Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

99 Jehovah is King! Let the nations tremble! He is enthroned between the Guardian Angels. Let the whole earth shake.

² Jehovah sits in majesty in Zion, supreme above all rulers of the earth. ³ Let them reverence your great and holy name.

⁴ This mighty King is determined to give justice. Fairness is the touchstone of everything he does. He gives justice throughout Israel. ⁵ Exalt the Lord our holy God! Bow low before his feet.

⁶ When Moses and Aaron and Samuel, his prophet, cried to him for help, he answered them. ⁷ He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud, and they followed his instructions. ⁸ O Jehovah our God! You answered them and forgave their sins, yet punished them when they went wrong.

⁹ Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem, for he is holy.

9 On the eighth day of the consecration ceremonies, Moses summoned Aaron and Aaron’s sons and the elders of Israel, ² and told Aaron to take a bull calf from the herd for a sin offering, and a ram without bodily defect for a burnt offering, and to offer them before the Lord.

³ “And tell the people of Israel,” Moses instructed, “to select a male goat for their sin offering, also a yearling calf and a yearling lamb, all without bodily defect, for their burnt offering. ⁴ In addition, the people are to bring to the Lord a peace offering sacrifice—an ox and a ram, and a grain offering—flour mingled with olive oil. For today,” Moses said, “Jehovah will appear to them.”

⁵ So they brought all these things to the entrance of the Tabernacle, as Moses had commanded, and the people came and stood there before the Lord.

⁶ Moses told them, “When you have followed the Lord’s instructions, his glory will appear to you.”

⁷ Moses then told Aaron to proceed to the altar and to offer the sin offering and the burnt offering, making atonement for himself first, and then for the people, as the Lord had commanded. ⁸ So Aaron went up to the altar and killed the calf as a sacrifice for his own sin; ⁹ his sons caught the blood for him, and he dipped his finger in it and smeared it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the rest at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ Then he burned upon the altar the fat, kidneys, and gall bladder from this sin offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses, ¹¹ but he burned the meat and hide outside the camp.

²² Then, with hands spread out toward the people, Aaron blessed them and came down from the altar. ²³ Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came out again they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly. ²⁴ Then fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and fat on the altar; and when the people saw it, they all shouted and fell flat upon the ground before the Lord.

4 Since Christ suffered and underwent pain, you must have the same attitude he did; you must be ready to suffer, too. For remember, when your body suffers, sin loses its power, ² and you won’t be spending the rest of your life chasing after evil desires but will be anxious to do the will of God. ³ You have had enough in the past of the evil things the godless enjoy—sex sin, lust, getting drunk, wild parties, drinking bouts, and the worship of idols, and other terrible sins.^[a]

⁴ Of course, your former friends will be very surprised when you don’t eagerly join them anymore in the wicked things they do, and they will laugh at you in contempt and scorn. ⁵ But just remember that they must face the Judge of all, living and dead; they will be punished for the way they have lived. ⁶ That is why the Good News was preached even to those who were dead—killed by the flood^[b]—so that although their bodies were punished with death, they could still live in their spirits as God lives.