Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Mem

The People of Israel Confess Their Sin

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(A)this month the people of Israel were assembled ^(B)with fasting ^(C)and in sackcloth, ^(D)and with earth on their heads. ^2 (E)And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ^3 (F)And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshipped the Lord their God. ⁴ On the stairs of the Levites stood ^(G)Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. ^(H)Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

^{6 [a] (I)}“You are the Lord, you alone. ^(J)You have made heaven, ^(K)the heaven of heavens, ^(L)with all their host, ^(M)the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; ^(N)and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. ⁷ You are the Lord, the God ^(O)who chose Abram and brought him out of ^(P)Ur of the Chaldeans ^(Q)and gave him the name Abraham. ^8 (R)You found his heart faithful before you, ^(S)and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring ^(T)the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. ^(U)And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

^9 (V)“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard ^(W)their cry at the Red Sea, ^10 (X)and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that ^(Y)they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And ^(Z)you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. ^11 (AA)And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, ^(AB)as a stone into mighty waters. ¹² By ^(AC)a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. ^13 (AD)You came down on Mount Sinai ^(AE)and spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^(AF)right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ^14 (AG)and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. ^15 (AH)You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^(AI)brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^(AJ)told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

^21 (A)submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

^22 (B)Wives, ^(C)submit to your own husbands, ^(D)as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(E)the husband is the head of the wife even as ^(F)Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is ^(G)himself its Saviour. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit ^(H)in everything to their husbands.

^25 (I)Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and ^(J)gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by ^(K)the washing of water ^(L)with the word, ²⁷ so ^(M)that he might present the church to himself in splendour, ^(N)without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28} In the same way ^(O)husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because ^(P)we are members of his body. ^31 (Q)“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(R)the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, ^(S)let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(T)respects her husband.

Children and Parents

6 ^(U)Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ^2 (V)“Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” ⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, ^(W)but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Slaves and Masters

^5 (X)Slaves,^[b] obey your earthly masters^[c] with fear and trembling, ^(Y)with a sincere heart, ^(Z)as you would Christ, ⁶ not by the way of eye-service, as ^(AA)people-pleasers, but as servants^[d] of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷ rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, ^8 (AB)knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, ^(AC)whether he is a slave or free. ⁹ Masters, do the same to them, ^(AD)and stop your threatening, knowing that ^(AE)he who is both their Master^[e] and yours is in heaven, and that ^(AF)there is no partiality with him.