Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The King of Peace Is Coming
11 A small tree[a] will begin to grow from the stump of Jesse.[b] That branch will grow from Jesse’s roots. 2 The Lord’s Spirit will always be with that new king to give him wisdom, understanding, guidance, and power. The Spirit will help him know and respect the Lord. 3 He will find joy in obeying the Lord.
This king will not judge people by the way things look. He will not judge by listening to rumors. 4-5 He will judge the poor fairly and honestly. He will be fair when he decides what to do for the poor of the land. If he decides people should be beaten, he will give the command, and they will be beaten. If he decides people must die, he will give the command, and those evil people will be killed. Goodness and fairness will be like a belt he wears around his waist.
6 Then wolves will live at peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down in peace with young goats. Calves, lions, and bulls will all live together in peace. A little child will lead them. 7 Bears and cattle will eat together in peace, and all their young will lie down together and will not hurt each other. Lions will eat hay like cattle. 8 Even snakes will not hurt people. Babies will be able to play near a cobra’s[c] hole and put their hands into the nest of a poisonous snake.
9 People will stop hurting each other. People on my holy mountain will not want to destroy things because they will know the Lord. The world will be full of knowledge about him, like the sea is full of water.
Some Leaders Turn Against Moses
16 Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar. Izhar was the son of Kohath, and Kohath was the son of Levi. Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab. And On was the son of Peleth. Dathan, Abiram, and On were descendants of Reuben.) 2 These four men gathered 250 other men from Israel together and came against Moses. They were leaders who had been chosen by the people. All the people knew them. 3 They came as a group to speak against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far—you are wrong! All the Israelites are holy—the Lord still lives among them. You are making yourselves more important than the rest of the Lord’s people.”
4 When Moses heard this, he bowed his face to the ground to show he was not being proud. 5 Then Moses said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy, and he will bring that man near to him. He will choose him and bring that man near to him. 6 So Korah, you and all your followers should do this: 7 Tomorrow put fire and incense in some special pans. Then bring those pans before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far—you are wrong!”
8 Moses also said to Korah, “You Levites, listen to me. 9 You should be happy that the God of Israel chose you to be different from the rest of the Israelites. He lets you come near to him to do the special work in the Lord’s Holy Tent to help the Israelites worship him. Isn’t that enough? 10 He brought you Levites near to him to help the priests, but now you are trying to become priests also. 11 You and your followers have joined together and turned against the Lord! Did Aaron do anything wrong? No, so why are you complaining against Aaron?”
12 Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But the two men said, “We will not come! 13 You have brought us out of a land filled with many good things.[a] You brought us to the desert to kill us. And now you want to show that you have even more power over us. 14 Why should we follow you? You did not bring us into the new land filled with many good things. You did not give us the land God promised. You did not give us the fields or the vineyards. Will you make these men your slaves? No! We will not come.”
15 So Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “I never did anything wrong to these people. I never took anything from them—not even a donkey! Don’t accept their gifts!”
16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers will stand before the Lord tomorrow. Aaron will also be there with you and your followers. 17 Each of you must bring a pan, put incense in it, and present it to the Lord. There will be 250 pans for the leaders and one pan for you and one pan for Aaron.”
18 So each man got a pan and put burning incense in it. Then they stood at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Moses and Aaron also stood there. 19 Korah also gathered all the people together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Then the Glory of the Lord appeared to everyone there.
7 Remember your leaders. They taught God’s message to you. Remember how they lived and died, and copy their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Don’t let all kinds of strange teachings lead you into the wrong way. Depend only on God’s grace for spiritual strength, not on rules about foods. Obeying those rules doesn’t help anyone.
10 We have a sacrifice.[a] And those priests who serve in the Holy Tent cannot eat from the sacrifice we have. 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place[b] and offers that blood for sins. But the bodies of those animals are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the city. He died to make his people holy with his own blood. 13 So we should go to Jesus outside the camp and accept the same shame that he had. 14 Here on earth we don’t have a city that lasts forever. But we are waiting for the city that we will have in the future. 15 So through Jesus we should never stop offering our sacrifice to God. That sacrifice is our praise, coming from lips that speak his name. 16 And don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with others, because sacrifices like these are very pleasing to God.
17 Obey your leaders. Be willing to do what they say. They are responsible for your spiritual welfare, so they are always watching to protect you. Obey them so that their work will give them joy, not grief. It won’t help you to make it hard for them.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International