Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 (A)So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord!
How long?
And (B)have compassion on Your servants.
14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
(C)That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
16 Let (D)Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
17 (E)And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And (F)establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And (A)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
The People Afraid of God’s Presence(B)
23 (C)“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 24 And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and (D)we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he (E)still lives. 25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; (F)if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. 26 (G)For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and (H)tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28 “Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. (I)They are right in all that they have spoken. 29 (J)Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and (K)always keep all My commandments, (L)that it might be well with them and with their children forever! 30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But as for you, stand here by Me, (M)and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’
32 “Therefore you shall [a]be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; (N)you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in (O)all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live (P)and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
The Promise of Rest
4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, (A)let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, [a]not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
(B)“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: (C)“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: (D)“They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
(E)“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if [b]Joshua had (F)given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
The Word Discovers Our Condition
11 (G)Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.