Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The One True God
115 ·It does not belong [L Not to us, not] to us, Lord.
The glory belongs to ·you [L your name]
because of your ·love [loyalty] and ·loyalty [faithfulness].
2 Why do the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven.
He does what he pleases.
4 Their idols are made of silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak.
They have eyes, but they cannot see.
6 They have ears, but they cannot hear.
They have noses, but they cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but they cannot feel.
They have feet, but they cannot walk.
No sounds come from their throats.
8 People who make ·idols [L them] ·will be [or are] like them,
and so will those who ·trust [have confidence in] them [135:15–18; Is. 44:9–20; 46:6–7; Jer. 10:1–9; Hab. 2:18–19].
9 ·Family of [L O] Israel, ·trust [have confidence in] the Lord;
he is your helper and your ·protection [L shield].
10 ·Family [L House] of Aaron [C the priests], ·trust [have confidence in] the Lord;
he is your helper and your ·protection [L shield].
11 You who ·respect [fear] the Lord [Prov. 1:7] should ·trust [have confidence in] him;
he is your helper and your ·protection [L shield].
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
He will bless the ·family [L house] of Israel;
he will bless the ·family [L house] of Aaron [C the priests].
13 The Lord will bless those who ·respect [fear] him [Prov. 1:7],
from the ·smallest [or least] to the greatest.
14 May the Lord ·give you success [make you increase],
and may he give you and your children ·success [increase].
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth [Gen. 1].
16 Heaven belongs to the Lord,
but he gave the earth to people.
17 Dead people do not praise the Lord;
those ·in the grave are silent [L who go down in silence].
18 But we will praise the Lord
now and forever.
Praise the Lord!
The Levites Are Given to God
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Take the Levites away from the other ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] and make them clean [C in a ritual sense]. 7 This is what you should do to make them clean: Sprinkle the cleansing water on them, and have them shave their bodies and wash their clothes so they will be clean. 8 They must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with oil that goes with it. Then take a second young bull for a ·sin [or purification] offering [Lev. 4:3]. 9 Bring the Levites to the front of the Meeting Tent, and gather all the ·Israelites [L community/congregation/assembly of the sons/T children of Israel] around. 10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] should put their hands on them [C a ritual of identification, showing that the Israelites had a part in their consecration]. 11 Aaron will present the Levites before the Lord as an offering presented from the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel]. Then the Levites will be ready to do the work of the Lord.
12 “The Levites will ·put [lay] their hands [8:10; Ex. 29:10] on the bulls’ heads—one bull will be a ·sin [or purification] offering [Lev. 4:3] to the Lord, and the other will be a burnt offering [Lev. 1:1–17], to ·remove the sins of the Levites so they will belong to the Lord [make atonement for the Levites]. 13 Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present the Levites as an elevation offering to the Lord. 14 In this way you must ·set apart [separate] the Levites from the other ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel]; the Levites will be mine.
15 “Make the Levites pure [C in a ritual sense], and ·present [elevate] them as an offering so that they may come to work at the Meeting Tent. 16 They will be given completely to me from the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel]; I have taken them for myself instead of ·the firstborn of every Israelite woman [L those who open the womb, the firstborn of all the sons/T children of Israel]. 17 All the firstborn ·in Israel—people or animals[—L among the sons/T children of Israel and among people and among animals] are mine. When I ·killed [L struck] all the firstborn in Egypt [Ex. 12:12–13], I ·set the firstborn in Israel aside for myself [L consecrated/sanctified them to me; Ex. 13:2, 11–16; 22:29–30; 34:19–20]. 18 But I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn ·in Israel [L among the sons/T children of Israel]. 19 From all the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons so that they may serve the Israelites at the Meeting Tent. They will ·help remove the Israelites’ sins so they will belong to the Lord [L make atonement for the sons/T children of Israel] and so that no ·disaster [plague] will strike the Israelites when they approach the ·Holy Place [Tabernacle].”
20 So Moses, Aaron, and all the ·Israelites [L community/congregation/assembly of the sons/T children of Israel] obeyed and did with the Levites what the Lord commanded Moses. 21 The Levites made themselves clean from sin and washed their clothes. Then Aaron ·presented [elevated] them as an offering to the Lord. He also ·removed their sins [made atonement for them] so they would be pure [C in a ritual sense]. 22 After that, the Levites came to the Meeting Tent to work, and Aaron and his sons told them what to do. They did with the Levites what the Lord commanded Moses.
1 From Paul, a ·servant [slave; bondservant] of God and an ·apostle [messenger] of Jesus Christ. I was sent ·to help [or in the service of; or to bring about] the faith of God’s ·chosen people [elect] and to help them know the truth that ·shows people how to serve God [or leads to godliness/piety]. 2 That faith and that knowledge ·come from [or lead to] the ·hope for [confidence/certainty of] ·life forever [eternal life], which God, who never lies, promised to us before ·time began [L eternal times]. 3 At ·the right [the appointed; his own] time God ·let the world know about that life [L revealed/manifested his word/message] through preaching. He ·trusted [entrusted] me with that work by the command of God our Savior.
4 To Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; 7:6; 8:16; Gal. 2:1–3], my ·true [genuine] child in the faith we share:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus’ Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete [C an island in the Mediterranean southeast of Greece] so you could ·finish doing [organize; straighten out] the things that still needed to be done and so you could appoint elders in every ·town [city], as I directed you. 6 An elder [1 Tim. 3:1–7] must ·not be guilty of doing wrong [be blameless], must ·have only one wife [or be faithful to his wife], and must have ·believing [or faithful] children. They must not be ·known as children who are [accused of being] ·wild [reckless] and ·do not cooperate [unruly; undisciplined; rebellious]. 7 As God’s ·managers [stewards], overseers [C probably the same church office as elder; 1 Tim. 3:1, 6, 7; 5:17] must be ·innocent of wrongdoing [blameless], ·unselfish [not arrogant/self-willed], not ·quick-tempered [easily angered]. They must not ·drink too much wine [be a drunkard], ·like to fight [be violent/a brawler], or ·try to get rich by cheating others [be greedy for gain/dishonest in business]. 8 Overseers must be ·ready to welcome guests [hospitable], love what is good, be ·wise [self-controlled; sensible], ·live right [upright; just], and be ·holy [devout] and ·self-controlled [disciplined]. 9 By holding ·on [firmly] to the ·trustworthy [faithful] ·word [message] just as it was taught to them, overseers can ·encourage [exhort] people with ·true [sound; healthy] teaching, and they can ·correct [reprove; refute] those who are against it.
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