Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Joy in Forgiveness of Israel’s Sins
106 Praise[a] the Lord!
(A)Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Who can [b]utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can declare all His praise?
3 Blessed are those who keep justice,
And [c]he who (B)does righteousness at (C)all times!
4 (D)Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
5 That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with [d]Your inheritance.
6 (E)We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity,
We have done wickedly.
13 (A)They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
14 (B)But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
15 (C)And He gave them their request,
But (D)sent leanness into their soul.
16 When (E)they envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord,
17 (F)The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
And covered the faction of Abiram.
18 (G)A fire was kindled in their company;
The flame burned up the wicked.
19 (H)They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped the molded image.
20 Thus (I)they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
Awesome things by the Red Sea.
23 (J)Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one (K)stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
Beware of Idolatry
15 (A)“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no (B)form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 lest you (C)act corruptly and (D)make for yourselves a carved image in the [a]form of any figure: (E)the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. 19 And take heed, lest you (F)lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, (G)all the host of heaven, you feel driven to (H)worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has [b]given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. 20 But the Lord has taken you and (I)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be (J)His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.
19 For this is (A)commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For (B)what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For (C)to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for [a]us, (D)leaving [b]us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 “Who(E) committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
23 (F)who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but (G)committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 (H)who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, (I)that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—(J)by whose [c]stripes you were healed. 25 For (K)you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned (L)to the Shepherd and [d]Overseer of your souls.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.