Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

32 When Moses didn’t come back down the mountain right away, the people went to Aaron. “Look,” they said, “make us a god to lead us, for this fellow Moses who brought us here from Egypt has disappeared; something must have happened to him.”

^2-3 “Give me your gold earrings,” Aaron replied.

So they all did—men and women, boys and girls. ⁴ Aaron melted the gold, then molded and tooled it into the form of a calf. The people exclaimed, “O Israel, this is the god that brought you out of Egypt!”

⁵ When Aaron saw how happy the people were about it, he built an altar before the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah!”

⁶ So they were up early the next morning and began offering burnt offerings and peace offerings to the calf idol; afterwards they sat down to feast and drink at a wild party, followed by sexual immorality.

⁷ Then the Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go on down, for your people that you brought from Egypt have defiled themselves, ⁸ and have quickly abandoned all my laws. They have molded themselves a calf, and worshiped it, and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of Egypt.’”

⁹ Then the Lord said, “I have seen what a stubborn, rebellious lot these people are. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone and my anger shall blaze out against them and destroy them all; and I will make you, Moses, into a great nation instead of them.”

¹¹ But Moses begged God not to do it. “Lord,” he pleaded, “why is your anger so hot against your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and mighty miracles? ¹² Do you want the Egyptians to say, ‘God tricked them into coming to the mountains so that he could slay them, destroying them from off the face of the earth’? Turn back from your fierce wrath. Turn away from this terrible evil you are planning against your people! ¹³ Remember your promise to your servants—to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. For you swore by your own self, ‘I will multiply your posterity as the stars of heaven, and I will give them all of this land I have promised to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

¹⁴ So the Lord changed his mind and spared them.

106 Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! How good you are! Your love for us continues on forever. ² Who can ever list the glorious miracles of God? Who can ever praise him half enough?

³ Happiness comes to those who are fair to others and are always just and good.

⁴ Remember me too, O Lord, while you are blessing and saving your people. ⁵ Let me share in your chosen ones’ prosperity and rejoice in all their joys, and receive the glory you give to them.

⁶ Both we and our fathers have sinned so much.

^19-20 For they preferred a statue of an ox that eats grass to the glorious presence of God himself. ^21-22 Thus they despised their Savior who had done such mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea. ²³ So the Lord declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped into the breach between the people and their God and begged him to turn from his wrath and not destroy them.

4 Dear brother Christians, I love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and my reward for my work. My beloved friends, stay true to the Lord.

² And now I want to plead with those two dear women, Euodias and Syntyche. Please, please, with the Lord’s help, quarrel no more—be friends again. ³ And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked side by side with me in telling the Good News to others; and they worked with Clement, too, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.

⁴ Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! ⁵ Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do. Remember that the Lord is coming soon. ⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. ⁷ If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

⁸ And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

22 ^1-2 Jesus told several other stories to show what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

“For instance,” he said, “it can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding dinner for his son. ³ Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready, he sent messengers to notify everyone that it was time to come. But all refused! ⁴ So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘Everything is ready and the roast is in the oven. Hurry!’

⁵ “But the guests he had invited merely laughed and went on about their business, one to his farm, another to his store; ⁶ others beat up his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them.

⁷ “Then the angry king sent out his army and destroyed the murderers and burned their city. ⁸ And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. ⁹ Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’

¹⁰ “So the servants did, and brought in all they could find, good and bad alike; and the banquet hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the wedding robe provided for him.^[a]

¹² “‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how does it happen that you are here without a wedding robe?’ And the man had no reply.

¹³ “Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”