Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves ^(A)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of ^(B)hyssop and ^(C)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch ^(D)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ^(E)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ^23 (F)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ^(G)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(H)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. ²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, ^(I)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And ^(J)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ^(K)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people ^(L)bowed their heads and worshiped.

The Plot to Kill Jesus

^45 (A)Many of the Jews therefore, ^(B)who had come with Mary and ^(C)had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(D)gathered ^(E)the council and said, ^(F)“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and ^(G)the Romans will come and take away both our ^(H)place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, ^(I)Caiaphas, ^(J)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that ^(K)it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but ^(L)being high priest that year ^(M)he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(N)not for the nation only, but also ^(O)to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they ^(P)made plans to put him to death.

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore ^(Q)no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now ^(R)the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and ^(S)many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover ^(T)to purify themselves. ^56 (U)They were looking for^[a] Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.