Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of Ascents

A Prayer for Mercy

¹³ Many of the people gathered together in Jerusalem to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread during the second month. It was a very large assembly. ¹⁴ They all got to work and removed the idolatrous^[a] altars that were throughout Jerusalem. They also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Brook. ¹⁵ Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month.

The priests and descendants of Levi felt ashamed of themselves, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the Lord’s Temple. ¹⁶ Then they took their customary places, as the Law of Moses the man of God prescribes, and the priests sprinkled the blood that they were given by the descendants of Levi. ¹⁷ Because there were so many in the assembly that had not consecrated themselves, therefore the descendants of Levi supervised the slaughter of the Passover sacrifices on behalf of everyone who remained unclean, so they could be consecrated to the Lord. ¹⁸ Even though a large crowd of people from as far away as Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not completed consecrating themselves, they still ate the Passover in a manner not proscribed by the Law,^[b] because Hezekiah had prayed like this for them: “May the good Lord extend a pardon on behalf of ¹⁹ everyone who prepares his own heart to seek God, the Lord God of his ancestors, even though he does so inconsistent with the laws of consecration.” ²⁰ The Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

The Festival of Unleavened Bread is Observed

²¹ The Israelis who were present in Jerusalem observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with immense gladness, and the descendants of Levi and priests praised the Lord throughout each day, singing mightily to the Lord. ²² Hezekiah encouraged all the descendants of Levi who demonstrated significant insight in their service to the Lord, so they all participated in the festival meals for seven days, all the while sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors. ²³ After this, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, and so they did—and they were very happy to do so! ²⁴ King Hezekiah of Judah gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for offerings, and the princes contributed 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep, and a large number of priests consecrated themselves.

²⁵ Everyone in the assembly of Judah rejoiced, as did the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people who gathered together from throughout Israel, including those who came from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah. ²⁶ There was great joy throughout Jerusalem, because nothing had happened like this in Jerusalem since the days of David’s son Solomon, king of Israel. ²⁷ After this, the priests arose, blessed the people, and their voices were heard in prayer all the way to heaven, where God resides in holiness.

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man^(A)

2 Several days later, Jesus^[a] returned to Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. ² Such a large crowd gathered that there wasn’t room for them, even in front of the door. Jesus^[b] was speaking his message to them ³ when some people^[c] came and brought him a paralyzed man being carried by four men. ⁴ Since they couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves,^{[d] 7} “Why does this man talk this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. “Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?”^[e] he asked them. ⁹ “Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know^[f] that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Then he told the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!” ¹² So the man^[g] got up, immediately picked up his mat, and went out in front of all of them.

As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God as they kept on saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”