Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 99
1 The Eternal is the king ruling over all;
let all people shake in fear.
He sits on His throne, settled between winged guardians;[a]
let the planet tremble.
2 The Eternal is great in the hearts of His people;
He has made Zion His sacred mountain,
and He reigns majestic over all people.
3 Let them express praise and gratitude to Your amazing and awesome name—
because He is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
4 The King who rules with strength also treasures justice.
You created order and established what is right.
You have carried out justice
and done what is right to the people of Jacob.
5 Lift up the Eternal our God in your heart;
bow down to the earth where He rests His feet.
He is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
6 Moses and Aaron were two of His priests;
Samuel was among those who called out to Him.
They asked the Eternal for help, and He answered them.
7 He answered them from a column of cloud;
they heeded His testimonies
and lived by the laws He gave them.
8 You answered them, Eternal our God;
You were, to them, a God who forgives,
yet You did not ignore what they did wrong
and punished them fairly as well.
9 Lift up the Eternal our God in your hearts,
and celebrate His goodness at His holy mountain,
for the Eternal our God is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
9 When the eighth day arrived, Moses called for Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and the elders of the Israelite community.
This ceremony inaugurated the daily sacrifices in the congregation tent.
Moses (to Aaron): 2 Take a young unblemished calf for a purification offering and an unblemished ram for a burnt offering and offer them to the Eternal One. 3 Then go instruct the Israelites, “Take a male goat for a purification offering and an unblemished calf and lamb, both a year old, for a burnt offering. 4 Take also an ox and a ram for a peace offering and a grain offering mixed with oil, and offer them to the Eternal One for He will reveal Himself to you today.
5 So the people gathered the sacrifices as Moses had commanded and brought them to the front of congregation tent. The entire community gathered around and stood in the presence of the Eternal One.
Moses: 6 The Eternal One has told us to conduct this ceremony so that His glory will be revealed to you.
7 (to Aaron) Approach the altar, and present your purification offering and burnt offering. Do this first to cover the impurity of your own life so that you will be fit to cover the impurity of all the people. Then present the offering of the people so that the impurity of their lives may be covered. Do exactly as the Eternal has commanded.
8 Aaron approached the altar and slaughtered the calf as the purification offering for himself. 9 Aaron’s sons held the blood out to him, and Aaron dipped his finger in the blood and spread it on the four horns of the altar. Then he poured the remaining blood around the base of the altar. 10 After this he removed the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver of the purification offering and offered them as smoke on the altar, exactly as the Eternal had commanded Moses. 11 He took what remained of the meat and skin and burned it up in a fire outside the camp.
22 Then Aaron raised his hands in the direction of the people and blessed them.[a] After he had completed the sacrifices for the purification offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, he descended from the altar. 23 Moses and Aaron entered the congregation tent. When they returned, they blessed the people, and the Eternal One’s glory appeared to all the people. 24 Then flames erupted from the presence of the Eternal One and devoured the burnt offering and all the fat on the altar. At the sight of this, everyone cried out and fell on their faces.
4 Since the Anointed suffered in the flesh, prepare yourselves to do the same—anyone who has suffered in the flesh for the Lord is no longer in the grip of sin— 2 so that you may live the rest of your life on earth controlled not by earthly desires but by the will of God.
The reality of suffering in the world causes many to question the existence of an all-powerful and all-loving God. A God of power and love is expected to be both able and willing to remove suffering from our lives. Ultimately, God will make all things new and end suffering, but for now God allows it and calls us to rejoice in the midst of it. Though we may not understand it, pain and suffering have a purpose in God’s plan, and our Creator is not immune to it. Through Jesus God enters into our suffering; now we are called to enter into His.
3 You have already wasted enough time living like those outsiders in the society around you: losing yourselves in sex, in addictions and desires, in drinking and lawless idolatry, in giving your time and allegiance to things that are not godly. 4 When you don’t play the same games they do, they notice that you are living by different rules. That’s why they say such terrible things about you. 5 Someday they, too, will have to give an account of themselves to the One who judges the living and the dead. 6 (This is why the good news had to be brought to those who are dead so that although they are judged in the flesh, they might live in the spirit in the way that pleases God.)
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.