Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Israel’s History after the Exodus

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel ^(A)across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the ^(B)Arabah opposite ^[a]Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. ² It is eleven days’ journey from ^(C)Horeb by the way of Mount ^(D)Seir to ^(E)Kadesh-barnea. ³ In the ^(F)fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, ^(G)according to all that the Lord had commanded him to give to them, ⁴ after he had ^[b](H)defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ^(I)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in ^(J)Ashtaroth ^[c]and Edrei. ⁵ Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,

⁶ “The Lord our God ^(K)spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have ^[d]stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Turn and set your journey, and go to ^(L)the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in ^(M)the ^[e]Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord ^(N)swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their ^[f]descendants after them.’

⁹ “I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘^(O)I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has ^(P)multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, ^(Q)just as He has ^[g]promised you! ¹² How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife? ^13 [h](R)Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ ¹⁴ You answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ ¹⁵ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and ^[i]appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and ^[j]of hundreds, ^[k]of fifties and ^[l]of tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶ “Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your ^[m]fellow countrymen, and ^(S)judge righteously between a man and his ^[n]fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. ^17 (T)You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall ^(U)not fear ^[o]man, for the judgment is God’s. ^(V)The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ ^18 (W)I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

Death of Herod

²⁰ Now he was very angry with the people of ^(A)Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because ^(B)their country was fed by the king’s country. ²¹ On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the ^[a]rostrum and began delivering an address to them. ²² The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ And immediately ^(C)an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and ^[b]died.

²⁴ But ^(D)the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

²⁵ And ^(E)Barnabas and ^(F)Saul returned ^[c]from Jerusalem ^(G)when they had fulfilled their ^[d]mission, taking along with them ^(H)John, who was also called Mark.