Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
מ Mem
97 How I love your instruction!(A)
It is my meditation all day long.(B)
98 Your command makes me wiser than my enemies,(C)
for it is always with me.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers
because your decrees are my meditation.(D)
100 I understand more than the elders(E)
because I obey your precepts.(F)
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path(G)
to follow your word.
102 I have not turned from your judgments,(H)
for you yourself have instructed me.
103 How sweet your word is(I) to my taste—
sweeter than honey in my mouth.
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;(J)
therefore I hate every false way.(K)
Jethro’s Visit
18 Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian,(A) heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt.
2 Now Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah,(B) Moses’s wife, after he had sent her back, 3 along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom[a] (because Moses had said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land”)(C) 4 and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword”).[b]
5 Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, along with Moses’s wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.(D) 6 He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”
7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down,(E) and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been[c] and went into the tent. 8 Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the Lord rescued them.(F)
9 Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians. 10 “Blessed be the Lord,”(G) Jethro exclaimed, “who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh. He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt! 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”[d](H)
12 Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’s father-in-law in God’s presence.
27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ(A) in you, the hope(B) of glory. 28 We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 I labor for this, striving(C) with his strength that works powerfully in me.(D)
2 For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling(E) for you, for those in Laodicea,(F) and for all who have not seen me in person. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged(G) and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery(H)—Christ.[a](I) 3 In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom(J) and knowledge.(K)
Christ versus the Colossian Heresy
4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. 5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,(L) rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.
6 So then, just as you have received(M) Christ Jesus as Lord,(N) continue to walk in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him(O) and established in the faith, just as you were taught,(P) and overflowing with gratitude.
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