Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
11 The royal line of David[a] will be cut off, chopped down like a tree; but from the stump will grow a Shoot—yes, a new Branch from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight will be obedience to the Lord. He will not judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay, 4 but will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked who oppress them. 5 For he will be clothed with fairness and with truth.
6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the leopard and goats will be at peace. Calves and fat cattle will be safe among lions, and a little child shall lead them all. 7 The cows will graze among bears; cubs and calves will lie down together, and lions will eat grass like the cows. 8 Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes, and a little child who puts his hand in a nest of deadly adders will pull it out unharmed. 9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so shall the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
20 and Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Get away from these people so that I may instantly destroy them.”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell face downward to the ground before the Lord. “O God, the God of all mankind,” they pleaded, “must you be angry with all the people when one man sins?”
23-24 And the Lord said to Moses, “Then tell the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 So Moses rushed over to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, followed closely by the 250 Israeli leaders. 26 “Quick!” he told the people, “get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t touch anything that belongs to them, lest you be included in their sins and be destroyed with them.[a]”
27 So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives and sons and little ones.
28 And Moses said, “By this you shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own. 29 If these men die a natural death or from some ordinary accident or disease, then Jehovah has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord does a miracle and the ground opens up and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”
31 He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them, 32 and a great fissure swallowed them up, along with their tents and families and the friends who were standing with them, and everything they owned. 33 So they went down alive into Sheol and the earth closed upon them, and they perished. 34 All of the people of Israel fled at their screams, fearing that the earth would swallow them too. 35 Then fire came from Jehovah and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
23 So a time was set, and on that day large numbers came to his house. He told them about the Kingdom of God and taught them about Jesus from the Scriptures—from the five books of Moses and the books of prophecy. He began lecturing in the morning and went on into the evening!
24 Some believed and some didn’t. 25 But after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul ringing in their ears: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said through Isaiah the prophet,
26 ‘Say to the Jews, “You will hear and see but not understand, 27 for your hearts are too fat and your ears don’t listen and you have closed your eyes against understanding, for you don’t want to see and hear and understand and turn to me to heal you.”’[a]
28-29 [b]So I want you to realize that this salvation from God is available to the Gentiles too, and they will accept it.”
30 Paul lived for the next two years in his rented house[c] and welcomed all who visited him, 31 telling them with all boldness about the Kingdom of God and about the Lord Jesus Christ; and no one tried to stop him.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.