Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Peace through the One from the Family of Jesse

11 Then One will come from the family of Jesse. A branch will grow out of his roots. ² And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of wise words and strength, the spirit of much learning and the fear of the Lord. ³ He will be glad in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what His eyes see, or decide by what His ears hear. ⁴ But He will judge the poor in a right and good way. He will be fair in what He decides for the people of the earth who have much trouble. He will punish the earth with His powerful mouth, and kill the sinful with the breath of His lips. ⁵ He will wear a belt of what is right and good and faithful around His body.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the young lion and the young fat animal will lie down together. And a little boy will lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear will eat side by side. And their young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra. And another child will put his hand in the hole of a snake whose bite is poison. ⁹ They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain. For the earth will be as full of much learning from the Lord as the seas are full of water.

²⁰ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Go away from these people, so I may destroy them at once.” ²² But they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with all the people?” ²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Say to the people, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”

²⁵ Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the leaders of Israel following him. ²⁶ And he said to the people, “Go away now from the tents of these sinful men. Touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be destroyed because of all their sin.” ²⁷ So they went away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸ Moses said, “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works. For this is not my doing. ²⁹ If these men die in the same way all men die, or if what happens to everyone happens to them, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But the Lord will do something new. The ground will open its mouth and take them with all that belongs to them. And they will go down alive into the place of the dead. Then you will understand that these men have turned against the Lord.”

³¹ As soon as he stopped speaking, the ground under them opened up. ³² The earth opened its mouth and took them and all those of their house, and all Korah’s men and all that belonged to them. ³³ They and all that belonged to them went down alive to the place of the dead, and the earth closed over them. They were destroyed from among the people. ³⁴ And all Israel who were around them ran away at their cry. For they said, “The earth may take us too!” ³⁵ Then fire came from the Lord and destroyed the 250 men who had brought the special perfume.

²³ They planned to meet him on a certain day. Many people came to the place where he stayed. He preached to them about the holy nation of God. He tried to get them to put their trust in Jesus Christ by preaching from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the early preachers. From morning until night he spoke to them. ²⁴ Some of them believed his teaching. Others did not believe.

²⁵ As they left, they did not agree with each other. Then Paul said, “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your early fathers through the early preacher Isaiah. ²⁶ He said, ‘Go to these people and say, “You will hear and never understand, you will look and never see, ²⁷ because these people have hearts that have become fat. They do not hear well with their ears. They have closed their eyes so their eyes do not see and their ears do not hear and their minds do not understand and they do not turn to Me and let Me heal them.”’ ^(A)

²⁸ “I want you to know that the Good News of God of knowing how to be saved from the punishment of sin has been sent to the people who are not Jews. And they will listen to it!” ²⁹ *After he had said these things, the Jews went away and argued with each other.

³⁰ Paul paid money to live in a house by himself for two years. He was happy for all who came to see him. ³¹ He kept on preaching about the holy nation of God. He taught about the Lord Jesus Christ without fear. No one stopped him.