Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Honest People Are Blessed
112 Praise the Lord!
Happy is the person who fears the Lord.
He loves what the Lord commands.
2 His descendants will be powerful in the land.
The children of honest people will be blessed.
3 His house will be full of wealth and riches.
His goodness will continue forever.
4 A light shines in the dark for honest people.
It shines for those who are good and kind and merciful.
5 It is good to be kind and generous.
Whoever is fair in his business
6 will never be defeated.
A good person will be remembered from now on.
7 He won’t be afraid of bad news.
He is safe because he trusts the Lord.
8 That person is confident. He will not be afraid.
He will look down on his enemies.
9 He gives freely to the poor.
The things he does are right and will continue forever.
He will be given great honor.
10 The wicked will see this and become angry.
They will grind their teeth in anger and then disappear.
The wishes of the wicked will come to nothing.
24 A man might marry a woman. But he might decide she doesn’t please him. He has found something bad about her. He writes out divorce papers for her. He gives them to her and sends her away from his house. 2 After she leaves his house, she goes and marries another man. 3 But her second husband does not like her either. So he writes out divorce papers for her. He gives them to her and sends her away from his house. Or the second husband might die. 4 In either case, her first husband who divorced her must not marry her again. She has become unclean. The Lord would hate this. Don’t bring this sin into the land the Lord your God is giving you to own.
5 A man who has just married must not be sent to war. And he must not be given any other duty. He should be free to stay home for a year to make his new wife happy.
10 Now I give this command for the married people. (The command is not from me; it is from the Lord.) A wife should not leave her husband. 11 But if she does leave, she must not marry again. Or she should go back to her husband. Also the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 For all the others I say this (I am saying this, not the Lord): A brother in Christ might have a wife who is not a believer. If she will live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And a woman might have a husband who is not a believer. If he will live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 The husband who is not a believer is made holy through his believing wife. And the wife who is not a believer is made holy through her believing husband. If this were not true, then your children would not be clean. But now your children are holy.
15 But if the person who is not a believer decides to leave, let him leave. When this happens, the brother or sister in Christ is free. God called us[a] to a life of peace. 16 Wives, maybe you will save your husband; and husbands, maybe you will save your wife. You do not know now what will happen later.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.