Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living by Your Word. ¹⁰ I have looked for You with all my heart. Do not let me turn from Your Law. ¹¹ Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against You. ¹² Great and honored are You, O Lord. Teach me Your Law. ¹³ I have told with my lips of all the Laws of Your mouth. ¹⁴ I have found as much joy in following Your Law as one finds in much riches. ¹⁵ I will think about Your Law and have respect for Your ways. ¹⁶ I will be glad in Your Law. I will not forget Your Word.

²¹ “When you make a promise to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it. It would be sin in you, for the Lord your God will be sure to ask you for it. ²² But if you do not make a promise, it would not be sin in you. ²³ Be careful to do what you say you are going to do. Keep the promise you have made to the Lord your God because you want to.

²⁴ “When you go into your neighbor’s grape-field, you may eat grapes until you are full. But do not put any in your basket. ²⁵ When you go into your neighbor’s grain field, you may pick the heads with your hand. But do not cut down any of your neighbor’s standing grain.

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and he does not like her because he finds something bad in her, he will write her a paper of divorce and give it to her and send her away from his house. ² When she leaves his house, she may go and become another man’s wife. ³ If the second husband turns against her and gives her a paper of divorce and sends her out of his house, or if the second husband dies who took her for his wife, ⁴ then her first husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her for his wife again, because she has become unclean. It is a hated thing to the Lord and you must not bring sin on the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁰ “When you let your neighbor use anything of yours, do not go into his house to take what he would give you to make his promise sure. ¹¹ Stay outside. The man who is using something of yours will bring the object out to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, do not keep what he gives you through the night. ¹³ Return his coat to him when the sun goes down so he may sleep in it and be thankful for you. You will be doing what is right before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “Do not make it hard for a paid servant who is poor and in need, if he is one of your brothers or one of the strangers who is living in one of your towns. ¹⁵ Give him his pay on the day he earns it before the sun goes down. He is poor and he needs it. Then he will not cry to the Lord against you and you would be guilty of sin.

The Rich and the Poor

2 My Christian brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of shining-greatness. Since your trust is in Him, do not look on one person as more important than another. ² What if a man comes into your church wearing a gold ring and good clothes? And at the same time a poor man comes wearing old clothes. ³ What if you show respect to the man in good clothes and say, “Come and sit in this good place”? But if you say to the poor man, “Stand up over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ are you not thinking that one is more important than the other? This kind of thinking is sinful. ⁵ Listen, my dear Christian brothers, God has chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich in faith. The holy nation of heaven is theirs. That is what God promised to those who love Him. ⁶ You have not shown respect to the poor man. Is it not the rich men who make it hard for you and take you to court? ⁷ They speak against the name of Christ. And it was Christ Who called you. ⁸ You do well when you obey the Holy Writings which say, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ⁹ But if you look on one man as more important than another, you are sinning. And the Law says you are sinning.

Keep the Whole Law

¹⁰ If you obey all the Laws but one, you are as guilty as the one who has broken them all. ¹¹ The One Who said, “You must not do any sex sins,” also said, “You must not kill another person.” If you do no sex sins but kill someone, you are guilty of breaking the Law. ¹² Keep on talking and acting as people who will be told they are guilty or not by the Law that makes men free. ¹³ Anyone who shows no loving-kindness will have no loving-kindness shown to him when he is told he is guilty. But if you show loving-kindness, God will show loving-kindness to you when you are told you are guilty.