Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
106 Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! How good you are! Your love for us continues on forever. 2 Who can ever list the glorious miracles of God? Who can ever praise him half enough?
3 Happiness comes to those who are fair to others and are always just and good.
4 Remember me too, O Lord, while you are blessing and saving your people. 5 Let me share in your chosen ones’ prosperity and rejoice in all their joys, and receive the glory you give to them.
6 Both we and our fathers have sinned so much.
13 Yet how quickly they forgot again! They wouldn’t wait for him to act 14 but demanded better food,[a] testing God’s patience to the breaking point. 15 So he gave them their demands but sent them leanness in their souls.[b] 16 They were envious of Moses, yes, and Aaron too, the man anointed[c] by God as his priest. 17 Because of this, the earth opened and swallowed Dathan, Abiram, and his friends; 18 and fire fell from heaven to consume these wicked men. 19-20 For they preferred a statue of an ox that eats grass to the glorious presence of God himself. 21-22 Thus they despised their Savior who had done such mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea. 23 So the Lord declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped into the breach between the people and their God and begged him to turn from his wrath and not destroy them.
47 O Lord God, save us! Regather us from the nations so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!
15 “But beware! You didn’t see the form of God that day as he spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb, 16-17 so do not defile yourselves by trying to make a statue of God—an idol in any form, whether of a man, woman, animal, bird, 18 a small animal that runs along the ground, or a fish. 19 And do not look up into the sky to worship the sun, moon, or stars. The Lord may permit other nations to get away with this, but not you. 20 The Lord has rescued you from prison—Egypt—to be his special people, his own inheritance; this is what you are today.
19 Praise the Lord if you are punished for doing right! 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong; but if you do right and suffer for it, and are patient beneath the blows, God is well pleased.
21 This suffering is all part of the work God has given you. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps: 22 He never sinned, never told a lie, 23 never answered back when insulted; when he suffered he did not threaten to get even; he left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. 24 He personally carried the load of our sins in his own body when he died on the cross so that we can be finished with sin and live a good life from now on. For his wounds have healed ours! 25 Like sheep you wandered away from God, but now you have returned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls who keeps you safe from all attacks.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.