Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

16 Save me, O God, because I have come to you for refuge. ² I said to him, “You are my Lord; I have no other help but yours.” ³ I want the company of the godly men and women in the land; they are the true nobility. ⁴ Those choosing other gods shall all be filled with sorrow; I will not offer the sacrifices they do or even speak the names of their gods.

⁵ The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine. ⁶ He sees that I am given pleasant brooks and meadows as my share!^[a] What a wonderful inheritance! ⁷ I will bless the Lord who counsels me; he gives me wisdom in the night. He tells me what to do.

⁸ I am always thinking of the Lord; and because he is so near, I never need to stumble or fall.

⁹ Heart, body, and soul are filled with joy. ¹⁰ For you will not leave me among the dead; you will not allow your beloved one to rot in the grave. ¹¹ You have let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence.

²² Then, with hands spread out toward the people, Aaron blessed them and came down from the altar. ²³ Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came out again they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly. ²⁴ Then fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and fat on the altar; and when the people saw it, they all shouted and fell flat upon the ground before the Lord.

10 But Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, placed unholy fire in their censers, laid incense on the fire, and offered the incense before the Lord^[a]—contrary to what the Lord had just commanded them! ² So fire blazed forth from the presence of the Lord and destroyed them.

³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said, ‘I will show myself holy among those who approach me, and I will be glorified before all the people.’” And Aaron was speechless.

⁴ Then Moses called for Mishael and Elzaphon, Aaron’s cousins, the sons of Uzziel, and told them, “Go and get the charred bodies from before the Tabernacle, and carry them outside the camp.”

⁵ So they went over and got them, and carried them out in their coats as Moses had told them to.

⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not mourn—do not let your hair hang loose as a sign of your mourning, and do not tear your clothes. If you do, God will strike you dead too, and his wrath will come upon all the people of Israel. But the rest of the people of Israel may lament the death of Nadab and Abihu, and mourn because of the terrible fire the Lord has sent. ⁷ But you are not to leave the Tabernacle under penalty of death, for the anointing oil of Jehovah is upon you.” And they did as Moses commanded.

^8-9 Now the Lord instructed Aaron, “Never drink wine or strong drink when you go into the Tabernacle, lest you die; and this rule applies to your sons and to all your descendants from generation to generation. ¹⁰ Your duties will be to arbitrate for the people, to teach them the difference between what is holy and what is ordinary, what is pure and what is impure; ¹¹ and to teach them all the laws Jehovah has given through Moses.”

⁵ Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ’s presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren’t at all? ⁶ I hope you can agree that I have stood that test and truly belong to the Lord.

⁷ I pray that you will live good lives, not because that will be a feather in our caps,^[a] proving that what we teach is right; no, for we want you to do right even if we ourselves are despised. ⁸ Our responsibility is to encourage the right at all times, not to hope for evil.^{[b] 9} We are glad to be weak and despised if you are really strong. Our greatest wish and prayer is that you will become mature Christians.

¹⁰ I am writing this to you now in the hope that I won’t need to scold and punish when I come; for I want to use the Lord’s authority that he has given me, not to punish you but to make you strong.