Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
49 Remember Your Word to Your servant, for You have given me hope. 50 Your Word has given me new life. This is my comfort in my suffering. 51 The proud always laugh at me, but I do not turn away from Your Law. 52 I have remembered Your Law from a long time ago, O Lord, and I am comforted. 53 Burning anger comes upon me because of the sinful who turn away from Your Law. 54 Your Laws are my songs in whatever house I stay. 55 I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I have kept Your Law. 56 It has become my way to obey Your Law.
10 “The Lord your God will bring you into the land He promised to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to you. There will be big and beautiful cities which you did not build. 11 Houses will be full of good things which you did not fill. There will be pools for keeping water which you did not dig, and grape vines and olive trees which you did not plant. You will eat and be filled. 12 But then be careful not to forget the Lord Who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the land where you were held as servants. 13 You must fear the Lord your God. You must worship Him, and swear by His name. 14 Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the people around you. 15 Or the anger of the Lord your God will burn against you. He will destroy you from the earth. For the Lord your God Who is among you is a jealous God.
16 “Do not test the Lord your God, as you put Him to the test at Massah. 17 Be careful to keep all the Laws which the Lord your God has told you. 18 Do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord. Then it will be well with you. And you may go in and take the good land for your own which the Lord promised to give to your fathers. 19 You will drive out of your way all who hate you, as the Lord has promised.
20 “In time to come your son will ask you, ‘What do all the Laws mean which the Lord told you?’ 21 Then say to your son, ‘We were servants of Pharaoh in Egypt. But the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22 The Lord showed us great and powerful works against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all those of his house. 23 The Lord brought us out from there to bring us into the land He had promised to our fathers.’ 24 So the Lord told us to do all these Laws and to fear the Lord our God for our good always, as it is today. 25 We will be right with the Lord our God if we are careful to obey all of the Law before Him, just as He told us.
The Proud Religious Law-Keepers Try to Think of a Way to Kill Jesus
45 Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus had done put their trust in Him. 46 Some of them went to the proud religious law-keepers and told them what Jesus had done. 47 The religious leaders of the Jews and the proud religious law-keepers gathered a court together. They said, “What will we do? This Man is doing many powerful works. 48 If we let Him keep doing these things, all men will put their trust in Him. The Romans will come and take away the house of God and our nation.” 49 Caiaphas was the head religious leader that year. He said to them, “You know nothing about this. 50 Do you not see it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed?”
51 Caiaphas did not think of these words himself. He spoke what God had said would happen. He was telling before it happened that Jesus must die for the nation. 52 He must die not only for the nation, but also to bring together into one group the children of God who were living in many places.
53 From that day on they talked together about how they might kill Jesus. 54 For this reason Jesus did not walk out in the open among the Jews. He went to a town called Ephraim. It was near a desert. He stayed there with His followers.
The Proud Religious Law-Keepers Look for Jesus
55 The special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt was soon. Many people from around the country came up to Jerusalem to go through the religious washing before the special supper. 56 They looked for Jesus. They stood together in the house of God and asked each other, “What do you think? Will He come to the special supper?” 57 The religious leaders of the Jews and the proud religious law-keepers had said that if any man knew where Jesus was, he should tell them. They wanted to take Him.
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