Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁰ The Lord your God will bring you into the land. He promised it to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He will give it to you. The land has large, growing cities you did not build. ¹¹ The houses there are full of good things that you did not buy. They have wells you did not dig. There are vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. You will eat as much as you want. ¹² But be careful! Do not forget the Lord. He brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.

¹³ Respect the Lord your God. Serve only him. Make your promises in his name. ¹⁴ Do not worship other gods as the people around you do. ¹⁵ The Lord your God is a jealous God. He is present with you. If you worship other gods, he will become angry with you. And he will destroy you from the earth. ¹⁶ Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God. Obey the rules and laws he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what the Lord says is good and right. Then things will go well for you. Then you may go in and take the good land the Lord promised to your ancestors. ¹⁹ He will force all your enemies out as you go in. This is what the Lord has said.

²⁰ In the future your son will ask you, “What do the laws, commands and rules the Lord our God gave us mean?” ²¹ Tell him, “We were slaves to the king of Egypt. But the Lord brought us out of Egypt by his great power. ²² The Lord showed us great and terrible signs and miracles. He did them to Egypt, the king and his whole family. ²³ The Lord brought us out of Egypt. He led us here. And he will give us the land he promised our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord ordered us to obey all these commands. And we must respect the Lord our God. Then we will always do well and stay alive as we are today. ²⁵ The right thing for us to do is this: Obey all these rules in the presence of the Lord our God. He has commanded it.”

The Leaders Plan to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ There were many Jews who had come to visit Mary. They saw what Jesus did. And many of them believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees. They told the Pharisees what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish council. They asked, “What should we do? This man is doing many miracles. ⁴⁸ If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our Temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹ One of the men there was Caiaphas. He was the high priest that year. Caiaphas said, “You people know nothing! ⁵⁰ It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. But you don’t realize this.”

⁵¹ Caiaphas did not think of this himself. He was high priest that year. So he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation ⁵² and for God’s scattered children. This would bring them all together and make them one.

⁵³ That day they started planning to kill Jesus. ⁵⁴ So Jesus no longer traveled openly among the Jews. He left there and went to a place near the desert. He went to a town called Ephraim and stayed there with his followers.

⁵⁵ It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. Many from the country went up to Jerusalem before the Passover. They went to do the special things to make themselves pure. ⁵⁶ The people looked for Jesus. They stood in the Temple and were asking each other, “Is he coming to the Feast? What do you think?” ⁵⁷ But the leading priests and the Pharisees had given orders about Jesus. They said that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must tell them. Then they could arrest Jesus.