Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 16^[a]

God the Supreme Good

¹ A miktam^[b] of David.

^22 [a]Aaron, raising his hands toward the people, blessed them, and, after he had sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, descended from the altar. ²³ Moses and Aaron entered the meeting tent. They then went out and blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴ A fire came out from the presence of the Lord and it consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar. All the people saw this. They cried out and fell upon their faces.

Chapter 10

The Death of Nadab and Abihu.^{[b] 1} Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer. They put fire and incense into them and offered unholy fire before the Lord, not as he had prescribed for them. ² But a fire came out from the presence of the Lord and it devoured them and they died before the Lord. ³ Moses therefore said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘I will show myself to be holy to those who draw near to me and I will be glorified before all of the people.’ ” Aaron therefore remained silent. ⁴ Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of Aaron, and told them, “Come here and carry away your relatives from the sanctuary. Take them outside of the camp.” ⁵ They drew near and carried them and their tunics away outside of the camp, as Moses had told them.

⁶ To Aaron, to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, Moses said, “Do not uncover the hair of your heads nor rend your garments, lest you die and lest the wrath of the Lord come upon the entire community. But let your brothers, the whole household of Israel, mourn the burning that the Lord kindled.^{[c] 7} Do not go out from the entrance of the meeting tent lest you die, for the oil of anointing of the Lord is upon you.” They did what Moses told them.

Prohibition against Wine. ⁸ The Lord said to Aaron, ⁹ “Do not drink wine or strong drink when you are to enter the tent of meeting, neither you nor your sons, lest you die. This will be a statute forever throughout all of your generations. ^10 [d]This is so that you can distinguish between what is holy and unholy, and between what is unclean and clean, ¹¹ so that you can teach the children of Israel all of the statutes that the Lord gave through Moses.”

Examine Yourselves. ⁵ Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? If he is not, then you have failed the test. ⁶ It is my hope that you will come to the realization that we have not failed. ⁷ But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not so that we may appear to have passed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to have failed.

⁸ We have no power to do anything against the truth but only for the truth. ⁹ We rejoice when we are weak, just as long as you are strong. This is what we desire—that you may become perfect.

¹⁰ I am writing this letter prior to my arrival so that when I come I may not have to treat you harshly in exercising the authority that the Lord has given me to build up and not to tear down.