Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

(By David.)

A Prayer for Guidance and Help

Moral and Religious Laws

19 The Lord told Moses ^2 (A) to say to the community of Israel:

I am the Lord your God. I am holy, and you must be holy too! ^3-4 (B) Respect your father and your mother, honor the Sabbath, and don't make idols or images. I am the Lord your God.

³² I command you to show respect for older people and to obey me with fear and trembling.

^33 (A) Don't mistreat any foreigners who live in your land. ³⁴ Instead, treat them as well as you treat your own people and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

^35-36 (B) Use honest scales and don't cheat when you weigh or measure anything.

I am the Lord your God. I rescued you from Egypt, ³⁷ and I command you to obey my laws.

¹⁶ God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. ¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! ¹⁸ No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.

¹⁹ The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. ²⁰ People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. ²¹ But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.