Book of Common Prayer

¹² So lift up your hands that are hanging down. Make your weak knees strong.

¹³ Walk straight ahead. Then weak feet will not get worse, but will be made well.

¹⁴ Try to be at peace with all people. And try to be holy. If a person is not holy, he will not see the Lord.

¹⁵ Take care that no one loses God's blessing. Take care so that no angry feeling starts to grow in anyone. It will make trouble and many people will become bad.

¹⁶ Take care that no one takes part in wrong ways of using sex. And take care that no one is like Esau and forgets God. He was the older son. But he sold all that he would get from his father. He sold it for a little food.

¹⁷ You know that later he wanted to get the blessing, but he did not get it. He could not turn back. He even cried as he begged for the blessing.

¹⁸ You have not come to the mountain that can be touched and is burning with a big fire. You have not come to the place of darkness and night and storm.

¹⁹ You have not come to a place where a loud trumpet or horn is blown, and a loud voice is talking. When the people heard the voice, they begged that God would not say anything more to them.

²⁰ They were afraid of what he said. He said, `If even an animal touches this mountain, it must be killed with stones.'

²¹ Moses was afraid when he saw all this. He said, `I fear very much and I tremble.'

²² But you have come to a hill called Zion. You have come to the city of the living God. It is the Jerusalem in heaven. You have come to many thousands of angels in a happy gathering.

²³ You have come to the church people. They are God's first sons, and their names are written in heaven. You have come to God who is the judge of all people. You have come to the spirits of good people who have been made right.

²⁴ You have come to Jesus who is the middle man of a new agreement. You have come to the place where the spilling of his blood has more power than Abel's.

²⁵ Take care that you listen to God who is talking now. The people were punished when they would not listen to the One who talked on earth. And we will be punished much worse if we will not listen to the One who talks from heaven.

²⁶ That time his voice shook the earth. But now he has said, `Only once more I will shake the earth and the sky also.'

²⁷ The words, `Only once more' mean that the things that are shaken will be taken away. They are things that were made. The things which are not shaken will stay.

²⁸ We have a place in heaven that cannot be shaken. So let us be glad and worship God and please him. Let us respect and fear him.

²⁹ Our God is a fire that can burn up.

¹⁴ When the feast was half finished, Jesus went to the temple and taught the people.

¹⁵ The Jews were very much surprised. `How can this man know books? He never went to school.'

¹⁶ Jesus answered the people, `I am not teaching you my teaching. It is the teaching of the one who sent me.

¹⁷ If any man wants to do what God wants him to do, he will know the teaching. He will know if it is God's teaching or if I am speaking from my own mind.

¹⁸ The person who speaks from his own mind only wants to be great himself. But the person whom God has sent wants to show that God is great. That person is true. He is not a bad man.

¹⁹ Did not Moses give you the law? Not one of you is keeping the law. Why are you trying to kill me?'

²⁰ The people answered Jesus, `A bad spirit is in you! Who is trying to kill you?'

²¹ Jesus answered them, `I have done one thing. You are all surprised about it.

²² Moses gave you the law of circumcision. You obey the law, not because it came from Moses, but because it came from the fathers long ago. You circumcise a baby boy on the Sabbath day.

²³ You do it on the Sabbath day so that you will not break the law of Moses. If you do that, then why are you angry with me because I healed a man on the Sabbath day?

²⁴ Do not judge by what you see, but judge in the right way.'

²⁵ Some people from Jerusalem said, `Is not this the person they are trying to kill?

²⁶ See, he does not fear to speak and yet they say nothing to him! Do the rulers really know that this man is the Christ?

²⁷ But we know where this man comes from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.'

²⁸ Jesus was teaching in the temple. He spoke loudly saying, `You know me and you know where I come from. I have not come in my own power. The one who sent me is true. He is the one you do not know.

²⁹ I know him because I came from him. He sent me.'

³⁰ Then the people wanted to catch him. But no one put a hand on him. It was not yet the time for that.

³¹ Many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, `When Christ comes, will he do greater works than this man has done?'

³² The Pharisees heard what the people said about him. The chief priests and the Pharisees sent soldiers to catch him.

³³ Jesus said, `I will stay with you a short time longer. Then I will go back to him who sent me.

³⁴ You will look for me, but you will not find me. You will not be able to go to the place where I will be.'

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, `Where will he go that we cannot find him? Will he go to our people who are living in other countries? Will he teach them?

³⁶ What does he mean by this: "You will look for me and will not find me. You will not be able to go to the place where I will be"?'