Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

BETH.

⁹ ¶ With what shall a young man cleanse his way? when he shall keep thy word.

¹⁰ ¶ With my whole heart I have sought thee; O let me not err from thy commandments.

¹¹ ¶ Thy spoken word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

¹² ¶ Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

¹³ ¶ With my lips I have declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

¹⁴ I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as above all riches.

¹⁵ I will meditate in thy precepts and consider thy ways.

¹⁶ I will delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy words.

²¹ When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it; for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.

²² But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall not be sin in thee.

²³ That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform, that which thou hast promised unto the LORD thy God, that which thou hast spoken of thy free will with thy mouth.

²⁴ When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou may eat grapes, thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.

²⁵ When thou comest into the standing grain of thy neighbour, then thou may pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing grain.

24 ¶ When a man has taken a wife and married her, and it comes to pass that she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her; then let him write her a bill of divorce and give it in her hand and send her out of his house.

² And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.

³ And if the latter husband hates her and writes her a bill of divorce and gives it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies,

⁴ her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she is defiled, for that is abomination before the LORD; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance.

¹⁰ When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to take his pledge.

¹¹ Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring the pledge out unto thee.

¹² And if the man is poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge.

¹³ Without fail thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goes down that he may sleep in his own clothing and bless thee, and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

¹⁴ ¶ Thou shalt not do violence unto a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates.

¹⁵ In his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and with it sustains his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

2 ¶ My brethren, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus, the glorious Christ, with respect of persons.

² For if a man with a gold ring and in precious apparel comes into your synagogue and a poor person in vile raiment also comes in,

³ and ye have respect to him that wears the precious clothing and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there or sit here under my footstool:

⁴ Are ye not then judging in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts?

⁵ Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world that they might be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those that love him?

⁶ But ye have despised the poor. Do not the rich oppress you with tyranny and draw you with violence to the courts?

⁷ Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?

⁸ ¶ If ye truly fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well;

⁹ but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin and are accused of the law as rebels.

¹⁰ For whosoever shall have kept the whole law, and then offends in one point is made guilty of all.

¹¹ For he that said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also, Thou shalt not murder. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou commit murder, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

¹² So speak ye and so do as those that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

¹³ For judgment without mercy shall be done unto the one that has shown no mercy; and mercy boasts against judgment.