Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
49 Remember your promise to me, your servant;
it gives me hope.
50 When I suffer, this comforts me:
Your promise gives me life.
51 ·Proud [Arrogant] people always ·make fun of [mock] me,
but I do not ·reject [stray from] your ·teachings [instructions; laws].
52 I remember your ·laws [judgments] from long ago,
and they comfort me, Lord.
53 ·I become angry with wicked people [L Indignation seizes me because of the wicked]
who ·do not keep [abandon; forsake] your ·teachings [instructions; laws].
54 I sing about your ·demands [statutes; ordinances; requirements]
·wherever I live [L in the house of my dwelling].
55 Lord, I remember ·you [L your name] at night,
and I will ·obey [keep; guard] your ·teachings [instructions; laws].
56 This is what I do:
I ·follow [protect] your ·orders [precepts].
22 The Lord spoke these ·commands [L words] to ·all of you [your whole community/congregation/assembly] on the mountain in a loud voice out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness; he did not say anything else. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets, and he gave them to me.
23 When you heard the voice from the darkness, as the mountain was blazing with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders ·came to [approached] me. 24 And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory [C his manifest presence] and ·majesty [greatness], and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks to him. 25 But now, ·we will [L why should we … ?] die! This great fire will burn us up, and we will die if we hear the Lord our God speak anymore. 26 ·No human being [L For who of all flesh…?] has ever heard the living God speaking from a fire and still lived, but we have. 27 Moses, you go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you tell us what the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and obey.”
28 The Lord heard what you said to me, and he said to me, “I have heard what the people said to you. Everything they said was good. 29 ·I wish [L If only] their ·hearts [minds] would always ·respect [fear] me and that they would always obey my commands so that things would go well for them and their children forever!
30 “Go and tell the people to return to their tents, 31 but you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements], and laws that you must teach the people to obey in the land I am giving them as their ·own [possession].”
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you, and ·follow the commands exactly [L do not turn aside to the right or to the left]. 33 ·Live the way [L Walk on the way/path that] the Lord your God has commanded you so that you may live and have what is good and have a long life in the land you will ·take [possess].
The Command to Love God
6 These are the commands, ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements], and laws that the Lord your God told me to teach you to obey in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to ·take [possess]. 2 You, your children, and your grandchildren must ·respect [fear] the Lord your God ·as long as you live [L all the days of your life]. Obey all his ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and commands I give you so that ·you will live a long time [L your days will be long]. 3 Listen, Israel, and carefully obey these laws. Then all will go well for you, and you will become a great nation in a ·fertile land [L land flowing with milk and honey; Ex. 3:8], just as the Lord, the God of your ·ancestors [fathers], has promised you [Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20].
17 If anyone belongs to Christ, ·there is a new creation [the new creation has arrived; or that person has become a new creation]. The old things have gone; [L look; T behold] ·everything is made new [the new has come]! 18 All this is from God, who through Christ ·made peace between us and [reconciled us to] himself, and gave us the ·work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him [L ministry/service of reconciliation]. 19 [L For] God was in Christ, ·making peace between the world and [reconciling the world to] himself. In Christ, God did not ·hold the world guilty of its sins [L count their trespasses against them]. And he ·gave [committed/entrusted to] us this message of ·peace [reconciliation]. 20 So we ·have been sent to speak [L are ambassadors] for Christ. It is as if God is ·calling to [urging; exhorting; encouraging] you through us. We speak for Christ when we ·beg [implore; urge] you to be ·at peace with [reconciled to] God. 21 God made ·Christ [L the one] who ·had no sin [or never sinned; L did not know sin] to become sin for us, so that in ·Christ [L him] we could become ·right with [L the righteousness of] God.
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