Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Mortal Man Needs God’s Grace

²² These are the words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the thick cloud, and the gloom, with a loud voice, and he did not add anything. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ When you heard the voice from the middle of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me—all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

²⁴ Then you said, “See how the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the middle of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even though God has spoken to him. ²⁵ But now, why should we die, because this great fire will consume us? If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we will die. ²⁶ For who of all flesh has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of fire as we have and has lived? ²⁷ You go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says, and then you speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.”

²⁸ The Lord heard what you said when you spoke to me. So the Lord said to me, “I heard what these people said when they spoke to you. Everything that they spoke to you is good. ²⁹ If only this would be in their hearts—to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well for them and for their children continually. ³⁰ Go and say to them, ‘Go back to your tents.’ ³¹ As for you, stand here with me and I will speak to you all the commands and the statutes and the ordinances that you are to teach them and that they are to do in the land that I am giving them as a possession. ³² Tell them:^[a] ‘Be conscientious about doing just as the Lord your God commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³³ Walk in every way the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and it may be good for you and you may live long in the land that you will possess.’”

Some Will Enter God’s Rest

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be fearful that any one of you may be judged to have failed to reach it. ² In fact, we have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united in faith with those who did listen. ³ Indeed, we who believe are going to enter his rest.

It happened just as he vowed when he said:

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way:

⁵ And again in this statement:

⁶ Therefore, since it is still the case that some do enter this rest, and yet those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not enter because of disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, namely, “today,” when he later said through David, as quoted before:

⁸ For, if Joshua had given them rest, then God would not have spoken later about another day.

⁹ So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God rested from his work. ¹¹ Therefore, let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.