Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³³ O Lord, teach me the way of Your Law and I will obey it to the end. ³⁴ Give me understanding. Then I will listen to Your Word and obey it with all my heart. ³⁵ Make me walk in the path of Your Word, for I find joy in it. ³⁶ Turn my heart toward Your Law, so I will not earn money in a wrong way. ³⁷ Turn my eyes away from things that have no worth, and give me new life because of Your ways. ³⁸ Keep Your promise to Your servant, the promise You made to those who fear and worship You. ³⁹ Turn away the shame that I do not want to come to me, for Your Law is good. ⁴⁰ O, how I desire Your Law! Give me new life because of Your right and good way.

6 The Lord said to Moses, ² “If a person is not faithful and sins against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about money given to him for safe-keeping, or by stealing, or by false ways, ³ or by finding what was lost and lying about it before God, if a man does any of the things that men sin by doing, ⁴ he will become guilty. Then he should return what he took by stealing, or what he got by false ways, or the money which was given to him for safe-keeping, or the lost thing which he found, ⁵ or anything that he lied about. He should pay for it in full, and add to it one-fifth part more. He should give it to whom it belongs on the day he gives his guilt gift. ⁶ Then he will bring to the religious leader his guilt gift to the Lord, a ram that is perfect from the flock, that you decide to be the right price for a guilt gift. ⁷ Before the Lord the religious leader will pay the price for him for whatever he did that made him guilty. And he will be forgiven.”

² Listen to me! I, Paul, tell you that if you have the religious act of becoming a Jew done on you, Christ will be of no use to you at all. ³ I say it again. Every man who has the religious act of becoming a Jew done on him must obey every Law. ⁴ If you expect to be made right with God by obeying the Law, then you have turned away from Christ and His loving-favor. ⁵ We are waiting for the hope of being made right with God. This will come through the Holy Spirit and by faith. ⁶ If we belong to Jesus Christ, it means nothing to have or not to have gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew. But faith working through love is important.