Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise God Who Helps the Weak
146 Praise the Lord!
My ·whole being [soul; life], praise the Lord.
2 I will praise the Lord ·all [L with] my life;
I will ·sing praises [make a psalm] to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your ·trust [confidence] in princes
or other people, who cannot ·save you [give you victory; 118:8–9].
4 ·When people die [L Their spirit goes out], they ·are buried [L return to the ground].
·Then all of [L On that day] their plans ·come to an end [perish].
5 ·Happy [Blessed] are those who are helped by the God of Jacob [C another name for Israel].
Their hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He made heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in it [Gen. 1].
He ·remains [keeps; observes; guards] ·loyal [faithfulness; truth] forever.
7 He does ·what is fair [justice] for those who have been ·wronged [oppressed; exploited].
He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free.
8 The Lord ·gives sight to [opens the eyes of] the blind.
The Lord lifts up people who are ·in trouble [bowed down; 145:14].
The Lord loves ·those who do right [the righteous].
9 The Lord ·protects [guards] the ·foreigners [sojourners].
He ·defends [supports] the orphans and widows [C the socially vulnerable],
but he ·blocks [frustrates] the way of the wicked.
10 The Lord will ·be King [reign] forever [47:2; 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 98:6; 99:1; Rev. 19:6].
·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple], your God is everlasting.
Praise the Lord!
The Special Seventh Year
15 At the end of every seven years, you must ·tell those who owe you anything that they do not have to pay you back [grant remission of debts; Ex. 23:10–11]. 2 This is ·how you must do it [the manner of remission]: Everyone who has ·loaned money [a claim] must ·cancel [remit] the loan and not make a neighbor or ·relative [or countryman; L brother] pay it back. This is the Lord’s time for ·canceling what people owe [remitting debts]. 3 You may make a foreigner pay what is owed to you, but you must ·not collect [remit] what ·another Israelite [a relative; or a countryman; L a brother] owes you. 4 But there should be no ·poor [needy] people among you, because the Lord your God will richly bless you in the land he is giving you as your ·own [possession]. 5 He will bless you if you obey the Lord your God completely, but you must be careful to obey all the commands I am ·giving [commanding] you today. 6 The Lord your God will bless you as he promised, and you will lend to other nations, but you will not need to borrow from them. You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you.
7 If there are ·poor [needy] among ·you [your relatives; or your countrymen; L your brothers], in one of the ·towns [L gates] of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be ·selfish [L hard-hearted] or ·greedy [L tight-fisted] toward them [Prov. 28:27; 29:7, 14]. 8 But ·give freely [L open your hand] to them, and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Beware of ·evil [useless] thoughts. Don’t think, “The seventh year is near, the year ·to cancel what people owe [of remission].” ·You might be mean to [L Your eye might be evil toward] ·the needy [your needy relative/or countryman/L brother] and not give them anything. Then they will ·complain [call out] to the Lord about you, and he will find you guilty of sin. 10 Give freely to the poor person, and do not ·wish that you didn’t have to give [begrudge him this matter]. The Lord your God will bless your work and everything you ·touch [undertake; L send from your hand]. 11 There will always be poor people in the land, so I command you to ·give freely [L open your hand] to your ·neighbors [or relatives; or countrymen; L brothers] and to the poor and needy in your land.
15 For this reason Christ ·brings a new agreement from God to his people [L is the mediator of a new covenant/contract]. Those who are called by God can now receive the eternal ·blessings [inheritance] he has promised. They can have those things because Christ died to ·set them free [redeem them] from the ·sins [transgressions; violations] committed under the first agreement [covenant; contract].
16 When there is a ·will [last will and testament; C the same Greek word translated “agreement” in v. 15; the author develops his illustration from the various meanings of the word], it must be proven that the one who wrote that ·will [last will and testament] is dead. 17 [L For; Because] A ·will [last will and testament] ·means nothing [carries no force] while the person is alive; it can ·be used [take effect] only after the person dies. 18 This is why even the first ·agreement [covenant; contract; C the same Greek word as “will” in vv. 16–17] could not ·begin [be inaugurated/put into effect] without blood [C the death of a sacrificial animal]. 19 First, Moses told all the people every command in the law. Next he took the blood of calves[a] and mixed it with water. Then he used ·red [scarlet] wool and a branch of the hyssop plant to sprinkle it on the book of the law and on all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood ·that begins [that seals/confirms; L of] the ·Agreement [Covenant; Contract] that God commanded you to ·obey [keep; Ex. 24:8].” 21 In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood on the ·Holy Tent [T Tabernacle] and over all the ·things [vessels; utensils] used in worship. 22 The law says that almost everything must be ·made clean [purified; cleansed] by blood, and sins cannot be forgiven without ·blood to show death [the shedding of blood; C signifying death to pay the penalty of sin].
Christ’s Death Takes Away Sins
23 So the ·copies [symbols; models; prototypes] of the real things in heaven had to be ·made clean [purified; cleansed] by animal sacrifices. But the real things in heaven need much better sacrifices. 24 [L For] Christ did not go into ·the Most Holy Place [a sanctuary; L holy things] made by ·humans [L hands], which is only a ·copy [model; or prefiguration] of the real one. He went into heaven itself and ·is there [appears] now ·before [in the presence of] God ·to help us [for us; on our behalf].
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