Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶ “But they, our fathers, ^(A)acted arrogantly;
They ^[a](B)became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
¹⁷ They refused to listen,
And ^(C)did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You performed among them;
So they became stubborn and ^(D)appointed a leader to return to their slavery in ^[b]Egypt.
But You are a God ^(E)of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in ^[c]mercy;
And You did not abandon them.
¹⁸ Even when they ^(F)made for themselves
A calf of cast metal
And said, ‘This is your ^[d]god
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
^19 (G)You, in Your great compassion,
Did not abandon them in the wilderness;
^(H)The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
²⁰ Instead, ^(I)You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
²¹ Indeed, for ^(J)forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not lacking;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell up.
²² You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a ^[e]boundary.
^(K)They took possession of the land of Sihon ^[f]the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
²³ You made their sons as numerous as ^(L)the stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
^24 (M)So their sons entered and took possession of the land.
And ^(N)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And You handed them over to them, with their kings and the peoples of the land,
To do with them ^[g]as they desired.
^25 (O)They captured fortified cities and a ^[h](P)fertile land.
They took possession of ^(Q)houses full of every good thing,
Carved out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and ^(R)put on fat,
And ^(S)lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

²⁶ “^(T)But they became rebellious and revolted against You,
And ^(U)threw Your Law behind their backs
And ^(V)killed Your prophets who had ^(W)admonished them
In order to bring them back to You,
And ^(X)they committed great blasphemies.
²⁷ Therefore You ^(Y)handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them,
But when they cried out to You ^(Z)in the time of their distress,
You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion
You ^(AA)gave them ^[i]people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
²⁸ But ^(AB)as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You;
Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.
When they cried out again to You, You heard from heaven,
And ^(AC)many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
²⁹ And ^(AD)admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law.
Yet ^(AE)they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances,
^(AF)Which, if a person ^[j]follows them, then he will live by them.
And they ^[k](AG)turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
^30 (AH)However, You remained patient with them for many years,
And ^(AI)admonished them by ^(AJ)Your Spirit through Your prophets,
Yet they would not listen.
Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands.
³¹ Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You ^(AK)did not make an end of them or abandon them,
For You are ^(AL)a gracious and compassionate God.