Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Protection, Guidance, and Pardon.

A Psalm of David.

⁵ “But if a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness, ⁶ if he does not ^(A)eat at the mountain shrines or ^(B)raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or ^(C)defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period— ⁷ and if a man does not oppress anyone, but ^(D)restores to the debtor his pledge, ^(E)does not commit robbery, but ^(F)gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, ⁸ and if he does not ^[a]lend money at ^(G)interest or take ^[b](H)interest, if he keeps his hand from injustice and ^(I)executes true justice between one person and another, ⁹ if he walks in ^(J)My statutes and keeps My ordinances so as to deal faithfully—^(K)he is righteous and will certainly ^(L)live,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁰ “However, he may father a violent son who sheds blood, and does any one of these things to a brother ¹¹ (though he himself did not do any of these things), that is, he even eats at the mountain shrines, and ^(M)defiles his neighbor’s wife, ¹² oppresses the ^(N)poor and needy, ^(O)commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but raises his eyes to the idols and ^(P)commits abomination, ^13 (Q)lends money at interest and takes ^[c]interest; will he live? He will not live! He has committed all these abominations, he shall certainly be put to death; his ^(R)blood will be on himself.

¹⁴ “Now behold, he has fathered a son who saw all his father’s sins which he committed, but he has ^(S)seen them and does not do likewise. ¹⁵ He does not eat at the mountain shrines or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; he has not defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹⁶ nor oppressed anyone, nor retained a pledge, nor committed robbery; instead, he ^(T)gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, ¹⁷ he keeps his hand from ^[d]the poor, does not take any kind of interest on loans, but executes My ordinances, and walks in My statutes; ^(U)he will not die for his father’s guilt, he will certainly live. ¹⁸ As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people, behold, he will die for his guilt.

³² And we ^(A)preach to you the good news of ^(B)the promise made to the fathers, ³³ that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by ^(C)raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘^(D)You are My Son; today I have fathered You.’ ³⁴ As for the fact that He ^(E)raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘^(F)I will give you the holy and faithful mercies of David.’ ³⁵ Therefore, He also says in another Psalm: ‘^(G)You will not ^[a]allow Your ^[b]Holy One to ^[c]undergo decay.’ ³⁶ For ^(H)David, after he had ^[d]served God’s ^(I)purpose in his own generation, ^(J)fell asleep, and was ^[e]buried among his fathers and ^[f]underwent decay; ³⁷ but He whom God ^(K)raised did not ^[g]undergo decay. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, ^[h]brothers, that ^(L)through ^[i]Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and ^[j]through Him ^(M)everyone who believes is ^[k]freed ^[l]from all things, from which you could not be ^[m]freed ^[n]through the Law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Therefore, see that the thing spoken of ^(N)in the Prophets does not come upon you: