Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 92[a]
Praise of God’s Just Rule
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.[b]
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name,[c] O Most High,
3 to proclaim your kindness[d] in the morning
and your faithfulness during the night,
4 with the ten-stringed harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
5 [e]Your deeds, O Lord, have caused me to exult;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy:
6 How great are your deeds, O Lord!
How profound are your thoughts!
7 [f]A senseless person cannot grasp this;
a fool[g] is unable to comprehend it.
8 Even though the wicked may sprout like grass
and all evildoers may prosper,
they are doomed to eternal destruction,[h]
9 whereas you, O Lord, are exalted forever.[i]
10 Surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish,
and all evildoers will be scattered.
11 [j]You have given me the strength of a wild bull
and anointed me with fresh oil.
12 My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
13 [k]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
14 They are planted in the house of the Lord[l]
and will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
and they will remain fresh and green,
16 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, in whom no injustice can be found.”
Chapter 28
Blessings for Those Who Obey. 1 If you heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and you carefully observe all of the commandments that I have given you today, then the Lord, your God, will lift you up above all the other nations upon the earth. 2 All of these blessings shall come upon you and accompany you if you obey the voice of the Lord, your God. 3 You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the countryside. 4 Your offspring shall be blessed, along with your crops, and the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. 6 You shall be blessed when you enter and when you leave. 7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated by you. They shall come at you from one direction, but they shall flee away from you in seven different directions.[a] 8 The Lord will send a blessing upon your barns and everything that you undertake. The Lord, your God, will bless you in the land that he has given you.
9 The Lord will establish you as his own holy people, as he solemnly promised you, if you observe the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways. 10 Then all of the people upon the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you great prosperity,[b] including your offspring, the young of your livestock, and the crops that come from the ground, in the land that the Lord promised your ancestors to give to you. 12 The Lord will open up the storehouse of his bounty in the heavens for you, giving rain to the land in its proper season and blessing all of your undertakings. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail, on top and not on the bottom, if you heed the commandments of the Lord, your God, that I give you today and you observe them. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the things that I command you today, neither to the right nor to the left, seeking after other gods to serve them.
17 The Newness of the Christian Life. Therefore, I declare and attest in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and their hardness of heart. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have abandoned themselves to vice, committing every kind of impurity in growing excess.
20 That is not how you learned Christ. 21 Clearly, you were told about him and were taught what the truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to cast aside the old self of your former way of life that had been corrupted by its captivating desires. 23 You are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self created in God’s image, in the way of uprightness and holiness that belong to the truth.
25 A Life Based on Love. Therefore, cease your lying and speak the truth to each other, for we are all members of one another. 26 If you are angry, do not sin. Do not let the sun set on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opening. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must no longer do so; rather, let him labor, performing some honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with those in need.
29 Let no foul word ever pass your lips. Say only what is useful for edification, so that your words may benefit your listeners. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for the day of redemption. 31 Remove all forms of bitterness and wrath and anger and shouting and slander, as well as all malice from your lives. 32 Rather, be kind to one another and compassionate, and forgive one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
Chapter 5
1 Hence, be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a sacrificial offering whose fragrance is pleasing to God.
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