Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Now I will listen to what the Lord God says.
He will give peace to his people,
to those who serve him.
But they must not turn back
to do foolish things again.
9 Yes, God will soon rescue his people who serve him.
Then we will see his glory again in our land.
10 God will be faithful to us
and he will love us with his faithful love.
His justice and his peace will join together,
like dear friends.
11 Faithful truth will grow like a plant in the ground.
Justice will look down from the sky above.[a]
12 Yes! The Lord will bless us with many good things.
Plenty of food will grow in our land.
13 Justice will go before our God,
and it will make a way for him to walk on.
24 I will take you out from the nations and all the foreign countries where you have been living. I will bring you back to your own land. 25 You will become pure, as if I splash you with clean water. I will remove all the things that make you unclean. I will take away the idols that you worship. 26 I will give you new thoughts. I will put a new spirit in you. You will no longer refuse to obey me. Instead, you will want to please me. 27 I will put my Spirit in you, so that you obey my commands. You will be careful to obey my laws.
28 At that time, you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people and I will be your God.
Jesus talks about his authority
27 Jesus and his disciples arrived again in Jerusalem. Jesus was walking about in the yard at the temple. The leaders of the priests, the teachers of God's Law and the important Jews came to him. 28 They asked him, ‘What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you the authority to do them?’
29 Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question and you should answer me. If you do that, then I will answer your question. I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 30 John baptized people. Did God give him authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it? Now, tell me your answer.’
31 Then the Jewish leaders talked to each other. They said, ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But, if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” 32 But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority.’ The Jewish leaders were afraid of the crowd. All the people thought that John really was a prophet from God.
33 So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus: ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’
So Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’
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