Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the ^[a]Red Sea, to ^(A)go around the land of Edom; and the ^[b]people became impatient because of the journey. ⁵ So the people spoke against God and Moses: “^(B)Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no ^[c]food and no water, and ^[d](C)we are disgusted with ^[e]this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

^6 (D)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and ^(E)they bit the people, so that ^(F)many people of Israel died. ^7 (G)So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(H)intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^[f]Make a ^(I)fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” ⁹ So Moses made a ^(J)bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

BOOK 5

The Lord Rescues People from Many Troubles.

Made Alive in Christ

2 And ^[a]you ^[b]were ^(A)dead ^[c]in your offenses and sins, ² in which you ^(B)previously walked according to the ^[d]course of ^(C)this world, according to ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in ^(E)the ^[e]sons of disobedience. ³ Among them ^[f]we too all ^(F)previously lived in ^(G)the lusts of our flesh, ^[g]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the ^[h]mind, and were ^(H)by nature ^(I)children of wrath, ^(J)just as the rest. ⁴ But God, being ^(K)rich in mercy, because of ^(L)His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were ^(M)dead ^[i]in our wrongdoings, made us alive together ^[j]with Christ (^(N)by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and ^(O)raised us up with Him, and ^(P)seated us with Him in ^(Q)the heavenly places in ^(R)Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the ^[k]boundless ^(S)riches of His grace in ^(T)kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For ^(U)by grace you have been saved ^(V)through faith; and ^[l]this is not of yourselves, it is ^(W)the gift of God; ^9 (X)not a result of works, so that ^(Y)no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, ^(Z)created in ^(AA)Christ Jesus for ^(AB)good works, which God ^(AC)prepared beforehand so that we would ^(AD)walk in them.

¹⁴ And just as ^(A)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must ^(B)the Son of Man ^(C)be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who ^[a]believes will ^(D)have eternal life in Him.

¹⁶ “For God so ^(E)loved the world, that He ^(F)gave His ^(G)only Son, so that everyone who ^(H)believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God ^(I)did not send the Son into the world ^(J)to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ^18 (K)The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(L)the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that ^(M)the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for ^(N)their deeds were evil. ^20 (O)For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. ²¹ But the one who ^(P)practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed ^[b]as having been performed in God.”