Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

The Blood of the Covenant

24 The Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel must come to worship the Lord. Do not come close when you worship. ² Only Moses can come close to me. The others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”

³ Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws. They answered with one voice. They said, “We will do everything the Lord has told us to do.” ⁴ Then Moses wrote down everything the Lord had said.

Moses got up early the next morning. He built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He set up 12 stone pillars. They stood for the 12 tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent young Israelite men to sacrifice burnt offerings. They also sacrificed young bulls as friendship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses put half of the blood in bowls. He splashed the other half against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They answered, “We will do everything the Lord has told us to do. We will obey him.”

⁸ Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. He said, “This is the blood that puts the covenant into effect. The Lord has made this covenant with you in keeping with all these words.”

⁹ Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel went up. ¹⁰ They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a street made out of lapis lazuli. It was as bright blue as the sky itself. ¹¹ But God didn’t destroy those Israelite leaders when they saw him. They ate and drank.

Jesus and the Miracle of Many Fish

21 After this, Jesus appeared to his disciples again. It was by the Sea of Galilee. Here is what happened. ² Simon Peter and Thomas, who was also called Didymus, were there together. Nathanael from Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee were with them. So were two other disciples. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them. They said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat. That night they didn’t catch anything.

⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, don’t you have any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat. There you will find some fish.” When they did, they could not pull the net into the boat. There were too many fish in it.

⁷ Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Simon Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Peter heard that, he put his coat on. He had taken it off earlier. Then he jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat. They were towing the net full of fish. The shore was only about 100 yards away. ⁹ When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals. There were fish on it. There was also some bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat. He dragged the net to shore. It was full of large fish. There were 153 of them. But even with that many fish the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same thing with the fish. ¹⁴ This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.