Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the director: A song of praise from the Korah family.
85 Lord, you have been so kind to your land.
You have brought success again to the people of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the bad things your people did.
You have taken away the guilt of their sins! Selah
8 I heard what the Lord God said.
He said there would be peace for his people and his loyal followers.
So they must not go back to their foolish way of living.
9 He will soon save his faithful followers.
His glory will again live in our land.[a]
10 God’s love will come together with his faithful people.
Goodness and peace will greet them with a kiss.
11 People on earth will be loyal to God,
and God in heaven will be good to them.[b]
12 The Lord will give us many good things.
The ground will grow many good crops.
13 Goodness will go before the Lord
and prepare the way for him.
24 “I will take you out of those nations, gather you together, and bring you back to your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle pure water on you and make you pure. I will wash away all your filth, the filth from those nasty idols, and I will make you pure. 26 I will also put a new spirit in you to change your way of thinking. I will take out the heart of stone from your body and give you a tender, human heart. 27 I will put my Spirit inside you[a] and change you so that you will obey my laws. You will carefully obey my commands. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
Jewish Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority(A)
27 Jesus and his followers went again to Jerusalem. Jesus was walking in the Temple area. The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the older Jewish leaders came to him. 28 They said, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
29 Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question. You answer my question. Then I will tell you whose authority I use to do these things. 30 Tell me: When John baptized people, did his authority come from God or was it only from other people? Answer me.”
31 These Jewish leaders talked about Jesus’ question. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe John?’ 32 But we can’t say that John’s baptism was from someone else.” (These leaders were afraid of the people, because the people believed that John was a prophet.)
33 So the leaders answered Jesus, “We don’t know the answer.”
Jesus said, “Then I will not tell you who gave me the authority to do these things.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International