Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Beth

^21 (A)“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. ²² But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. ²³ You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴ “If you go into your neighbour's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. ²⁵ If you go into your neighbour's standing corn, ^(B)you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbour's standing corn.

Laws Concerning Divorce

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and ^(C)he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, ² and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, ³ and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, ⁴ then ^(D)her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

¹⁰ “When you make your neighbour a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹² And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. ^13 (A)You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and ^(B)bless you. And ^(C)it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not ^(D)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. ^15 (E)You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), ^(F)lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

The Sin of Partiality

2 My brothers,^{[a] (A)}show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(B)the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place”, ^(C)while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there”, or, “Sit down at my feet”, ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become ^(D)judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, ^(E)has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be ^(F)rich in faith and heirs of ^(G)the kingdom, ^(H)which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you ^(I)have dishonoured the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who ^(J)drag you ^(K)into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honourable ^(L)name by which you were called?

⁸ If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, ^(M)“You shall love your neighbour as yourself”, you are doing well. ⁹ But if you ^(N)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point ^(O)has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, ^(P)“Do not commit adultery”, also said, ^(Q)“Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under ^(R)the law of liberty. ¹³ For ^(S)judgement is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.