Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord, the Fair and Holy King
99 The Lord is king.
Let the peoples shake with fear.
He sits between the gold creatures with wings.
Let the earth shake.
2 The Lord in Jerusalem is great;
he is supreme over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your name;
it is great, holy and to be feared.
4 The King is powerful and loves justice.
Lord, you made things fair;
you have done what is fair and right
for the people of Jacob.
5 Praise the Lord our God,
and worship at the Temple, his footstool.
He is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel was among his worshipers.
They called to the Lord,
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud.
They kept the rules and laws he gave them.
8 Lord our God, you answered them.
You showed them that you are a forgiving God,
but you punished them for their wrongs.
9 Praise the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain,
because the Lord our God is holy.
Aaron and His Sons Offer Sacrifices
9 On the eighth day after the time of appointing, Moses called for Aaron and his sons and for the elders of Israel. 2 He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf and a male sheep that have nothing wrong with them, and offer them to the Lord. The calf will be a sin offering, and the male sheep will be a whole burnt offering. 3 Tell the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb for a whole burnt offering; each must be one year old, and it must have nothing wrong with it. 4 Also take a bull and a male sheep for fellowship offerings, along with a grain offering mixed with oil. Offer all these things to the Lord, because the Lord will appear to you today.’”
5 So all the people came to the front of the Meeting Tent, bringing the things Moses had commanded them to bring, and they stood before the Lord. 6 Moses said, “You have done what the Lord commanded, so you will see the Lord’s glory.”
7 Then Moses told Aaron, “Go to the altar and offer sin offerings and whole burnt offerings. Do this to remove your sins and the people’s sins so you will belong to God. Offer the sacrifices for the people and perform the acts to remove their sins for them so they will belong to the Lord, as the Lord has commanded.”
8 So Aaron went to the altar and killed the bull calf as a sin offering for himself. 9 Then his sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the corners of the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. 10 Aaron took the fat, the kidneys, and the best part of the liver from the sin offering and burned them on the altar, in the way the Lord had commanded Moses. 11 The meat and skin he burned outside the camp.
22 Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. When he had finished offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering, he stepped down from the altar.
23 Moses and Aaron went into the Meeting Tent. Then they came out and blessed the people, and the Lord’s glory came to all the people. 24 Fire came out from the Lord and burned up the burnt offering and fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and bowed facedown on the ground.
Change Your Lives
4 Since Christ suffered while he was in his body, strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking Christ had. The person who has suffered in the body is finished with sin. 2 Strengthen yourselves so that you will live here on earth doing what God wants, not the evil things people want. 3 In the past you wasted too much time doing what nonbelievers enjoy. You were guilty of sexual sins, evil desires, drunkenness, wild and drunken parties, and hateful idol worship. 4 Nonbelievers think it is strange that you do not do the many wild and wasteful things they do, so they insult you. 5 But they will have to explain this to God, who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the Good News was preached to those who are now dead. Even though they were judged like all people, the Good News was preached to them so they could live in the spirit as God lives.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.