Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A psalm by David; a maskil.[a]
32 Blessed is the person whose disobedience is forgiven
and whose sin is pardoned.
2 Blessed is the person whom the Lord no longer accuses of sin
and who has no deceitful thoughts.
3 When I kept silent ⌞about my sins⌟,
my bones began to weaken because of my groaning all day long.
4 Day and night your hand laid heavily on me.
My strength shriveled in the summer heat. Selah
5 I made my sins known to you, and I did not cover up my guilt.
I decided to confess them to you, O Lord.
Then you forgave all my sins. Selah
6 For this reason let all godly people pray to you
when you may be found.
Then raging floodwater will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place.
You protect me from trouble.
You surround me with joyous songs of salvation. Selah
8 ⌞The Lord says,⌟
“I will instruct you.
I will teach you the way that you should go.
I will advise you as my eyes watch over you.
9 Don’t be stubborn like a horse or mule.
⌞They need⌟ a bit and bridle in their mouth to restrain them,
or they will not come near you.”
10 Many heartaches await wicked people,
but mercy surrounds those who trust the Lord.
11 Be glad and find joy in the Lord, you righteous people.
Sing with joy, all whose motives are decent.
Cain Murders Abel
4 Adam made love to his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gotten the man that the Lord promised.” 2 Then she gave birth to another child, Abel, Cain’s brother. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer.
3 Later Cain brought some crops from the land as an offering to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought some choice parts of the firstborn animals from his flock. The Lord approved of Abel and his offering, 5 but he didn’t approve of Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry and was disappointed. 6 Then the Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look disappointed? 7 If you do well, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do well, sin is lying outside your door ready to attack. It wants to control you, but you must master it.”
8 Cain talked to his brother Abel. Later, when they were in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 The Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Am I supposed to take care of my brother?”
10 The Lord asked, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the ground, which has received the blood of your brother whom you killed. 12 When you farm the ground, it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth.”
13 But Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can stand! 14 You have forced me off this land today. I have to hide from you and become a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth. Now anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 So the Lord said to him, “Not so! Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” The Lord gave Cain a sign so that anyone meeting him would not kill him.
16 Then Cain left the Lord’s presence and lived in Nod [The Land of Wandering], east of Eden.
Christ Is Superior to Other Chief Priests
14 We need to hold on to our declaration of faith: We have a superior chief priest who has gone through the heavens. That person is Jesus, the Son of God. 15 We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin. 16 So we can go confidently to the throne of God’s kindness [a] to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time.
5 Every chief priest is chosen from humans to represent them in front of God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. 2 The chief priest can be gentle with people who are ignorant and easily deceived, because he also has weaknesses. 3 Because he has weaknesses, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins in the same way that he does for the sins of his people.
4 No one takes this honor for himself. Instead, God calls him as he called Aaron. 5 So Christ did not take the glory of being a chief priest for himself. Instead, the glory was given to him by God, who said,
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”
6 In another place in Scripture, God said,
“You are a priest forever,
in the way Melchizedek was a priest.”
7 During his life on earth, Jesus prayed to God, who could save him from death. He prayed and pleaded with loud crying and tears, and he was heard because of his devotion to God. 8 Although Jesus was the Son ⌞of God⌟, he learned to be obedient through his sufferings. 9 After he had finished his work, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him. 10 God appointed him chief priest in the way Melchizedek was a priest.
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