Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴⁹ Remember Your Word to Your servant, for You have given me hope. ⁵⁰ Your Word has given me new life. This is my comfort in my suffering. ⁵¹ The proud always laugh at me, but I do not turn away from Your Law. ⁵² I have remembered Your Law from a long time ago, O Lord, and I am comforted. ⁵³ Burning anger comes upon me because of the sinful who turn away from Your Law. ⁵⁴ Your Laws are my songs in whatever house I stay. ⁵⁵ I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I have kept Your Law. ⁵⁶ It has become my way to obey Your Law.

God’s Ten Great Laws

5 Then Moses called all Israel, and said to them, “Listen, O Israel, to the Laws which I speak in your hearing today. Learn them and be careful to live by them. ² The Lord our God made an agreement with us at Mount Sinai. ³ The Lord did not make this agreement with our fathers, but with us, all those of us alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the center of the fire. ⁵ I was standing between the Lord and you then, to tell you the Word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:

⁶ ‘I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house where you were servants.

⁷ ‘Have no other gods except Me.

⁸ ‘Do not make a false god for yourselves, or anything that is like what is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. ⁹ Do not bow down to them or serve them. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the children, the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren for the sins of their fathers who hate Me. ¹⁰ But I show loving-kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Laws.

¹¹ ‘Do not use the name of the Lord your God in a bad way. For the Lord will punish the one who uses His name in a bad way.

¹² ‘Remember the Day of Rest, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God told you. ¹³ Six days you will do all your work. ¹⁴ But the seventh day is a Day of Rest to the Lord your God. You, your son, your daughter, your man servant, your woman servant, your bull, donkey or any of your cattle, or the traveler who stays with you, must not do any work on this day. So your man servant and woman servant may rest as well as you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were servants in the land of Egypt. The Lord your God brought you out of there by a powerful hand and a long arm. So the Lord your God told you to keep the Day of Rest.

¹⁶ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has told you. So your life may be long and it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁷ ‘Do not kill another person.

¹⁸ ‘Do not do sex sins.

¹⁹ ‘Do not steal.

²⁰ ‘Do not tell a lie about your neighbor.

²¹ ‘Do not have a desire for your neighbor’s wife. Do not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his man servant, his bull, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

The Living Stone

⁴ Come to Christ as to a living stone. Men have put Him aside, but He was chosen by God and is of great worth in the sight of God. ⁵ You are to be as living stones in the building God is making also. You are His religious leaders giving yourselves to God through Jesus Christ. This kind of gift pleases God. ⁶ The Holy Writings say, “See, I lay down in Jerusalem a Stone of great worth, worth far more than any amount of money. Anyone who puts his trust in Him will not be ashamed.” ^{(A) 7} This Stone is of great worth to you who have your trust in Him. But to those who have not put their trust in Him, the Holy Writings say, “The Stone which the workmen put aside has become the most important part of the building.” ^{(B) 8} The Holy Writings say, also, “Christ is the Stone that some men will trip over and the Rock over which they will fall.” When they do not obey the Word of God, they trip over it. This is what happens to such men. ⁹ But you are a chosen group of people. You are the King’s religious leaders. You are a holy nation. You belong to God. He has done this for you so you can tell others how God has called you out of darkness into His great light. ¹⁰ At one time you were a people of no use. Now you are the people of God. At one time you did not have loving-kindness. Now you have God’s loving-kindness.