Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Book I
Psalms 1–41
1 Blessed is the person who obeys the law of the Lord.
They don’t follow the advice of evil people.
They don’t make a habit of doing what sinners do.
They don’t join those who make fun of the Lord and his law.
2 Instead, the law of the Lord gives them joy.
They think about his law day and night.
3 That kind of person is like a tree that is planted near a stream of water.
It always bears its fruit at the right time.
Its leaves don’t dry up.
Everything godly people do turns out well.
4 Sinful people are not like that at all.
They are like straw
that the wind blows away.
5 When the Lord judges them, their life will come to an end.
Sinners won’t have any place among those who are godly.
6 The Lord watches over the lives of godly people.
But the lives of sinful people will lead to their death.
Sins Against Others Must Be Paid For
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Speak to the Israelites. Say to them, ‘Suppose a man or woman does something wrong to someone else. Then that person is not being faithful to the Lord. People like that are guilty. 7 They must admit they have committed a sin. They must pay in full for what they did wrong. And they must add a fifth of the value to it. Then they must give all of it to the person they have sinned against. 8 But suppose that person has died. And suppose that person does not have a close relative who can be paid for the sin that was committed. Then what is paid belongs to the Lord. It must be given to the priest. A ram must be given along with it. The ram must be sacrificed to the Lord to pay for the sin. 9 All the sacred gifts the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him. 10 Sacred gifts belong to their owners. But what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’ ”
Choosing Elders Who Love What Is Good
5 I left you on the island of Crete. I did this because there were some things that hadn’t been finished. I wanted you to put them in order. I also wanted you to appoint elders in every town. I told you how to do it. 6 An elder must be without blame. He must be faithful to his wife. His children must be believers. They must not give anyone a reason to say that they are wild and don’t obey. 7 A church leader takes care of God’s family. That’s why he must be without blame. He must not look after only his own interests. He must not get angry easily. He must not get drunk. He must not push people around. He must not try to get money by cheating people. 8 Instead, a church leader must welcome people into his home. He must love what is good. He must control his mind and feelings. He must do what is right. He must be holy. He must control the desires of his body. 9 The message as it has been taught can be trusted. He must hold firmly to it. Then he will be able to use true teaching to comfort others and build them up. He will be able to prove that people who oppose it are wrong.
Warning People Who Fail to Do Good
10 Many people refuse to obey God. All they do is talk about things that mean nothing. They try to fool others. No one does these things more than the circumcision group. 11 They must be stopped. They are making trouble for entire families. They do this by teaching things they shouldn’t. They do these things to cheat people. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has a saying. He says, “People from Crete are always liars. They are evil beasts. They don’t want to work. They live only to eat.” 13 This saying is true. So give a strong warning to people who refuse to obey God. Then they will understand the faith correctly. 14 Then they will pay no attention to Jewish stories that aren’t true. They won’t listen to the mere human commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To people who are pure, all things are pure. But to those who have twisted minds and don’t believe, nothing is pure. In fact, their minds and their sense of what is right and wrong are twisted. 16 They claim to know God. But their actions show they don’t know him. They are hated by God. They refuse to obey him. They aren’t fit to do anything good.
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.