Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 The Lord is (A)gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is (B)good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
10 (C)All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your (D)saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to (E)make known to the children of man your[a] (F)mighty deeds,
and (G)the glorious splendour of your kingdom.
13 (H)Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
[The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.][b]
14 The Lord (I)upholds all who are falling
and (J)raises up all who are bowed down.
A Call to Return to the Lord
1 In the eighth month, (A)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet (B)Zechariah, the son of (C)Berechiah, son of (D)Iddo, saying, 2 (E)“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: (F)Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and (G)I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 (H)Do not be like your fathers, (I)to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, (J)Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But (K)they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And (L)the prophets, do they live for ever? 6 (M)But my words and my statutes, which I commanded (N)my servants the prophets, did they not (O)overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, (P)As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for (Q)our ways and (R)deeds, so has he dealt with us.”
Released from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brothers[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For (A)a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.[b] 3 Accordingly, (B)she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers, (C)you also have died (D)to the law (E)through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, (F)in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work (G)in our members (H)to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the (I)new way of (J)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.[c]
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.