Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger, and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and His compassion is over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
and Your godly ones shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
and talk of Your power,
12 to make known to people His mighty acts,
and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles
6 Up, up, flee from the northern land, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.
7 Deliver yourself, O Zion, you who live with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus says the Lord of Hosts: He has sent Me after glory to the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. 9 For I will swing My hand against them, and they will become plunder for their servants. Then you will know well that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for I am coming and will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. 11 And many nations will join themselves with the Lord in that day, and they will be My people. And I will reside in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. 12 And the Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and He will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be still, all flesh before the Lord, for He is stirred from His holy habitation.
The Problem of Indwelling Sin
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! But I did not know sin, except through the law. I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a] 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9 I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was intended for life, proved to be death in me. 11 For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and killed me through it. 12 So then, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Therefore has that which is good become death unto me? God forbid! Rather, sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was working death in me through that which is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I do not practice what I will to do, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 But if I practice what I do not will to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing, for the will to do what is right is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good I desire to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who does it, but sin that lives in me.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.