Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

10 My brothers, here is something you should know. Long ago, all our fathers were led by the cloud of God over them. They all went through the Red Sea.

² It was as if they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³ They all ate the same food from the Spirit.

⁴ They all drank the same water sent by the Spirit. The water they drank came from a Rock of the Spirit which went with them. That Rock was Christ.

⁵ But God was not pleased with most of them. They died in the wilderness.

⁶ This teaches us not to want wrong things as they did.

⁷ Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The holy writings say, `The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and danced.'

⁸ We must not use sex the wrong way as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand people died in one day!

⁹ We must not test the Lord, as some of them did. They were bitten by bad snakes and died!

¹⁰ Do not grumble, as some of them did. They were killed by the Angel of Death!

¹¹ These things happened to them to teach other people. They were written in the holy writings to teach us who are living in the last days of the world.

¹² Therefore, when a person thinks, `I am strong; I can stand,' let that person be careful, or he will fall.

¹³ No testing has come to you that other people do not have. But God will not fail you. He will not allow the testing to be too hard for you. No. When the testing comes, God will make a way out for you, so that you can go through the testing.

13 Some people were there at that time who told Jesus what Pilate had done. He had killed some of the people of Galilee and put their blood with the blood of their sacrifices to God.

² Jesus answered, `Do you think it was because they were worse than all the other people in Galilee?

³ I tell you, "No!" But if you do not stop doing wrong things, then you will all die as they did.

⁴ Eighteen men died when the high house in Siloam fell on them. Do you think they were worse than all the other men who lived in Jerusalem?

⁵ I tell you, "No!" But if you do not stop doing wrong things, you will all die as they did.'

⁶ Then Jesus told this story: `A man had a fruit tree on his farm. He came to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.

⁷ He said to the man who cared for the trees, "For three years I have come to look for fruit on this tree, but I have not found any. Cut it down. Why should it spoil my farmland?"

⁸ The man who cared for the trees answered, "Sir, let it stay one more year. I will dig around it and put good soil around it.

⁹ If it has fruit on it next year, that will be good. But if it has no fruit, you can have it cut down." '