Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(A special psalm by Asaph.)

What God Has Done for His People

The Safe Towns

(Numbers 35.9-15; Deuteronomy 19.1-13)

20 ^(A) One day the Lord told Joshua:

² When Moses was still alive, I commanded him to tell the Israelites about the Safe Towns. Now you tell them that it is time to set up these towns. ^3-4 If a person accidentally kills someone and the victim's relatives say it was murder, they might try to take revenge.^[a] Anyone accused of murder can run to one of the Safe Towns and be safe from the victim's relatives. The one needing protection will stand at the entrance to the town gate and explain to the town leaders what happened. Then the leaders will bring that person in and provide a place to live in their town.

⁵ One of the victim's relatives might come to the town, looking for revenge. But the town leaders must not simply hand over the person accused of murder. After all, the accused and the victim had been neighbors, not enemies. ⁶ The citizens of that Safe Town must come together and hold a trial. They may decide that the victim was killed accidentally and that the accused is not guilty of murder.

Everyone found not guilty^[b] must still live in the Safe Town until the high priest dies. Then they can go back to their own towns and their homes that they had to leave behind.

⁷ The Israelites decided that the following three towns west of the Jordan River would be Safe Towns:

Kedesh in Galilee in Naphtali's hill country, Shechem in Ephraim's hill country, and Kiriath-Arba in Judah's hill country. Kiriath-Arba is now called Hebron.

⁸ The Israelites had already decided on the following three towns east of the Jordan River:

Bezer in the desert flatlands of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, which was a town that belonged to Gad, and Golan in Bashan, which belonged to Manasseh.

⁹ These Safe Towns were set up, so that if Israelites or even foreigners who lived in Israel accidentally killed someone, they could run to one of these towns. There they would be safe until a trial could be held, even if one of the victim's relatives came looking for revenge.

The Temple Will Be Destroyed

(Mark 13.1,2; Luke 21.5,6)

24 After Jesus left the temple, his disciples came over and said, “Look at all these buildings!”

² Jesus replied, “Do you see these buildings? They will certainly be torn down! Not one stone will be left in place.”

Warning about Trouble

(Mark 13.3-13; Luke 21.7-19)

^3 (A) Later, as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him in private and asked, “When will this happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?”

⁴ Jesus answered:

Don't let anyone fool you. ⁵ Many will come and claim to be me. They will say they are the Messiah, and they will fool many people.

⁶ You will soon hear about wars and threats of wars, but don't be afraid. These things will have to happen first, but that isn't the end. ^7 (B) Nations and kingdoms will go to war against each other. People will starve to death, and in some places there will be earthquakes. ⁸ But this is just the beginning of troubles.

^9 (C) You will be arrested, punished, and even killed. Because of me, you will be hated by people of all nations. ¹⁰ Many will give up and will betray and hate each other. ¹¹ Many false prophets will come and fool a lot of people. ¹² Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others. ^13 (D) But if you keep on being faithful right to the end, you will be saved. ¹⁴ When the good news about the kingdom has been preached all over the world and told to all nations, the end will come.