Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
ב (Bet)
9 How can a young person[a] maintain a pure life?[b]
By guarding it according to your instructions.[c]
10 With all my heart I seek you.
Do not allow me to stray from your commands.
11 In my heart I store up[d] your words,[e]
so I might not sin against you.
12 You deserve praise,[f] O Lord.
Teach me your statutes.
13 With my lips I proclaim
all the regulations you have revealed.[g]
14 I rejoice in the lifestyle prescribed by your rules[h]
as if[i] they were riches of all kinds.[j]
15 I will meditate on[k] your precepts
and focus on[l] your behavior.[m]
16 I find delight[n] in your statutes;
I do not forget your instructions.[o]
The Lord Declares His Sovereignty
8 Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes,
those who are deaf, even though they have ears!
9 All nations gather together,
the peoples assemble.
Who among them announced this?
Who predicted earlier events for us?[a]
Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;
let them listen and affirm, “It is true.”
10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,
“my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may consider[b] and believe in me,
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me,
and none will outlive me.[c]
11 I, I am the Lord,
and there is no deliverer besides me.
12 I decreed and delivered and proclaimed,
and there was no other god among you.
You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God.
13 From this day forward I am he;
no one can deliver from my power;[d]
I will act, and who can prevent it?”
4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate[a] in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy[b] is from God, 6 who made us adequate[c] to be servants of a new covenant[d] not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Greater Glory of the Spirit’s Ministry
7 But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on stone tablets[e]—came with glory, so that the Israelites[f] could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face[g] (a glory[h] which was made ineffective),[i] 8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?[j] 9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation,[k] how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness[l] excel[m] in glory! 10 For indeed, what had been glorious now[n] has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it.[o] 11 For if what was made ineffective[p] came with[q] glory, how much more has what remains[r] come in glory!
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