Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 78

A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.

¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in a parable (in instruction by numerous examples); I will utter dark sayings of old [that hide important truth]—^(A)

³ Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but we will tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonderful works that He has performed.

⁵ For He established a testimony (an express precept) in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, commanding our fathers that they should make [the great facts of God’s dealings with Israel] known to their children,

⁶ That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born might arise and recount them to their children,

⁷ That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but might keep His commandments

20 The Lord said also to Joshua,

² Say to the Israelites, Appoint among you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

³ That the slayer who kills anyone accidentally and unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.^(A)

⁴ He who flees to one of those cities shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city; they shall receive him to [the protection of] that city and give him a place to dwell among them.

⁵ If the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally, having had no hatred for him previously.

⁶ And he shall dwell in that city until he has been tried before the congregation and until the death of him who is the high priest in those days. Then the slayer shall return to his own city from which he fled and to his own house.

⁷ And they set apart and consecrated Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

⁸ Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho they appointed Bezer in the wilderness tableland from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

⁹ These cities were for all the Israelites and the stranger sojourning among them, that whoever killed a person unintentionally might flee there and not be slain by the avenger of blood until he had been tried before the congregation.

24 Jesus departed from the temple ^[a]area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the buildings of the temple and point them out to Him.

² But He answered them, Do you see all these? Truly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

³ While He was seated on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately and said, Tell us, when will this take place, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end (the completion, the consummation) of the age?

⁴ Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you [deceiving you and leading you into error].

⁵ For many will come in (on the strength of) My name [^[b]appropriating the name which belongs to Me], saying, I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.

⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place;

⁸ All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the ^[c]birth pangs [of the ^[d]intolerable anguish].

⁹ Then they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

¹⁰ And then many will be offended and repelled and will ^[e]begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.

¹¹ And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error.

¹² And the love of ^[f]the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,

¹³ But he who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ And this good news of the kingdom (the Gospel) will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then will come the end.