Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Teth.

Law of Atonement

16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who had died when they [irreverently] approached the presence of the Lord.^{(A) 2} The Lord said to Moses,

“Tell Aaron your brother that he ^[a]must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil (the Holy of Holies), before the ^[b]mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.^{(B) 3} Aaron [as high priest] shall enter the Holy Place in this way: with [the blood of] a young bull as a sin offering and [the blood of] a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be belted with the linen sash, and dressed with the linen turban (these are the holy garments). He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. ⁵ He shall take from the congregation of the Israelites [at their expense] two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.

²⁰ “When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹ Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat [the scapegoat, the sin-bearer], and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is prepared [for the task]. ²² The goat shall carry on itself all their (the Israelites) wickedness, carrying them to a solitary (infertile) land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.^(A)

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and shall leave them there. ²⁴ He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes, and come out and offer his burnt offering and that of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ And he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. ²⁶ The man who released the goat as the [sin-bearing] scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. ²⁷ The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place (Holy of Holies), shall be taken outside the camp; their skins, their meat, and their waste shall be burned in the fire.^{(B) 28} Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

The Barren Fig Tree

¹⁸ Now early in the morning, as Jesus was coming back to the city, He was hungry.^{(A) 19} Seeing a lone fig tree at the roadside, He went to it and found nothing but leaves on it; and He said to it, “Never again will fruit come from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they were astonished and asked, “How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?” ²¹ Jesus replied to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have faith [personal trust and confidence in Me] and do not doubt or allow yourself to be drawn in two directions, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen [if God wills it].^{(B) 22} And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.”