Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Moses dies on Mount Nebo
34 Then Moses went up from Moab's desert land. He climbed up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah mountain. Jericho city was on the other side of the Jordan River. The Lord showed him the whole land, from the region of Gilead to Dan in the north. 2 He saw all the land that would belong to Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh and Judah, as far as the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 3 He saw the Negev desert in the south. He saw the valley that goes from Jericho as far as Zoar. Jericho is called ‘The city of palm trees’.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘This is the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I told them that I would give it to their descendants. Now I have let you see the land, but you will not go across the river into it.’
5 So Moses, the Lord's servant, died there in Moab. The Lord had said that this would happen. 6 The Lord buried Moses in a valley in Moab, near the town of Beth-Peor. But even today, no one knows the place where God buried him.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. But he could still see well. His body was still strong. 8 The Israelites wept for 30 days because of Moses' death. They wept in Moab's desert land until the time for them to be sad came to an end.
9 Moses had already chosen Nun's son, Joshua, to take his place as the leader of the Israelites. So the Lord had filled Joshua with wisdom. The Israelites listened to Joshua. They obeyed the commands that the Lord had given to Moses.
10 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The Lord spoke to him, face to face. 11 Moses did the miracles that the Lord had sent him to do in Egypt. Those miracles showed the Lord's power to Pharaoh and his officers, and to all the people in his country. 12 No other prophet has shown such great power and authority for all the Israelites to see.
A prayer of Moses, God's servant.
God lives for ever![a]
90 Lord, from long ago,
you have always been a safe home for us.[b]
2 From before the mountains began,
and before you made the world,
you were already there, as God.
You have no beginning and no end.
3 People return to dust in the ground when they die.
You say, ‘Become dust again, you people.’[c]
4 For you, a thousand years is only a short time.
They pass as quickly as a day for you,
or just a few hours in the night.
5 You cause people's lives to end,
as a dream finishes when you wake up.
People are like grass that appears in the morning.
6 During the morning, it grows well.
By the evening,
it becomes dry and it dies.
13 Lord, return to help us!
How long will you be angry with us?
Please be kind to us, your servants!
14 Show your faithful love to us every morning.
Then we will sing with joy,
and we will be happy for as long as we live.
15 For many years you have sent trouble to us.
Now, please make us happy
for as many years as you have given us pain.
16 Do great things again,
so that we, your servants, see them!
Let our children see that you rule as King!
17 Yes, may the Lord our God bless us.
May everything that we do go well!
Yes, may everything go well!
Paul's work in Thessalonica
2 Our Christian friends, you yourselves know that our visit to you had good results. 2 You know what happened to us before we came to you. The people at Philippi had done bad things to us.[a] They had caused us to have trouble. When we came to you, our God helped us to be brave. We were not afraid to tell you his good news. Many people tried to stop us, but we told you God's message.
3 When we tell people to obey God's message, we are not saying anything that is not true. We do not have a wrong purpose. We are not trying to deceive anyone. 4 Instead, we say what God wants us to say. He has chosen us to tell his good news to people. So we do not do it to make people happy. We do it to make God happy. He is the one who knows what we are really like.
5 When we came to you, we spoke what was true. We did not just say nice things to make you feel good. You yourselves know that. We did not try to make you give things to us. We never had a secret purpose like that. God knows that this is true. 6 We did not want anyone to say that we are great people. We did not want you to do that, or anyone else. 7 We could have used our authority over you, because we are Christ's apostles. But instead, we chose to be kind to you and to help you. We took care of you, like a mother takes care of her little children. 8 We loved you very much, so we wanted to tell you God's good news. We wanted to share our lives with you too.[b]
Jesus teaches the Pharisees about the most important Law
34 The Pharisees heard that Jesus had said these things to the Sadducees. Now the Sadducees could not say anything more to him. So the Pharisees met together. They decided what they would say to Jesus.
35 One of the Pharisees had studied God's Law very well. He asked Jesus a question to see how he would answer. 36 He said, ‘Teacher, which of God's Laws is the most important rule for us to obey?’
37 Jesus replied to him, ‘You should love the Lord your God completely: Love him with all your mind. Love him with all that you are. Love him in all that you think. 38 This is the greatest rule and the most important of all God's Laws. 39 The second rule is also important, like the first one. You should love other people as much as you love yourself. 40 All God's Laws that Moses gave us come from these two rules. All the things that the prophets wrote also come from them.’
Jesus teaches people about the Messiah
41 While the Pharisees met together with Jesus, he asked them, 42 ‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’
The Pharisees replied, ‘He will be King David's son.’
43 Jesus said to them, ‘So think about this: God's Holy Spirit helped King David to call the Messiah his Lord. David said, 44 “The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right side until I win against your enemies.
Then you will be able to put your feet on them.”
45 We know that King David calls the Messiah his Lord. So can you really say that the Messiah is David's son?’ 46 Nobody could answer the question that Jesus asked. After this, everyone was afraid to ask Jesus any more questions.
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