Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Deliverances.
106 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!
Oh (A)give thanks to the Lord, for He (B)is good;
For (C)His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2 Who can speak of the (D)mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can show forth all His praise?
3 How blessed are those who keep [c]justice,
[d]Who (E)practice righteousness at all times!
13 They quickly (A)forgot His works;
They (B)did not wait for His counsel,
14 But (C)craved intensely in the wilderness,
And [a](D)tempted God in the desert.
15 So He (E)gave them their request,
But (F)sent a [b]wasting disease among them.
16 When they became (G)envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
17 The (H)earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And engulfed the [c]company of Abiram.
18 And a (I)fire blazed up in their [d]company;
The flame consumed the wicked.
19 They (J)made a calf in Horeb
And worshiped a molten image.
20 Thus they (K)exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They (L)forgot God their Savior,
Who had done (M)great things in Egypt,
22 [e](N)Wonders in the land of Ham
And awesome things by the [f]Red Sea.
23 Therefore (O)He said that He would destroy them,
Had not (P)Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
21 “(A)Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 For (B)I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this (C)good land. 23 So watch yourselves, (D)that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and (E)make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. 24 For the Lord your God is a (F)consuming fire, a (G)jealous God.
25 “When you [a]become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and (H)act corruptly, and (I)make an [b]idol in the form of anything, and (J)do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger, 26 I (K)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will (L)surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not [c]live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 The Lord will (M)scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. 28 (N)There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, (O)wood and stone, (P)which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 (Q)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him (R)with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you (S)are in distress and all these things have come upon you, (T)in the latter days (U)you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a (V)compassionate God; (W)He will not fail you nor (X)destroy you nor (Y)forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
32 “Indeed, (Z)ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the (AA)day that God created [d]man on the earth, and inquire (AB)from one end of the heavens to the other. (AC)Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? 33 (AD)Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? 34 (AE)Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation (AF)by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and (AG)by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, [e]as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; (AH)there is no other besides Him. 36 (AI)Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice (AJ)to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 37 [f](AK)Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose [g]their descendants after them. And He [h](AL)personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, 38 driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and (AM)to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. 39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that (AN)the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. 40 (AO)So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am [i]giving you today, that (AP)it may go well with you and with your children after you, and (AQ)that you may [j]live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your (A)tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘(B)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘(C)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to [a]be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is (D)Corban (that is to say, [b]given to God),’ 12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thus invalidating the word of God by your (E)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
The Heart of Man
14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16 [[c]If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
17 When he had left the crowd and entered (F)the house, (G)His disciples questioned Him about the parable. 18 And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and [d]is eliminated?” (Thus He declared (H)all foods (I)clean.) 20 And He was saying, “(J)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, [e]fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, [f](K)envy, slander, [g]pride and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.