Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Praise to God for His Holiness
99 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name!
Holy is he!
4 Mighty King,[a] lover of justice,
thou hast established equity;
thou hast executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the Lord our God;
worship at his footstool!
Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept his testimonies,
and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O Lord our God, thou didst answer them;
thou wast a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy!
Aaron’s Priesthood Inaugurated
9 On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; 2 and he said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. 3 And say to the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a cereal offering mixed with oil; for today the Lord will appear to you.’” 5 And they brought what Moses commanded before the tent of meeting; and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. 6 And Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do; and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.” 7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar, and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people; and bring the offering of the people, and make atonement for them; as the Lord has commanded.”
8 So Aaron drew near to the altar, and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. 9 And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar; 10 but the fat and the kidneys and the appendage of the liver from the sin offering he burned upon the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 The flesh and the skin he burned with fire outside the camp.
22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting; and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
Good Stewards of God’s Grace
4 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,[a] arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions but by the will of God. 3 Let the time that is past suffice for doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not now join them in the same wild profligacy, and they abuse you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.