Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord's king rules[a]
2 Why are nations making plans to turn against the Lord?
All their plans will fail!
2 Kings and rulers decide to work together,
to fight against the Lord
and the king that he has chosen.
3 They say, ‘We will not accept their authority over us!
We will get free from their power!’[b]
4 The Lord who sits on his throne in heaven laughs at them.
He says that their plans are useless.
5 Then he becomes very angry and he frightens them.
He warns them with strong words and he says,
6 ‘I have put my king on his throne in Zion.[c]
I have put him on my holy mountain.’
7 I will tell you what the Lord has promised to me, his king.
He said to me, ‘You are my son.
Yes, today I have become your father![d]
8 Ask me and see what I will do!
I will give you all the nations on the earth.
They will all belong to you.
9 You will break them with an iron sceptre,
as if they are clay pots.’
10 So, you kings, think carefully!
You who rule the nations of the world, learn this lesson:
11 Respect the Lord and serve him.
Enjoy his rule with fear!
12 Bend down low in front of his son!
If not, the Lord will be angry.
He will quickly become very angry.
You will suddenly die!
But as for those who serve the Lord as their king,
he blesses them and he takes care of them all.
2 And God said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I showed them that I am God Almighty. But I did not let them know me by my special name, the Lord. 4 I also made my covenant with them. I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreign people. 5 I have heard the Israelites when they cry in pain. I know that the Egyptians have caused the Israelites to be their slaves. Now I have thought about my covenant. 6 So you must say this to the Israelites: “I am the Lord. I will remove you from the power of the Egyptians. You will not have to do hard work to serve them as their slaves any more. I will use my strength to save you and I will punish the Egyptians. 7 I will cause you to be my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I am your God who saved you from the power of the Egyptians. 8 I will take you to live in another land. That is the land that I promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Yes, I will give it to you and it will belong to you. I am the Lord.” ’
9 Moses told the Lord's message to the Israelites. But they refused to listen to him. They were very weak and tired, because their Egyptian masters were so cruel to them.
Jesus helps us as God's special priest
8 The most important thing that we are saying is this: In Jesus, we do have this kind of special priest. He has now sat down to rule with God in heaven. He sits at the right side of God, who rules with all authority. 2 He serves as priest in heaven on our behalf. He is in God's very special place, near to God himself. That is like the special place in the tabernacle of long ago. But it is not a tent that people have made. The Lord himself has made this special place, and it is the true one.
3 It is the duty of every special priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God. So Jesus, as our special priest, must also have something to offer. 4 If he was living on earth, then he would not be a priest. There are already priests on earth who offer gifts to God. They do this in the way that Moses' law tells them. 5 But the way that those Levite priests work is only like a picture of the true things in heaven. It is like a shadow of what would happen in heaven. Long ago, when Moses was ready to make the tabernacle, God warned him about it. God said to Moses, ‘Be careful to make everything just like the plan which I showed you on the mountain.’[a]
6 But now God has given Jesus a much better way to serve him as a priest. The new agreement that God makes with his people is possible because of Jesus. Because of Jesus' work on our behalf, the new agreement is better than the old one. It is much better because it started with better promises.
7 If there had been nothing wrong with that first agreement, then nobody would have needed a second agreement.
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