Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for God’s Mercy upon the Nation.

For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

²⁴ For I will ^(A)take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^(B)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(C)filthiness and from all your ^(D)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(E)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(F)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will ^(G)put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. ²⁸ You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be ^(H)My people, and I will be your God.

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷ They *came again to Jerusalem. ^(A)And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders *came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹ They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³² But ^[a]shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³ Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Nor ^[b]will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”