Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Is with Us
46 God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. 2 So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, 3 and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.
4 There is a river whose waters make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High lives. 5 God is in the center of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when the morning comes. 6 The people made noise. The nations fell. He raised His voice and the earth melted. 7 The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.
8 Come and see the works of the Lord. He has destroyed parts of the earth. 9 He stops wars to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the war-wagons with fire. 10 Be quiet and know that I am God. I will be honored among the nations. I will be honored in the earth. 11 The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.
Man Does Not Obey God
3 Now the snake was more able to fool others than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say that you should not eat from any tree in the garden?” 2 Then the woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden. 3 But from the tree which is in the center of the garden, God has said, ‘Do not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The snake said to the woman, “No, you for sure will not die! 5 For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eyes, and could fill the desire of making one wise. So she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were without clothes. So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves clothing.
8 Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening. The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man. He said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And the man said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden. I was afraid because I was without clothes. So I hid myself.” 11 The Lord God said, “Who told you that you were without clothes? Have you eaten from the tree of which I told you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The snake fooled me, and I ate.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, you will be hated and will suffer more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You will go on your stomach and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will make you and the woman hate each other, and your seed and her seed will hate each other. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.”
16 To the woman He said, “I will make your pain much worse in giving birth. You will give birth to children in pain. Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 Then He said to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I told you, “Do not eat from it,” the ground is cursed because of you. By hard work you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face because of hard work, until you return to the ground, because you were taken from the ground. You are dust, and you will return to dust.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made clothes of skins for Adam and his wife, and dressed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and bad. Now then, he might put out his hand to take from the tree of life also, and eat and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out. And He placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden with a sword of fire that turned every way. They kept watch over the path to the tree of life.
Jesus Teaches on the Mountain about Saying What Is Wrong in Others
7 “Do not say what is wrong in other people’s lives. Then other people will not say what is wrong in your life. 2 You will be guilty of the same things you find in others. When you say what is wrong in others, your words will be used to say what is wrong in you. 3 Why do you look at the small piece of wood in your brother’s eye, and do not see the big piece of wood in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take that small piece of wood out of your eye,’ when there is a big piece of wood in your own eye? 5 You who pretend to be someone you are not, first take the big piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you can see better to take the small piece of wood out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give that which belongs to God to dogs. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs. They will break them under their feet. Then they will turn and tear you to pieces.
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