Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Is Good to His People
78 O my people, hear my teaching. Listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in picture-stories. I will tell things which have been kept secret from long ago, 3 which we have heard and known because our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children. But we will tell the children-to-come the praises of the Lord, and of His power and the great things He has done.
5 For He has made His will known to Jacob. He made the Law in Israel, which He told our fathers to teach their children. 6 So the children-to-come might know, even the children yet to be born. So they may rise up and tell it to their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and not forget the works of God. And they would keep His Law.
20 The Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Choose the cities where you may go and be safe when you are in trouble, as I said to you through Moses. 3 So the man who kills any person without meaning to or planning to may run to one of these cities. They will be places where you can go to be safe from the one who wants to punish you for the killing. 4 He will run to one of these cities and stand at the city gate. There he will tell his story to the leaders of that city. They will take him into the city and give him a place. So he may live among them. 5 If the one who wants to punish him comes after him, they will not give him the one who killed the person, because he killed his neighbor without planning to, and did not hate him in the past. 6 He will live in that city until he has been tried in front of the people. And he will live there until the death of the one who is the head religious leader at the time. Then the one who killed the person may return to his own city and his own house, to the city he ran away from.’”
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali. They set apart Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim. And they set apart Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 On the other side of the Jordan east of Jericho, they set apart Bezer in the desert plain from the family of Reuben. They set apart Ramoth in Gilead from the family of Gad. And they set apart Golan in Bashan from the family of Manasseh. 9 These were the chosen cities for all the people of Israel and for the stranger staying among them. So whoever killed any person without meaning to could run there. He could not be killed by the one who wanted to punish him, before standing trial in front of the people.
Jesus Tells of the House of God (A)
24 Jesus went out of the house of God. On the way His followers came to Him to show Him the buildings of the house of God. 2 Jesus said to them, “Do you see all these things? For sure, I tell you, all these stones will be thrown down. Not one will be left standing on another.”
Jesus Teaches on the Mount of Olives
3 Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. The followers came to Him when He was alone and said, “Tell us, when will this happen? What can we look for to show us of Your coming and of the end of the world?”
4 Jesus said to them, “Be careful that no one leads you the wrong way. 5 Many people will come using My name. They will say, ‘I am Christ.’ They will fool many people and will turn them to the wrong way. 6 You will hear of wars and lots of talk about wars, but do not be afraid. These things must happen, but it is not the end yet. 7 Nations will have wars with other nations. Countries will fight against countries. There will be no food for people. The earth will shake and break apart in different places. 8 These things are the beginning of sorrows and pains.
9 “Then they will hand you over to be hurt. They will kill you. You will be hated by all the world because of My name. 10 Many people will give up and turn away at this time. People will hand over each other. They will hate each other. 11 Many false religious teachers will come. They will fool many people and will turn them to the wrong way. 12 Because of people breaking the laws and sin being everywhere, the love in the hearts of many people will become cold. 13 But the one who stays true to the end will be saved.
14 “This Good News about the holy nation of God must be preached over all the earth. It must be told to all nations and then the end will come.
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