Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 63[a]
Thirst for God
1 A psalm of David. When he was in the wilderness of Judah.[b]
2 O God, you are my God,
for whom I have been searching earnestly.[c]
My soul yearns for you
and my body thirsts for you,
like the earth when it is parched,
arid and without water.
3 I have gazed upon you in the sanctuary
so that I may behold your power[d] and your glory.
4 Your kindness[e] is a greater joy than life itself;
thus my lips will speak your praise.
5 I will bless you all my life;
with uplifted hands[f] I will call on your name.
6 My soul[g] will be satisfied as at a banquet
and with rejoicing lips my mouth will praise you.
7 I think of you while I lie upon my bed,[h]
and I meditate on you during the watches of the night.
8 For you are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.[i]
Chapter 13
Twelve Scouts.[a] 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send some men out to explore the land of Canaan that I am giving to the people of Israel. Send one of the leaders from each of the ancestral tribes.”
17 Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan. He said to them, “Go up into the Negeb,[a] then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like. Discover whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 How is the land upon which they are living, is it good or bad? How are the cities in which they dwell, are they open camps or fortified? 20 How is the land, is it fertile or poor? Are there trees or not? Try to bring back some of the fruit of the land” (for it was the season of the first ripe grapes).
21 So they went up and explored the land, from the Desert of Zin up to Rehob, near the entrance to Lebo-hamath.[b] 22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak dwelt. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol.[c] There they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes. Two men carried it on a pole. They also brought along some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eschol because of the cluster of grapes that the people of Israel cut there.
25 The Scouts’ Report. They returned from exploring the land at the end of forty days. 26 They left and went back to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly of the people of Israel that was camped in Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They brought back a report to them and showed the whole assembly the fruit of the land.
27 Then they told Moses, “We went into the land into which you sent us, and it truly flows with milk and honey. This is its fruit. 28 However, a powerful people dwells in that land, and the cities are highly fortified. Furthermore, we even saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb, and the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people who were standing before Moses and he said, “Let us go at once to take possession of it, for we shall surely conquer it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We will not be able to go up against the people for they are surely stronger than we are.” 32 Thus, they brought a negative report of the land which they had explored for the people of Israel saying, “The land which we went through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw in it were immense. 33 We saw giants there, the descendants of Anak (the Anak come from the Nephilim). We felt as if we were only grasshoppers, and we seemed like that to them.”[d]
Chapter 14
The People Rebel.[e] 1 The whole assembly cried out and wept loudly that night. 2 All the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole assembly said to them, “Would that we would have died in Egypt, or we had died in this desert! 3 Why did the Lord bring us into this land so that we fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken as plunder! Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 They said to one another, “Let us choose a leader who will take us back to Egypt.”
5 Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered there. 6 Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. 7 They spoke to the entire assembly of the people of Israel saying, “The land we passed through and explored is a tremendously good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection is gone, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”
The Lord’s Response.22 Jesus Predicts His Passion a Second Time.[a] When they were together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were overwhelmed with grief.
24 Jesus Pays the Temple Tax.[b] When they arrived at Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came up to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” 25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter went into the house, but before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, “Simon, what is your opinion? From whom do the kings of the earth exact tolls and taxes—from their own sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus replied, “Then their sons are exempt. 27 However, lest we give offense to them, go to the lake and cast a hook. Take the first fish that you catch and open its mouth. There you will find a silver coin. Take it and give it to them for me and for yourself.”
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