Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁶⁵ Lord, I am overflowing with your blessings, just as you promised. ⁶⁶ Now teach me good judgment as well as knowledge. For your laws are my guide. ⁶⁷ I used to wander off until you punished me; now I closely follow all you say. ⁶⁸ You are good and do only good; make me follow your lead.

⁶⁹ Proud men have made up lies about me, but the truth is that I obey your laws with all my heart. ⁷⁰ Their minds are dull and stupid, but I have sense enough to follow you.

^71-72 The punishment you gave me was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws. They are more valuable to me than millions in silver and gold!

16 ^1-2 After Aaron’s two sons died before the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother Aaron not to enter into the Holy Place behind the veil, where the Ark and the place of mercy are, just whenever he chooses. The penalty for intrusion is death. For I myself am present in the cloud above the place of mercy.

³ “Here are the conditions for his entering there: He must bring a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He must bathe himself and put on the sacred linen coat, shorts, belt, and turban. ⁵ The people of Israel shall then bring him two male goats for their sin offering, and a ram for their burnt offering.

²⁰ “When he has completed the rite of atonement for the Holy Place, the entire Tabernacle, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat and, ²¹ laying both hands upon its head, confess over it all the sins of the people of Israel. He shall lay all their sins upon the head of the goat and send it into the desert, led by a man appointed for the task. ²² So the goat shall carry all the sins of the people into a land where no one lives,^[a] and the man shall let it loose in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall go into the Tabernacle again and take off the linen garments he wore when he went behind the veil, and leave them there in the Tabernacle. ²⁴ Then he shall bathe in a sacred place, put on his clothes again, and go out and sacrifice his own burnt offering for the people, making atonement for himself and for them. ²⁵ He shall also burn upon the altar the fat for the sin offering.

²⁶ “The man who took the goat out into the desert^[b] shall afterwards wash his clothes and bathe himself and then come back into the camp. ²⁷ And the young bull and the goat used for the sin offering (their blood was taken into the Holy Place by Aaron, to make atonement) shall be carried outside the camp and burned, including the hides and internal organs. ²⁸ Afterwards, the person doing the burning shall wash his clothes and bathe himself and then return to camp.

¹⁸ In the morning, as he was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry ¹⁹ and noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “Never bear fruit again!” And soon^[a] the fig tree withered up.

²⁰ The disciples were utterly amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹ Then Jesus told them, “Truly, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this Mount of Olives, ‘Move over into the ocean,’ and it will. ²² You can get anything—anything you ask for in prayer—if you believe.”