Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

What God Requires^[a]

¹⁵ Moses went back down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets with the commandments written on both sides. ¹⁶ God himself had made the tablets and had engraved the commandments on them.

¹⁷ Joshua heard the people shouting and said to Moses, “I hear the sound of battle in the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses said, “That doesn't sound like a shout of victory or a cry of defeat; it's the sound of singing.”

¹⁹ When Moses came close enough to the camp to see the bull-calf and to see the people dancing, he became furious. There at the foot of the mountain, he threw down the tablets he was carrying and broke them. ²⁰ He took the bull-calf which they had made, melted it, ground it into fine powder, and mixed it with water. Then he made the people of Israel drink it. ²¹ He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have made them commit such a terrible sin?”

²² Aaron answered, “Don't be angry with me; you know how determined these people are to do evil. ²³ They said to me, ‘We don't know what has happened to this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt; so make us a god to lead us.’ ²⁴ I asked them to bring me their gold ornaments, and those who had any took them off and gave them to me. I threw the ornaments into the fire and out came this bull-calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control and make fools of themselves in front of their enemies. ²⁶ So he stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, “Everyone who is on the Lord's side come over here!” So all the Levites gathered around him, ²⁷ and he said to them, “The Lord God of Israel commands every one of you to put on your sword and go through the camp from this gate to the other and kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors.” ²⁸ The Levites obeyed, and killed about three thousand men that day. ²⁹ Moses said to the Levites, “Today you have consecrated yourselves^[a] as priests in the service of the Lord by killing your sons and brothers, so the Lord has given you his blessing.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will again go up the mountain to the Lord; perhaps I can obtain forgiveness for your sin.” ³¹ Moses then returned to the Lord and said, “These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold and worshiped it. ^32 (A)Please forgive their sin; but if you won't, then remove my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.”

³³ The Lord answered, “It is those who have sinned against me whose names I will remove from my book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Remember that my angel will guide you, but the time is coming when I will punish these people for their sin.”

³⁵ So the Lord sent a disease on the people, because they had caused Aaron to make the gold bull-calf.

Poverty and Riches

⁹ Those Christians who are poor must be glad when God lifts them up, ^10 (A)and the rich Christians must be glad when God brings them down. For the rich will pass away like the flower of a wild plant. ¹¹ The sun rises with its blazing heat and burns the plant; its flower falls off, and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way the rich will be destroyed while they go about their business.

Testing and Tempting

¹² Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. ^13 (B)If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, “This temptation comes from God.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires. ¹⁵ Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my dear friends!