Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 103
A Psalm of David.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquities,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 who satisfies your mouth with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord does righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
The Sabbath-Breaker Executed
32 While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 The ones who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly. 34 They put him in confinement because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35 The Lord said to Moses, “The man will surely die. All the assembly will stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 All the assembly brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments
37 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 38 Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout the generations to come, and they will put a ribbon of blue on the corners of their garments. 39 And it will be for you a tassel, and you will see it, and you will remember all the commandments of the Lord, and you will do them, and you will not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. 40 So shall you remember and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and your hearts give up.
4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed while striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons:
“My son, do not despise the discipline from the Lord,
nor grow weary when you are rebuked by Him;
6 for whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
and scourges every son whom He receives.”[a]
7 Endure discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? 8 If you are without discipline, of which everyone has partaken, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers, and they corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed disciplined us for a short time according to their own judgment, but He does so for our profit, that we may partake of His holiness. 11 Now no discipline seems to be joyful at the time, but grievous. Yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness in those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift up your tired hands, and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame go out of joint, but rather be healed.
Warning Against Rejecting God’s Grace
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, 15 watching diligently so that no one falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up to cause trouble, and many become defiled by it, 16 lest there be any sexually immoral or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.