Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

In Praise of the Lord

The Covenant Is Sealed

24 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up the mountain to me, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the leaders of Israel; and while you are still some distance away, bow down in worship. ² You alone, and none of the others, are to come near me. The people are not even to come up the mountain.”

³ Moses went and told the people all the Lord's commands and all the ordinances, and all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the Lord has said.” ⁴ Moses wrote down all the Lord's commands. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent young men, and they burned sacrifices to the Lord and sacrificed some cattle as fellowship offerings. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood of the animals and put it in bowls; and the other half he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the book of the Covenant, in which the Lord's commands were written, and read it aloud to the people. They said, “We will obey the Lord and do everything that he has commanded.”

^8 (A)Then Moses took the blood in the bowls and threw it on the people. He said, “This is the blood that seals the covenant which the Lord made with you when he gave all these commands.”

⁹ Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the leaders of Israel went up the mountain ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was what looked like a pavement of sapphire, as blue as the sky. ¹¹ God did not harm these leading men of Israel; they saw God, and then they ate and drank together.

Paul's Plan to Visit Rome

^22 (A)And so I have been prevented many times from coming to you. ²³ But now that I have finished my work in these regions and since I have been wanting for so many years to come to see you, ²⁴ I hope to do so now. I would like to see you on my way to Spain, and be helped by you to go there, after I have enjoyed visiting you for a while. ^25 (B)Right now, however, I am going to Jerusalem in the service of God's people there. ²⁶ For the churches in Macedonia and Achaia have freely decided to give an offering to help the poor among God's people in Jerusalem. ^27 (C)That decision was their own; but, as a matter of fact, they have an obligation to help them. Since the Jews shared their spiritual blessings with the Gentiles, the Gentiles ought to use their material blessings to help the Jews. ²⁸ When I have finished this task and have turned over to them all the money that has been raised for them, I shall leave for Spain and visit you on my way there. ²⁹ When I come to you, I know that I shall come with a full measure of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰ I urge you, friends, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit gives: join me in praying fervently to God for me. ³¹ Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to God's people there. ³² And so I will come to you full of joy, if it is God's will, and enjoy a refreshing visit with you. ³³ May God, our source of peace, be with all of you. Amen.