Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Zayin.

Moses Interceded

²² “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. ^(A)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²⁴ You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. ^25 (B)Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. ²⁶ For ^(C)who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ^27 [a]Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸ “The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, ^(D)and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ^29 (E)Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and ^(F)keep all My commandments always, that ^(G)it may be well with them and with their sons forever! ³⁰ Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” ^31 (H)But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.’ ³² So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; ^(I)you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. ^33 (J)You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(K)that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Obey God and Prosper

6 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, ² so that you and your son and your grandson might ^(L)fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, ^(M)all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. ³ O Israel, you should listen and ^[b]be careful to do it, that ^(N)it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in ^(O)a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is ^(A)in Christ, ^[a]he is ^(B)a new creature; ^(C)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now ^(D)all these things are from God, ^(E)who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ^(F)ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that ^(G)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, ^(H)not counting their trespasses against them, and ^[b]He has ^[c]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ^(I)ambassadors for Christ, ^(J)as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be ^(K)reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who ^(L)knew no sin to be ^(M)sin on our behalf, so that we might become the ^(N)righteousness of God in Him.