Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Futility of Idols.

The Lord Exalted for His Goodness.

A Psalm of Praise, of David.

Korah’s Rebellion

16 Now ^(A)Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with ^(B)Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, ² and they stood before Moses, ^[a]together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation ^[b](C)chosen in the assembly, men of renown. ³ They assembled together ^(D)against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “^[c](E)You have gone far enough! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and ^(F)the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, ^(G)he fell on his face; ⁵ and he spoke to Korah and all his group, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will make known who is His, and ^(H)who is holy, and will bring that one near to Himself; indeed, ^(I)the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶ Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and ^[d]your whole group, ⁷ and put fire in them, and place incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. ^[e](J)You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸ Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ^9 (K)Is it too small an honor for you that the God of Israel has singled you out from the congregation of Israel, ^(L)to bring you near to Himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? But are you ^(M)seeking the priesthood as well? ¹¹ Therefore you and your whole group are the ones gathered together ^(N)against the Lord; but as for Aaron, ^[f]who is he, that ^(O)you grumble against him?”

¹² Then Moses sent ^[g]a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it ^[h]not enough that you have brought us up out of a ^(P)land flowing with milk and honey ^(Q)to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also appoint yourself as master over us? ¹⁴ Indeed, you have not brought us ^(R)into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of ^(S)fields and vineyards. Would you ^(T)gouge out the eyes of ^[i]these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “^(U)Pay no attention to their offering! ^(V)I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.” ¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and all your group be present before the Lord tomorrow, you and they along with Aaron. ¹⁷ And each of you take his censer and put incense on ^[j]it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, 250 censers; also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.” ¹⁸ So they took, each one his own censer, and put fire on ^[k]it, and placed incense on ^[l]it; and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ So Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And ^(W)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

Justification by Faith

²¹ But now apart ^[a]from the Law ^(A)the righteousness of God has been revealed, being ^(B)witnessed by the ^[b]Law and the Prophets, ²² but it is the ^(C)righteousness of God through ^(D)faith ^(E)in Jesus Christ for ^(F)all those ^[c]who believe; for ^(G)there is no distinction, ²³ for all ^[d](H)have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift ^(I)by His grace through ^(J)the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as ^(K)a ^[e]propitiation ^[f](L)in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, ^[g]because in God’s merciful ^(M)restraint He ^(N)let the sins previously committed go unpunished; ²⁶ for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ^[h]has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where then is ^(O)boasting? It has been excluded. By ^(P)what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ^28 [i]For ^(Q)we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works ^[j]of the Law. ²⁹ Or ^(R)is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since indeed ^(S)God ^(T)who will justify the ^[k]circumcised ^[l]by faith and the ^[m]uncircumcised through faith ^(U)is one.

³¹ Do we then nullify ^[n]the Law through faith? ^(V)Far from it! On the contrary, we ^(W)establish the Law.

Jesus Blesses Little Children

^13 (A)Then some children were brought to Him so that He would lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But Jesus said, “^[a](B)Leave the children alone, and do not ^[b]forbid them to come to Me; for ^(C)the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.

The Rich Young Ruler

^16 (D)And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain ^(E)eternal life?” ¹⁷ And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but ^(F)if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “^(G)You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; ^19 (H)Honor your father and mother; and ^(I)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ The young man *said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be ^[c]complete, go and ^(J)sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have ^(K)treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²² But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.