Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK 1
The Righteous and the Wicked Contrasted.
1 Blessed is the person who (A)does not walk in the (B)counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the [a](C)path of sinners,
Nor (D)sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his (E)delight is (F)in the Law of the Lord,
And on His Law he meditates (G)day and (H)night.
3 He will be like (I)a tree planted by [b]streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season,
And its [c]leaf does not wither;
And [d]in whatever he does, (J)he prospers.
2 [a]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; 3 (A)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet to this day (B)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5 And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; (C)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 (D)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 (E)When you [b]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we [c]defeated them; 8 and we took their land and (F)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 (G)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, (H)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.
10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from (I)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that (J)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 “Now it is not with you alone that I am (K)making this covenant and this oath, 15 (L)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today 16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of (M)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); 18 (N)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you (O)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19 And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order [d]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and (P)His wrath will [e](Q)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will (R)wipe out his name from under heaven.
34 “(A)Do not think that I came to [a]bring peace on the earth; I did not come to [b]bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to (B)turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and (C)a person’s enemies will be the members of his household.
37 “(D)The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And (E)the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 (F)The one who has found his [c]life will lose it, and the one who has lost his [d]life on My account will find it.
The Reward for Service
40 “(G)The one who [e]receives you [f]receives Me, and (H)the one who [g]receives Me [h]receives Him who sent Me. 41 (I)The one who [i]receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and the one who [j]receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person shall receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And (J)whoever gives one of these [k]little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.