Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Temple Guards, Praise the Lord
A song ·for going up to worship [of ascents; C perhaps sung while traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate an annual religious festival like Passover].
134 ·Praise [L Bless] the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
you who ·serve [L stand] at night in the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord.
2 Raise your hands in the ·Temple [L holy place]
and ·praise [bless] the Lord.
3 May the Lord bless you from Mount Zion [L the location of the Temple],
he who made heaven and earth [Gen. 1].
God Makes a Covenant with Israel
24 The Lord told Moses, “You, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel must come up to me and ·worship [bow down to] me from a distance. 2 Then Moses alone must come near me; the others must not come near. The rest of the people must not come up the mountain with Moses.”
3 Moses ·told [L went and recounted to] the people all the Lord’s words and ·laws for living [regulations; judgments]. Then all of the people answered out loud together, “We will do all the things the Lord has said.” 4 So Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And he got up early the next morning and built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up twelve ·stones [L pillars], one ·stone [pillar] for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then Moses sent ·young Israelite men [L youth of the sons/T children of Israel] to offer whole burnt offerings and to sacrifice young bulls as ·fellowship [or peace; Lev. 3] offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses put half of the blood of these animals in ·bowls [basins], and he ·sprinkled [or dashed] the other half of the blood on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty C referring to the laws found in 20:2–23:19] and read it so the people could hear him. And they said, “We will do everything that the Lord has said; we will obey.”
8 Then Moses took ·the blood from the bowls [L the blood] and ·sprinkled [dashed] it on the people, saying, “This is the blood ·that begins [L of] the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty], the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] which the Lord ·has made [L cut] with you ·about [or in accord with] all these words.”
9 Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up the mountain 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was a ·surface [pavement] that looked as if it were paved with blue sapphire stones, and it was as clear as the ·sky [heavens]! 11 These ·leaders of the Israelites [L eminent men of the sons/T children of Israel] saw God, but ·God did not destroy them [L he did not send out his hand]. Then they ate and drank together [C meals often sealed covenant/treaty agreements].
Jesus Appears to Seven Followers
21 ·Later [L After these things], Jesus ·showed [revealed] himself to his ·followers [disciples] again—this time at ·Lake Galilee [L the Sea of Tiberias; C an alternate name of Lake/the Sea of Galilee]. This is how he ·showed [revealed] himself: 2 Some of the ·followers [disciples] were together: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus [C meaning “the Twin”]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedee [C James and John], and two other ·followers [disciples]. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going out to fish.”
The others said [L to him], “We will go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat. They fished that night but caught nothing.
4 ·Early the next morning [Just at daybreak] Jesus stood on the shore, but the ·followers [disciples] did not ·know [realize] it was Jesus. 5 Then he said to them, “·Friends [L Children; C a term of endearment], did you catch any fish?”
They answered, “No.”
6 He said to them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they did, and they caught so many fish they could not pull the net back into the boat.
7 The ·follower [disciple] whom Jesus loved [C John] said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” [L So] When Peter heard him say this, he wrapped his ·coat [outer garment] around himself. (·Peter had taken his clothes off [L for he was naked].) Then he jumped into the ·water [L sea; lake]. 8 The other ·followers [disciples] went to shore in the boat, ·dragging [towing] the net full of fish. They were not very far from shore, only about a hundred yards [L two hundred cubits]. 9 When the ·followers [disciples] ·stepped out of the boat and onto the shore [landed; disembarked], they saw a fire of hot coals. There were fish on the fire, and there was bread.
10 Then Jesus said [L to them], “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”
11 Simon Peter went into the boat and ·pulled [hauled] the net to the shore. It was full of big fish, one hundred fifty-three in all, but even though there were so many, the net did not tear. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and ·eat [or have breakfast].” None of the followers dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, along with the fish.
14 This was now the third time [C see 20:19–23; 20:26–29] Jesus ·showed [revealed; manifested] himself to his ·followers [disciples] after he was raised from the dead.
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