Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God's Chosen King
2 (A)Why do the nations plan rebellion?
Why do people make their useless plots?
2 Their kings revolt,
their rulers plot together against the Lord
and against the king he chose.
3 “Let us free ourselves from their rule,” they say;
“let us throw off their control.”
4 From his throne in heaven the Lord laughs
and mocks their feeble plans.
5 Then he warns them in anger
and terrifies them with his fury.
6 “On Zion,[a] my sacred hill,” he says,
“I have installed my king.”
7 (B)“I will announce,” says the king, “what the Lord has declared.
He said to me: ‘You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask, and I will give you all the nations;
the whole earth will be yours.
9 (C)You will break them with an iron rod;
you will shatter them in pieces like a clay pot.’”
10 Now listen to this warning, you kings;
learn this lesson, you rulers of the world:
11 Serve the Lord with fear;
tremble 12 and bow down to him;[b]
or else his anger will be quickly aroused,
and you will suddenly die.
Happy are all who go to him for protection.
God Calls Moses
2 (A)God spoke to Moses and said, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Almighty God, but I did not make myself known to them by my holy name, the Lord.[a] 4 I also made my covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they had lived as foreigners. 5 Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 So tell the Israelites that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord; I will rescue you and set you free from your slavery to the Egyptians. I will raise my mighty arm to bring terrible punishment upon them, and I will save you. 7 I will make you my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God when I set you free from slavery in Egypt. 8 I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the Lord.’” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to him, because their spirit had been broken by their cruel slavery.
Jesus Our High Priest
8 (A)The whole point of what we are saying is that we have such a High Priest, who sits at the right of the throne of the Divine Majesty in heaven. 2 He serves as high priest in the Most Holy Place, that is, in the real tent which was put up by the Lord, not by human hands.
3 Every high priest is appointed to present offerings and animal sacrifices to God, and so our High Priest must also have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer the gifts required by the Jewish Law. 5 (B)The work they do as priests is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. It is the same as it was with Moses. When he was about to build the Sacred Tent, God told him, “Be sure to make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.” 6 But now, Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs, just as the covenant which he arranged between God and his people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things.
7 If there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.