Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
15 See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, and death and disaster. 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so that you may live and multiply. Then the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away, so that you do not obey, but are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 then I declare to you today that you will surely perish and that you will not prolong your days in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witnesses against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
Psalm 119
א Aleph
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
and who seek Him with all their heart.
3 They also do no wrong;
they walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us
to keep Your precepts diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were established
to keep Your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be ashamed,
when I have my focus on all Your commandments.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart,
when I have learned Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
do not completely abandon me.
Fellow Servants of God
3 Brothers, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to worldly, even as to babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk and not with solid food. For to this day you were not able to endure it. Nor are you able now, 3 for you are still worldly. Since there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not worldly and behaving as mere men? 4 For while one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not worldly?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he who plants nor he who waters anything, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are laborers together with God: You are God’s vineyard; you are God’s building.
Teaching About Anger
21 “You have heard that it was said by the ancients, ‘You shall not murder,’[a] and ‘Whoever murders shall be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be in danger of the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go on your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 “Reconcile with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I say to you, you will by no means come out of there until you have paid the last penny.[b]
Teaching About Adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said by the ancients, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’[c] 28 But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. For it is profitable that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body be thrown into hell.
Teaching About Divorce(A)
31 “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’[d] 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
Teaching About Oaths
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said by the ancients, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’[e] 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these comes from the evil one.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.