Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord is holy!^[a]

Why God helps his people

9 Moses said:

Listen, Israelites! You will soon go across the Jordan River. You will chase away the people who live there in large cities with very high walls around them. Those nations of people are greater and stronger than you are. ² You know about the Anakites who live there. They are strong and tall. You have heard people say, ‘No one can fight against the Anakites and win.’

³ But you must understand this: The Lord your God is leading you across the river. He is like a fire that destroys everything! He will win against your enemies. He will give you power over them. Then you will chase them away and remove them quickly. The Lord has promised you that this will happen.

⁴ The Lord your God will chase them away. After he has done that, be careful! Do not say to yourselves, ‘The Lord has brought us into this land because we do right things.’

No! It is because these nations are doing wicked things. That is why the Lord is chasing them out of the land so that you can live there. ⁵ It is not because you are doing right things. It is not because you are good, honest people. That is not the reason that you will take their land for yourselves. Instead, it is because these nations are wicked people. That is why the Lord your God will chase them away as you move in there. He will do what he promised to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Peter speaks to the crowd in the temple

¹¹ The man was still holding Peter and John as they went into the yard of the temple. All the people were very surprised about what they saw. So they ran to Peter and John at the place called Solomon's porch. ¹² Peter saw all the people who had come together. So he said to them, ‘People of Israel, you should not be so surprised about what you have seen. You should not look at us as if we ourselves are powerful. It is not because we obey God that we could cause this man to walk again. ¹³ It happened because of Jesus, who was the special servant of God. That is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and our other ancestors who lived long ago.^[a] God has raised his servant Jesus up to a place of honour.

You helped the rulers to take hold of Jesus. The Roman ruler Pilate had decided to let Jesus go free. But you turned against Jesus. ¹⁴ Jesus was God's Holy One who always did what was right. But you did not accept him. You told Pilate to let another man go free instead of Jesus. That man was in prison because he had killed people. ¹⁵ But Jesus is the person who leads people to true life. When you refused him, it meant that you killed him. But God made him alive again and raised him up from death. We ourselves saw him alive after he had died and we are telling you about it.

¹⁶ It is the power of Jesus that has made this man completely well again. We believe in him. We know that he has authority. You know this man. You saw that he had weak legs. Jesus has caused this man's legs to become strong. You can all see for yourselves what has happened. Yes, he is now well because we havetrusted Jesus and his power.