Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

11 And there shall come forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a Branch out of his roots shall grow and bear fruit.^(A)

² And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord—

³ And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;

⁴ But with righteousness and justice shall He judge the poor and decide with fairness for the meek, the poor, and the downtrodden of the earth; and He shall smite the earth and the oppressor with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist and faithfulness the girdle of His loins.

⁶ And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted domestic animal together; and a little child shall lead them.

⁷ And the cow and the bear shall feed side by side, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸ And the sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

⁹ They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

²⁰ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

²¹ Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

²² And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and will You be angry with all the congregation?

²³ And the Lord said to Moses,

²⁴ Say to the congregation, Get away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

²⁵ Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶ And he said to the congregation, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.

²⁷ So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents with their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.

²⁸ And Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I do not act of my own accord:

²⁹ If these men die the common death of all men or if [only] what happens to everyone happens to them, then the Lord has not sent me.

³⁰ But if the Lord causes a new thing [to happen], and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol (the place of the dead), then you shall understand that these men have provoked (spurned, despised) the Lord!

³¹ As soon as he stopped speaking, the ground under the offenders split apart

³² And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households and [Korah and] all [his] men and all their possessions.^(A)

³³ They and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol (the place of the dead); and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly.

³⁴ And all Israel who were round about them fled at their cry, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

³⁵ And fire came forth from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered the incense.

²³ So when they had set a day with him, they came in large numbers to his lodging. And he fully set forth and explained the matter to them from morning until night, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

²⁴ And some were convinced and believed what he said, and others did not believe.

²⁵ And as they disagreed among themselves, they began to leave, [but not before] Paul had added one statement [more]: The Holy Spirit was right in saying through Isaiah the prophet to your forefathers:

²⁶ Go to this people and say to them, You will indeed hear and hear with your ears but will not understand, and you will indeed look and look with your eyes but will not see [not perceive, have knowledge of or become acquainted with what you look at, at all].

²⁷ For the heart (the understanding, the soul) of this people has grown dull (stupid, hardened, and calloused), and their ears are heavy and hard of hearing and they have shut tight their eyes, so that they may not perceive and have knowledge and become acquainted with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their souls and turn [to Me and be converted], that I may heal them.^(A)

²⁸ So let it be understood by you then that [this message of] the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen [to it]!^(B)

^29 [a]And when he had said these things, the Jews went away, arguing and disputing among themselves.

³⁰ After this Paul lived there for two entire years [at his own expense] in his own rented lodging, and he welcomed all who came to him,

³¹ Preaching to them the kingdom of God and teaching them about the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness and quite openly, and without being molested or hindered.