Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 [a]The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.[b]
9 The Lord is good to all,
showing compassion to every creature.
10 All your creatures praise you,[c] O Lord,
and all your saints bless you.
11 They relate the glory of your kingdom
and tell of all your power.[d]
12 They make known to all people your mighty deeds
and the glorious majesty of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom will last forever,
and your dominion will endure throughout all generations.[e]
[f]The Lord is faithful in all his promises
and kind[g] in all his deeds.
14 The Lord supports all those who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.[h]
Rebuilding a People for God[a]
Chapter 1
Be Converted to Me.[b] 1 In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, this word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:
2 The Lord was greatly angered at your ancestors. 3 Therefore, say to the people: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets of that time proclaimed. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Forsake your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they refused to listen or to pay attention to me, says the Lord.
5 Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 As for my words and my decrees which I entrusted to my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? As a result, they repented and said, “The Lord of hosts has treated us as he had determined to do, according to what our lives and our deeds deserve.”
Christ Has Freed Us from the Law[a]
Chapter 7
The Time of the Law Has Passed.[b] 1 Are you aware, brethren (for I am certain that you are people who have knowledge of the Law), that a person is bound by the Law only during that person’s lifetime? 2 For example, a woman is bound by the Law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from her husband in regard to the Law. 3 Therefore, she will be judged to be an adulteress if she has relations with another man while her husband is still alive. However, if her husband dies, she is free from that provision of the Law, and if she then has relations with another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 In the same way, brethren, through the body of Christ you have died to the Law and have been set free to belong to another, that is, to the one who rose from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions were aroused by the Law and at work in our bodies, and they bore fruit for death. 6 But now, we are released from the Law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit in contrast to the old written code.[c]
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