Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Saved Israel from Egypt
A maskil of Asaph.
78 My people, listen to my teaching;
listen to what I say.
2 I will speak using stories;
I will tell secret things from long ago.
3 We have heard them and known them
by what our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not keep them from our children;
we will tell those who come later
about the praises of the Lord.
We will tell about his power
and the miracles he has done.
12 He did miracles while their ancestors watched,
in the fields of Zoan in Egypt.
13 He divided the Red Sea and led them through.
He made the water stand up like a wall.
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and by the light of a fire by night.
15 He split the rocks in the desert
and gave them more than enough water, as if from the deep ocean.
16 He brought streams out of the rock
and caused water to flow down like rivers.
Joshua Is the New Leader
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Climb this mountain in the Abarim Mountains, and look at the land I have given to the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you will die and join your ancestors as your brother Aaron did, 14 because you both acted against my command in the Desert of Zin. You did not honor me as holy before the people at the waters of Meribah.” (This was at Meribah in Kadesh in the Desert of Zin.)
Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority
27 Jesus and his followers went again to Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders came to him. 28 They said to him, “What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
29 Jesus answered, “I will ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 30 Tell me: When John baptized people, was that authority from God or just from other people?”
31 They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘It was from other people,’ the crowd will be against us.” (These leaders were afraid of the people, because all the people believed that John was a prophet.)
33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.