Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Beth

⁸ “Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind. Bring out the people who have ears but are deaf.^{[a] 9} All people and all nations should also be gathered together. Which of their gods said this would happen? Which of their gods would tell what happened in the beginning? They should bring their witnesses. The witnesses should speak the truth. This will show they are right.”

¹⁰ The Lord says, “You people are my witnesses and the servant I chose. I chose you so that you would help people believe me. I chose you so that you would understand that ‘I Am He’—I am the true God. There was no God before me, and there will be no God after me. ¹¹ I myself am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. ¹² I am the one who spoke to you, saved you, and told you those things. It was not some stranger who was with you. You are my witnesses, and I am God.” (This is what the Lord himself said.) ¹³ “I have always been God. When I do something, no one can change what I have done. And no one can save people from my power.”

⁴ We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. ⁵ I don’t mean that we are able to do anything good ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. ⁶ He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

An Agreement With Greater Glory

⁷ The old agreement^[a] that brought death, written with words on stone, came with God’s glory. In fact, the face of Moses was so bright with glory (a glory that was ending) that the people of Israel could not continue looking at his face. ⁸ So surely the new agreement that comes from the life-giving Spirit has even more glory. ⁹ This is what I mean: That old agreement judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new agreement that makes people right with God has much greater glory. ¹⁰ That old agreement had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of the new agreement. ¹¹ If the agreement that was brought to an end came with glory, then the agreement that never ends has much greater glory.