Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord is King![a]
93 The Lord rules as King!
He wears royal power as his clothes.
His strength is like a belt round his body.[b]
So the world is safe and strong.
Nothing can shake it from its place.
2 You, Lord, have always ruled as King,
since before the beginning of time.
3 The floods of water have risen up, Lord.
They have risen with a loud noise.
Their waves beat against the land.[c]
4 But the Lord rules as King
high above everything!
He rules over the powerful waves of the sea,
with all their great noise!
5 Lord, your rules remain strong and true.
Your house will always be holy,
because you are holy.
22 These are the commands that the Lord spoke to you. You were all there together at the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the middle of a great fire. There was a cloud and it was very dark. He gave only those commands. Then he wrote them on two flat stones and he gave them to me.
23 The mountain was burning with fire and you heard God's voice speak from the darkness. Then the leaders and older men of your tribes came to speak to me. 24 They said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us how great and how powerful he is. We have heard his voice from the middle of the fire. We have learned this: People can continue to live, even after God has spoken to them. 25 But now we think that this great fire will kill us. We do not want to die! If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, we will surely die. 26 The God who lives for ever has spoken to us from the middle of the fire. Has anyone ever heard him speak like that and then continued to live? 27 We ask you to go near to the Lord our God. Listen to everything that he says. Then you should tell us what he says to you. We will listen carefully and we will obey him.’
28 The Lord heard what you said to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard what these people have said to you. What they said is right. 29 I really want them to respect me with fear. I want them to obey my commands in the future! If they do that, everything will be well for them and for their descendants for ever. 30 Now tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you should stay here with me. I will tell you all the commands, rules and laws that you must teach to the people. Then they can obey them in the land that I will give them to live in.’
32 So you must be careful to do everything that the Lord your God has commanded you to do. You must not refuse to obey any of his laws. 33 Live in the way that he has commanded you. If you do that, you will be happy in the land where you are going. You will live for a long time in the land that will be your home.
Christians must be ready to have trouble
8 Now I want to say this to you before I finish my letter. All of you should agree with each other in what you think. You should try to understand how other people are feeling. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be kind to each other. Do not think that you are more important than other people. 9 If people do bad things to you, do not do anything bad to them in return. If people insult you, do not insult them in return. Instead, pray that God will bless those people. That is what God wants you to do. Then you will receive the gift of God's blessing. 10 The Bible says this:
‘Do you want to enjoy your life?
Do you want to be happy?
Then you must be careful not to say evil things.
Do not tell any lies.
11 Stop doing evil things.
Instead, do things that are good.
Try to be friends with people.
Help people to live in peace with each other.
12 Remember that the Lord God sees what everyone does.
He takes care of people who do what is right.
When they pray, he listens to them.
But the Lord God turns against people who do evil things.’[a]
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