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Psalm 128

1  Blessed are all those who fear the Lord, ♦︎
   and walk in his ways.
2  You shall eat the fruit of the toil of your hands; ♦︎
   it shall go well with you, and happy shall you be.
3  Your wife within your house
      shall be like a fruitful vine; ♦︎
   your children round your table,
      like fresh olive branches.
4  Thus shall the one be blest ♦︎
   who fears the Lord.
5  The Lord from out of Zion bless you, ♦︎
   that you may see Jerusalem in prosperity
      all the days of your life.
6  May you see your children’s children, ♦︎
   and may there be peace upon Israel.

Psalm 129

1  ‘Many a time have they fought against me from my youth,’ ♦︎
   may Israel now say;
2  ‘Many a time have they fought against me from my youth, ♦︎
   but they have not prevailed against me.’
3  The ploughers ploughed upon my back ♦︎
   and made their furrows long.
4  But the righteous Lord ♦︎
   has cut the cords of the wicked in pieces.
5  Let them be put to shame and turned backwards, ♦︎
   as many as are enemies of Zion.
6  Let them be like grass upon the housetops, ♦︎
   which withers before it can grow,
7  So that no reaper can fill his hand, ♦︎
   nor a binder of sheaves his bosom;
8  And none who go by may say,
      ‘The blessing of the Lord be upon you. ♦︎
   We bless you in the name of the Lord.’

Psalm 130

1  Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord;
      Lord, hear my voice; ♦︎
   let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
2  If you, Lord, were to mark what is done amiss, ♦︎
   O Lord, who could stand?
3  But there is forgiveness with you, ♦︎
   so that you shall be feared.
4  I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; ♦︎
   in his word is my hope.
5  My soul waits for the Lord,
      more than the night watch for the morning, ♦︎
   more than the night watch for the morning.
6  O Israel, wait for the Lord, ♦︎
   for with the Lord there is mercy;
7  With him is plenteous redemption ♦︎
   and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

The Ten Commandments

5Moses convened all Israel, and said to them:

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. ²The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³Not with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire. ⁵(At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to declare to you the words ^* of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ⁷you shall have no other gods before^* me.

8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, ¹⁰but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation^* of those who love me and keep my commandments.

11 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

12 Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³For six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁴But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. ¹⁵Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

16 Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

17 You shall not murder.^*

18 Neither shall you commit adultery.

19 Neither shall you steal.

20 Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbour.

21 Neither shall you covet your neighbour’s wife.

Neither shall you desire your neighbour’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Moses the Mediator of God’s Will

22 These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.

10 ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,^* who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’^*

The Law and the Kingdom of God

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. ¹⁵So he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.

16 ‘The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force.^{* 17}But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.

18 ‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.