Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 119
Delight in God’s Word
א Alef
1 How[a] happy are those whose way is blameless,(A)
who live according to the Lord’s instruction!(B)
2 Happy are those who keep His decrees(C)
and seek Him with all their heart.(D)
3 They do nothing wrong;(E)
they follow His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts(F)
be diligently kept.
5 If only my ways were committed
to keeping Your statutes!(G)
6 Then I would not be ashamed(H)
when I think about all Your commands.
7 I will praise You with a sincere heart(I)
when I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
never abandon me.(J)
34 “Then the land will make up for its Sabbath years during the time it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and make up for its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate, it will have the rest it did not have during your Sabbaths when you lived there.
36 “I will put anxiety in the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a wind-driven leaf will put them to flight, and they will flee as one flees from a sword, and fall though no one is pursuing them. 37 They will stumble over one another as if fleeing from a sword though no one is pursuing them. You will not be able to stand against your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. 39 Those[a] who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away because of their sin; they will also waste away because of their fathers’ sins along with theirs.
40 “But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers—their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me, 41 and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled,(A) and if they will pay the penalty for their sin, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob. I will also remember My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land abandoned by them will make up for its Sabbaths by lying desolate without the people, while they pay the penalty for their sin, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or abhor them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them, since I am Yahweh their God.(B) 45 For their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God; I am Yahweh.”
46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command(A) but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message(B) you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away(C) and the true light(D) is already shining.(E)
9 The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother(F) is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother(G) remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.[a] 11 But the one who hates his brother(H) is in the darkness, walks in the darkness,(I) and doesn’t know where he’s going,(J) because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Reasons for Writing
12 I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins have been forgiven
because of Jesus’ name.(K)
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One who is from the beginning.(L)
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have had victory over the evil one.(M)
14 I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word(N) remains in you,
and you have had victory over the evil one.
A Warning about the World
15 Do not love the world(O) or the things that belong to[b] the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to[c] the world—the lust of the flesh,(P) the lust of the eyes,(Q) and the pride(R) in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away,(S) but the one who does God’s will(T) remains forever.(U)
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