Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

78 O my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying. ^2-3 For I will show you lessons from our history, stories handed down to us from former generations. ⁴ I will reveal these truths to you so that you can describe these glorious deeds of Jehovah to your children and tell them about the mighty miracles he did. ⁵ For he gave his laws to Israel and commanded our fathers to teach them to their children, ⁶ so that they in turn could teach their children too. Thus his laws pass down from generation to generation. ⁷ In this way each generation has been able to obey his laws and to set its hope anew on God and not forget his glorious miracles.

20 The Lord said to Joshua,

² “Tell the people of Israel to designate now the Cities of Refuge, as I instructed Moses.^{[a] 3} If a man is guilty of killing someone unintentionally, he can run to one of these cities and be protected from the relatives of the dead man, who may try to kill him in revenge. ⁴ When the innocent killer reaches any of these cities, he will meet with the city council and explain what happened, and they must let him come in and must give him a place to live among them. ⁵ If a relative of the dead man comes to kill him in revenge, the innocent slayer must not be released to him for the death was accidental. ⁶ The man who caused the accidental death must stay in that city until he has been tried by the judges and found innocent, and must live there until the death of the High Priest who was in office at the time of the accident. But then he is free to return to his own city and home.”

⁷ The cities chosen as Cities of Refuge were Kedesh of Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. ⁸ The Lord also instructed that three cities be set aside for this purpose on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. They were Bezer, in the wilderness of the land of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth of Gilead, in the territory of the tribe of Gad; and Golan of Bashan, in the land of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ These Cities of Refuge were for foreigners living in Israel as well as for the Israelis themselves, so that anyone who accidentally killed another man could run to that place for a trial and not be killed in revenge.

24 As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples came along and wanted to take him on a tour of the various Temple buildings.

² But he told them, “All these buildings will be knocked down, with not one stone left on top of another!”

³ “When will this happen?” the disciples asked him later, as he sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. “What events will signal your return and the end of the world?”^[a]

⁴ Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone fool you. ⁵ For many will come claiming to be the Messiah and will lead many astray. ⁶ When you hear of wars beginning, this does not signal my return; these must come, but the end is not yet. ⁷ The nations and kingdoms of the earth will rise against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many places. ⁸ But all this will be only the beginning of the horrors to come.

⁹ “Then you will be tortured and killed and hated all over the world because you are mine, ¹⁰ and many of you shall fall back into sin and betray and hate each other. ¹¹ And many false prophets will appear and lead many astray. ¹² Sin will be rampant everywhere and will cool the love of many. ¹³ But those enduring to the end shall be saved.

¹⁴ “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it, and then, finally, the end will come.