Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The gold calf
32 The people realized that Moses had been on the mountain for a long time. So they went in a group to Aaron. They said to him, ‘Do something! Make some gods for us who will lead us. This man, Moses, brought us here out of Egypt. But now we do not know what has happened to him.’
2 So Aaron said to them, ‘Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters. Then bring the rings to me.’ 3 So all the Israelites removed the rings from their ears. They brought them to Aaron.
4 Aaron took the gold rings from the people. He melted the gold and he used a tool to make an image of a calf. Then the people said, ‘Look, people of Israel! This is our god who brought us up out of Egypt!’
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the gold calf. He told everyone, ‘Tomorrow, there will be a feast to worship the Lord.’
6 So the next day, the Israelites got up early. They killed animals as burnt offerings on the altar. They also brought peace offerings. After that, they sat down to eat a meal and they drank wine. Then they had a wild party.
7 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Hurry back down the mountain! The people that you brought out of Egypt have done a wicked thing. 8 They have already turned away from my commands. They have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bent down low to worship it. They have made sacrifices to give it honour. They are saying, “This is the god of the Israelites, the god who brought us out of Egypt!” ’
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen these people. They are proud and they do not obey me. 10 I am very angry with them and I will destroy them. Do not try to stop me. I will make your descendants into a great nation, instead of them.’
11 But Moses asked the Lord his God to be kind. He said, ‘Lord, please do not be so angry with your own people! You used your great power and authority to bring them safely out of Egypt. 12 If you destroy them, the Egyptians will say, “God led the Israelites out of our land so that he could completely destroy them. He wanted to kill them in the mountains.” So please stop being angry. Change your mind. Please do not bring this great trouble on your own people. 13 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are our ancestors. Remember the serious promise that you made to them. You said, “I will give you many descendants. They will be as many as the stars in the sky. I have also promised to give this whole land to them. It will belong to them as their home for ever.” ’
14 Then the Lord changed his mind. He did not bring the great trouble on his people as he had said he would.
The Lord is good![a]
106 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Thank the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love will always be with us.
2 The great things that the Lord has done
are too many to tell!
Nobody can praise him enough.
3 God has blessed the people who obey his commands.
They always do what is right.
4 Lord, when you help your people,
please remember me!
Do not forget to help me,
when you come to rescue them.
5 I want to enjoy the good things
that you give to the people that you have chosen.
I want to be happy together with them.
I want to join with the people who belong to you,
and praise you as you deserve.
6 We have done bad things,
as our ancestors also did.
We have done things that are wicked and evil.
19 At Horeb, the Israelites used gold to make a cow,
and they worshipped it.
20 They turned away from their great God.
Instead, they worshipped the statue of a cow,
an animal that eats grass![a]
21 They forgot the God who had saved them,
when he did great miracles in Egypt.
22 He had done powerful things in the land of Ham's descendants,
and at the shore of the Red Sea.
His people forgot about all that!
23 So God said that he would destroy them.
But God's servant, Moses, spoke on their behalf.
He asked God not to be angry with his people,
and God agreed.
How Christians should live
4 My dear Christian friends, I love you very much. I want very much to see you again. You make me very happy. You show that my work among you had good results. Please continue to live in a way that pleases the Lord. This is what I have taught you to do.
2 I say this to Euodia and to Syntyche: ‘You belong to the Lord, so please agree with each other. Stop arguing.’ 3 I ask you too, my true friend, please help these two women to agree together.[a] They have worked with me to tell people the good news. They have worked very hard to help me. They worked together with Clement, and with the other people who helped me in the work. All those workers' names are written in God's book of life.[b]
4 Always be happy because you belong to the Lord. I will say that again, ‘Be happy!’ 5 Be kind and patient in a way that everyone can see. Remember that the Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything. Instead, pray to God about everything. Ask him to help you with the things that you need. And thank him for his help. 7 If you do that, God will give you peace in your minds. That peace is so great that nobody can completely understand it. You will not worry or be afraid, because you belong to Christ Jesus.
8 Now my friends, I want to say this to you. Fill your minds with thoughts about good things. Think about things that are true, clean, right and lovely. Always think about things which people know are very good. 9 Remember what I have taught you. Remember the message that you heard from me. Remember what you saw when I lived among you. You also must do those same things. God is the one who gives us peace in our minds. He will be with you.
Jesus tells a story about a meal at a marriage
22 Jesus continued to teach the people with stories. 2 He said, ‘This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. A king prepared a special meal for his son's marriage. 3 He asked many people to come. When the meal was ready, he sent his servants out to tell those people to come. But they refused to come.
4 So the king then sent out other servants. He said to them, “Tell this message to all those people that I have asked to come. Tell them that the master says, ‘My servants have prepared the meal. They have killed my large oxen and some fat young cows to eat. Everything is ready. Now come to the marriage party!’ ”
5 But the people did not think that the king's message was important. They went away to do their own work. One man went to his farm and another man went to his business. 6 Other people took hold of the king's servants. They hurt them and then they killed them. 7 The king was very angry. He sent his soldiers to the city where those people lived. They killed the people who killed the king's servants. They destroyed their city with fire.
8 Then the king said to his other servants, “The meal for my son's marriage is ready. But the people that I had asked to come did not deserve to come. 9 So go out now to the town's streets where people meet together. Ask all the people that you find there to come to the marriage party.” 10 Then those servants went out into the streets. They brought to the king's house all the people that they met. Some were good people and some were bad people. Very many people came. The room for the marriage was full!
11 Then the king came into the room to see all the people. He saw one man who was not wearing the right clothes for a marriage.[a] 12 The king said to the man, “How did you come in here, my friend? You are not wearing the right clothes for a marriage.” The man could not answer the king.
13 The king said to his servants, “Tie his hands and his feet. Take him and throw him into the dark place outside. There, people will cry and they will bite their teeth together.”
14 God asks many people to come to him. But he only chooses a few people to be there with him.’
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