Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Zayin
49 Do not forget Your promise to Your servant;
through it You have given me hope.
50 This brings me solace in the midst of my troubles:
that Your word has revived me.
51 Those who are proud cruelly ridicule me,
but I keep to the steady path of Your teachings.
52 I have considered Your ancient rulings, O Eternal One,
and their memory brings me comfort.
53 Burning anger rises in me, has me in its grip
because the unrighteous abandon Your teachings.
54 As I journey through this life,
Your statutes are my song.
55 O Eternal One, through the night, I stop to recall Your name.
That’s how I live according to Your teachings.
56 This has become my practice:
to keep Your ordinances.
10 The Eternal your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you this land. When He brings you into it, you’ll live in beautiful and spacious cities you didn’t build. 11 You’ll have houses filled with good things waiting for you—cisterns to hold water already dug out of the rock for you, and vineyards and olive orchards that you didn’t plant. You’ll have all you want to eat and more. 12 When this happens, be very, very careful! Don’t forget it was the Eternal who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. 13 Worship Him, your True God, and serve Him and swear oaths only in His name.[a] 14 Don’t become devoted to any of the gods the people around you worship. 15 The Eternal your God is living right among you, and He’s a jealous God. He would become furious if you were unfaithful to Him—He’d wipe you off the face of the earth!
16 Don’t put the Eternal, your True God, to the test[b] the way you did back at Massah.
Massah is a bittersweet memory for the Israelites. The people have complained and grumbled against the Eternal and actually prefer Egyptian bondage or even death to following God in the desert, but the Lord shows up and brings water out of rocks!
Moses: 17 Carefully obey the commands, rules, and precedents the Eternal, your True God, has given you. 18 Do the things He considers right and good. Then everything will go well for you, and you’ll go and live in the good land He promised to your ancestors. 19 The Eternal will drive out all of your enemies, just as He said He would.
20 You’ll have conversations about this with your children in the future, and this is how they should go:
Child: What are these precedents and rules and judgments the Eternal our God commanded you to obey?
Parents (to your child): 21 We used to be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but then the Eternal delivered us with overwhelming power. 22 He sent amazing and awful signs and omens to torment the Egyptians, Pharaoh, and his royal court—right before our eyes! 23 He brought us out of there so He could bring us here and give us the land He promised to our ancestors. 24 He commanded us to remember all these rules to show that we fear Him, our God, so that things will always go well for us and so that we can keep living here as we are now. 25 If we carefully obey everything the Eternal our God has commanded us, then we’ll be living as we should, in righteousness and in right relationship with Him.
Once again Jesus amazes everyone around Him. How does He raise Lazarus? What kind of man can speak life into death’s darkness? Throughout His time on earth, those around Him are continually surprised by Jesus. He is unique. How does He have power over death? It takes a while, but more and more His followers become convinced this is no ordinary man.
45 As a result, many of the Jews who had come with Mary saw what happened and believed in Him. 46 But some went to the Pharisees to report what they witnessed Jesus doing. 47 As a result of these reports—and on short notice—the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the high council.
Pharisees: What are we going to do about this man? He is performing many miracles. 48 If we don’t stop this now, every man, woman, and child will believe in Him. You know what will happen next? The Romans will think He’s mounting a revolution and will destroy our temple. It will be the end of our nation.
Caiaphas, the High Priest That Year: 49 You have no idea what you are talking about; 50 what you don’t understand is that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people so the whole nation won’t perish.
51 His speech was more than it seemed. As high priest that year, Caiaphas prophesied (without knowing it) that Jesus would die on behalf of the entire nation, 52 and not just for the children of Israel—He would die so all God’s children could be gathered from the four corners of the world into one people. 53 In that moment, they cemented their intentions to have Jesus executed.
54 From that day forward, Jesus refrained from walking publicly among the people in Judea. He withdrew to a small town known as Ephraim, a rural area near the wilderness, where He set up camp with His disciples.
55 The Passover was approaching, and Jews everywhere traveled to Jerusalem early so they could purify themselves and prepare for Passover. 56 People were looking for Jesus, hoping to catch a glimpse of Him in the city. All the while, some Jews were discussing Him in the temple.
Some Jews: Do you think He will decide not to come to Jerusalem this year for the feast?
57 In the midst of this confusion, the Pharisees and the chief priests ordered that if anyone knew the whereabouts of Jesus of Nazareth, it must be reported immediately so they could arrest Him.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.