Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Ten Commandments

(Deuteronomy 5.1-21)

20 God said to the people of Israel:

² I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.

³ Do not worship any god except me.

^4 (A) Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. ^5 (B) Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations. ⁶ But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.

^7 (C) Do not misuse my name.^[a] I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.

^8 (D) Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. ^9 (E) You have six days when you can do your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns. ^11 (F) In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That's why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.

^12 (G) Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.

^13 (H) Do not murder.

^14 (I) Be faithful in marriage.

^15 (J) Do not steal.

^16 (K) Do not tell lies about others.

^17 (L) Do not desire to possess anything that belongs to another person—not a house, a wife, a husband, a slave, an ox, a donkey, or anything else.

The People Are Afraid

(Deuteronomy 5.23-33)

^18 (M) The people trembled with fear when they heard the thunder and the trumpet and saw the lightning and the smoke coming from the mountain. They stood a long way off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “If you speak to us, we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we will die!”

²⁰ “Don't be afraid!” Moses replied. “God has come only to test you, so that by obeying him you won't sin.” ²¹ But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off.

Faith and Wisdom

^2 (A) My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. ³ You know you learn to endure by having your faith tested. ⁴ But you must learn to endure everything, so you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.

^5 (B) If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won't correct you for asking. ⁶ But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. ^7-8 If you are that kind of person, you can't make up your mind, and you surely can't be trusted. So don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all.