Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
105 Your word is like a lamp for my feet
and a light for my path [C it shows how life should be lived].
106 I ·will do what I have promised [L have sworn and confirmed it]
and ·obey [keep; guard] your ·fair [righteous] ·laws [judgments].
107 I have suffered ·for a long time [or greatly].
Lord, ·give me [spare my] life by your word.
108 Lord, accept my ·willing [offering of] praise
and teach me your ·laws [judgments].
109 My life is always in ·danger [L my hand],
but I haven’t forgotten your ·teachings [instructions; laws].
110 Wicked people have set a trap for me,
but I haven’t ·strayed [wandered] from your ·orders [precepts].
111 ·I will follow your rules forever [L Your rules/decrees/precepts are my inheritance forever],
because they make ·me [L my heart] happy.
112 I will ·try [L incline my heart] to do ·what you demand [L your statutes/ordinances]
forever, until the end.
32 ·Hear [L Give ear], heavens, and I will speak. Listen, earth, to ·what I say [L the words of my mouth].
2 My teaching will drop like rain;
my words will ·fall [distill] like dew.
They will be like showers on the grass;
they will pour down like rain on young plants.
3 I will announce the name of the Lord.
·Praise God because he is great [L Ascribe greatness to our God]!
4 He is like a rock; what he does is perfect,
and ·he is always [L all his ways are] fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong,
who is ·right [righteous] and ·fair [virtuous].
5 They ·have done evil against him [are corrupt].
·To their shame [or Their faults show] they are no longer his children [Is. 1:2–4; Hos. 1:9];
they are an ·evil [perverted] and ·lying [crooked] people.
6 This is not the way to repay the Lord,
you foolish and unwise people.
·He is [L Is he not…?] your Father and Maker,
who made you and formed you.
7 Remember the old days.
Think of the years already passed.
Ask your father and he will tell you;
ask your elders and they will inform you.
8 God Most High gave ·the nations their lands [L each nation its inheritance],
dividing up the ·human race [L sons of man].
He set up borders for the people
·and even numbered the Israelites[a] [L according to the number of the sons/T children of Israel].
9 The Lord took his people as his ·share [portion],
the people of Jacob as his ·very own [L special inheritance].
10 He found them in a ·desert [wilderness],
a windy, ·empty [unformed; Gen. 1:2] land.
He surrounded them and brought them up,
guarding them as ·those he loved very much [L the apple/pupil of his eye].
Paul Talks About His Work
14 My brothers and sisters, I am ·sure [fully convinced] that you are [indeed] full of goodness. I know that you ·have all the knowledge you need [L are filled with all knowledge] and that you are able to ·teach [instruct; admonish; warn] each other. 15 But I have written to you very ·openly [boldly] about some ·things [points; L parts] I wanted you to remember. I did this because ·God gave me this special gift [or of the grace God gave me]: 16 to be a ·minister [servant] of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I ·served God [or perform priestly service] ·by teaching his Good News [for the Good News/Gospel of/about God], so that the Gentiles could be an offering that God would accept—an offering ·made holy [sanctified; purified] by the Holy Spirit.
17 So I ·am proud [have a reason to boast] of what I have done for God in Christ Jesus. 18 I will not [dare] talk about anything except what Christ has done through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God. They have obeyed God because of what I have said and done, 19 because of the power of ·miracles [signs] and ·the great things they saw [wonders; marvels], ·and because of [or acccomplished through] the power of the Spirit of God. I have ·finished my work of preaching [fulfilled my commission to preach; or fully preached] the ·Good News [Gospel] from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum [C a Roman province northwest of Macedonia; modern Albania, Serbia and Montenegro]. 20 [So; In this way] I always ·want [or try; make it my ambition] to preach the ·Good News [Gospel] in places where ·people have never heard of Christ [L Christ has not been named], ·because I do not want [or in order not] to build on the ·work someone else has already started [L foundation of others]. 21 But [L as; just as] it is written in the Scriptures:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard about him will understand [Is. 52:15].”
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