Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, Who Forgives All Your Sins
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By David.
Invitation to Praise
1 Bless the Lord,[a] O my soul.
All that is within me, bless his holy name.
Praise for Personal Blessings
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who pardons all your guilt,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
5 who satisfies your life[b] with goodness,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Praise for Blessings Through Moses
6 The Lord performs righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel.
God’s Great Mercy
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
The Sabbath-Breaker Put to Death
32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 The people who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. 34 They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done with him.
35 The Lord said to Moses, “The man must certainly be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside of the camp.” 36 The entire community brought him outside of the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments
37 The Lord told Moses 38 to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:
Throughout their generations to come, they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments. They are to put a blue cord on the tassels on each corner. 39 These tassels are to be there for you so that when you see them, you will remember all of the Lord’s commands, and you will carry them out. Then you will not prostitute yourselves by chasing after your own heart and your own eyes. 40 This way you will remember and carry out all of my commands and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.
3 Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.
The Lord’s Discipline
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood in your fight against sin. 5 Have you also forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons?
My son, do not regard the Lord’s discipline lightly,
and do not become weary of his correction.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves,
and he corrects every son he accepts.[a]
7 Endure suffering as discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. Is there a son whose father does not discipline him? 8 If you are not disciplined (and all of us have received it), then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 In addition, we have earthly fathers[b] who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not submit even more to the Father of the spirits[c] and live? 10 They disciplined us for a little while, according to what seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may have a share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant when it is happening, but painful, yet later it yields a peaceful harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore strengthen your weak hands and feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed.
14 Pursue peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15 Take care so that no one falls short of God’s grace and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and so defile many. 16 Take care that no one becomes sexually immoral or worldly, like Esau, who gave away his right as firstborn for a single meal. 17 Certainly you know that afterward he was rejected when he wanted to inherit the blessing, for he found no chance to change his father’s mind, even though he sought it with tears.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.