Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Up to Jerusalem
122 I rejoiced when they kept on asking me,
“Let us go to the Lord’s Temple.”
2 Our feet are standing
inside your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem stands built up,
a city knitted together.
4 To it the tribes ascend—
the tribes of the Lord—
as decreed to Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For thrones are established there for judgment,
thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for peace for Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be at peace![a]
7 May peace be within your ramparts,
and[b] prosperity[c] within your fortresses.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will now say, “May there be peace within you.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I will seek your welfare.
11 By this time, the earth had become ruined in God’s opinion[a] and filled with violence. 12 God looked at the earth, observing how corrupt its population had become, because the entire human race[b] had corrupted itself.[c] 13 So God announced to Noah, “I’ve decided to destroy every living thing on earth,[d] because it has become filled with violence due to them. Look! I’m about to annihilate them, along with the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark out of cedar,[e] constructing compartments in it, and cover it inside and out with tar. 15 Make the ark like this: 300 cubits[f] long, 50 cubits[g] wide, and 30 cubits[h] high. 16 Make a roof[i] for the ark, and finish the walls[j] to within one cubit[k] from the top.[l] Place the entrance in the side of the ark, and build a lower, a middle, and an upper deck.
17 “For my part, I’m about to flood the earth with water and destroy every living thing[m] that breathes. Everything on earth will die. 18 However, I will establish my own covenant with you, and you are to enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. 19 You are to bring two of every living thing[n] into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female. 20 From birds according to their species,[o] from domestic animals according to their species,[p] and from everything that crawls on the ground according to their species[q]—two of everything will come to you so they may remain alive. 21 For your part, take some of the edible food and store it away—these stores will be food for you and the animals.”[r]
22 Noah did all of this, precisely as[s] God had commanded.
Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple(A)
24 After Jesus had left the Temple and was walking away, his disciples came up to him to point out to him the Temple buildings. 2 But in reply he responded to them, “You see all these things, don’t you? I tell all of you[a] with certainty, not even a single stone here will be left standing on top of another that won’t be completely demolished.”
Cults, Revolutions, Famines, and Earthquakes(B)
3 Now while Jesus[b] was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 In reply, Jesus told them, “See to it that no one deceives you, 5 because many will come in my name, proclaiming, ‘I’m the Messiah,’[c] and they will deceive many people. 6 You’ll begin to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you don’t panic. These things must take place, but the end won’t have come yet, 7 because nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 But all these things are only a beginning of agonies.”
Future Persecution, Apostasy, and Evangelism(C)
9 “Then they’ll hand you over to suffer[d] and will kill you, and you’ll be hated by all the nations[e] on account of my name. 10 Then many people will fall away, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people, 12 and because lawlessness will increase, the love of many people will grow cold. 13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the inhabited world as a testimony to all nations,[f] and then the end will come.”
Signs of the End(D)
15 “So when you see the destructive desecration, mentioned by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader take note),[g] 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Anyone who’s on the housetop must not come down to get what is in his house, 18 and anyone who’s in the field must not turn back to get his coat.
19 “How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days! 20 Pray that it may not be in winter or on a Sabbath when you flee, 21 because at that time there will be great suffering,[h] the kind that hasn’t happened from the beginning of the world until now and certainly won’t ever happen again. 22 If those days hadn’t been shortened, no one[i] would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.
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