents!’ 31 But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments,[i] statutes, and ordinances that you are to teach them, so that they can carry them out in the land I am about to give them.”[j] 32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left! 33 Walk just as he[k] has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long[l] in the land you are going to possess.
God’s Promised Rest
4 Therefore we must be wary[a] that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in[b] with those who heard it in faith.[c] 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”[d] And yet God’s works[e] were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,”[f] 5 but to repeat the text cited earlier:[g] “They will never enter my rest!” 6 Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7 So God[h] again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David[i] after so long a time, as in the words quoted before,[j] “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks![k] Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God[l] would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s[m] rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
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