Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 40[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
40 I relied completely[b] on the Lord,
and he turned toward me
and heard my cry for help.
2 He lifted me out of the watery pit,[c]
out of the slimy mud.[d]
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing.[e]
3 He gave me reason to sing a new song,[f]
praising our God.[g]
May many see what God has done,
so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord.[h]
4 How blessed[i] is the one[j] who trusts in the Lord[k]
and does not seek help from[l] the proud or from liars.[m]
5 O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things;
you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us.[n]
No one can thwart you.[o]
I want to declare your deeds and talk about them,
but they are too numerous to recount.[p]
6 Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern.[q]
You make that quite clear to me.[r]
You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.
7 Then I say,
“Look, I come!
What is written in the scroll pertains to me.[s]
8 I want to do what pleases you,[t] my God.
Your law dominates my thoughts.”[u]
25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows[a] many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation,[b] all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation—she is unclean. 26 Any bed she lies on all the days of her discharge will be to her like the bed of her menstruation, any furniture she sits on will be unclean like the impurity of her menstruation, 27 and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.[c]
Purity Regulations for Female Bodily Discharges
28 “‘If[d] she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean. 29 Then on the eighth day she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons[e] and she must bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.[f] So the priest[g] is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.
Summary of Purification Regulations for Bodily Discharges
31 “‘Thus you[h] are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they[i] do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst.
Regulations for the Eating of Priestly Stipends
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the holy offerings[a] of the Israelites, which they consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name.[b] I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations,[c] if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings, which the Israelites consecrate[d] to the Lord, while he is impure,[e] that person must be cut off from before me.[f] I am the Lord. 4 No man[g] from the descendants of Aaron who is diseased or has a discharge[h] may eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. The one[i] who touches anything made unclean by contact with a dead person,[j] or with a man who has a seminal emission,[k] 5 or with a man who touches a swarming thing by which he becomes unclean,[l] or who touches a person[m] by which he becomes unclean, whatever that person’s impurity[n]— 6 the person who touches any of these[o] will be unclean until evening and must not eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he will be clean, and afterward he may eat from the holy offerings, because they are his food. 8 He must not eat an animal that has died of natural causes[p] or an animal torn by beasts and thus become unclean by it. I am the Lord. 9 They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it[q] and therefore die[r] because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
Unequal Partners
14 Do not become partners[a] with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar?[b] Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are[c] the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them[d] and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”[e] 17 Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing,[f] and I will welcome[g] you,[h] 18 and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,”[i] says the All-Powerful Lord.[j]
Self-Purification
7 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves[k] from everything that could defile the body[l] and the spirit, and thus accomplish[m] holiness out of reverence for God.[n] 2 Make room for us in your hearts;[o] we have wronged no one, we have ruined no one,[p] we have exploited no one.[q]
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