Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The People Were Afraid of God

²² Moses said, “The Lord gave these commands to all of you when you were together there at the mountain. He spoke in a loud voice that came from the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness. After he gave us these commands, he didn’t say any more. He wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³ “You heard the voice from the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire. Then all the elders and the other leaders of your tribes came to me. ²⁴ They said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us his Glory and his greatness! We heard him speak from the fire. We have seen today that it is possible to continue living even after God speaks to us. ²⁵ But if we hear the Lord our God speak to us again, surely we will die! That terrible fire will destroy us. We don’t want to die. ²⁶ No one has ever heard the living God speak from the fire like we have and still lived! ²⁷ Moses, you go near and hear everything the Lord our God says. Then tell us everything the Lord tells you. We will listen to you, and we will do everything you say.’

The Lord Speaks to Moses

²⁸ “The Lord heard what you said and told me, ‘I heard what the people said. And that is fine. ²⁹ I only wanted to change their way of thinking—I wanted them to respect me and obey all my commands from the heart. Then everything would be fine with them and with their descendants forever.

³⁰ “‘Go and tell the people to go back to their tents, ³¹ but you stand here near me. I will tell you all the commands, laws, and rules that you must teach them. They must do these things in the land that I am giving them to live in.’

³² “So you people must be careful to do everything the Lord commanded you. Do not stop following God! ³³ You must live the way the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will continue to live, and everything will be fine with you. You will live a long life in the land that will belong to you.

4 And we still have the promise that God gave those people. That promise is that we can enter his place of rest. So we should be very careful that none of you fails to get that promise. ² Yes, the good news about it was told to us just as it was to them. But the message they heard did not help them. They heard it but did not accept it with faith. ³ Only we who believe it are able to enter God’s place of rest. As God said,

But God’s work was finished from the time he made the world. ⁴ Yes, somewhere in the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week. He said, “So on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”^{[a] 5} But in the Scripture above God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”

⁶ So the opportunity is still there for some to enter and enjoy God’s rest. But those who first heard the good news about it did not enter, because they did not obey. ⁷ So God planned another special day. It is called “today.” He spoke about that day through David a long time later using the words we quoted before:

⁸ We know that Joshua did not lead the people into the place of rest that God promised. We know this because God spoke later about another day for rest. ⁹ This shows that the seventh-day rest^[b] for God’s people is still to come. ¹⁰ God rested after he finished his work. So everyone who enters God’s place of rest will also have rest from their own work just as God did. ¹¹ So let us try as hard as we can to enter God’s place of rest. We must try hard so that none of us will be lost by following the example of those who refused to obey God.