Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Dead Idols and the Living God
115 Not to us, O Yahweh, not to us,
but to your name give glory,
because of your loyal love,
because of your faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where, pray tell,[a] is their God?”
3 But our God is in the heavens;
all that he desires, he does.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak;
they have eyes, but cannot see;
6 they have ears, but cannot hear;
they have noses, but cannot smell;
7 they have their hands, but they cannot feel,
their feet, but they cannot walk;
they cannot utter a sound in their throats.
8 Those who make them become like them,
as does everyone who trusts in them.
9 O Israel, trust Yahweh;
he is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in Yahweh;
he is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh;
he is their help and their shield.
12 Yahweh remembers us; he will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh,
the small with the great.
14 May Yahweh give you increase,
you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by Yahweh,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of humankind.
17 The dead do not praise Yah,[b]
nor any descending into silence.
18 It is we, we will bless Yah[c]
from now until forever.
Praise Yah![d]
Moses Consecrates the Levites
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from the midst of the Israelites[a] and purify them. 7 So you will do to them, to purify them: sprinkle on them waters of purification, and they will shave their whole body[b] and wash their garments. 8 And they will take a young bull[c] and its grain offering of finely milled flour mixed with oil, and you will take a second young bull[d] as a sin offering. 9 You will bring the Levites before[e] the tent of assembly, and you will summon the entire community of the Israelites.[f] 10 And you will bring the Levites before Yahweh,[g] and the Israelites[h] will lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron will offer[i] the Levites as a wave offering before Yahweh[j] from the Israelites,[k] and they will do the work of Yahweh. 12 And the Levites will lay their hands on the head of the one bull and offer it as a sin offering and the other one as a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you will present the Levites before[l] Aaron and before[m] his sons, and he will offer[n] them as a wave offering to Yahweh.
14 “And you will separate the Levites from the midst of the Israelites,[o] and the Levites will be for me. 15 And after this the Levites will come to serve at the tent of assembly, and you will purify them, and you will offer[p] them as a wave offering. 16 For they are given to me exclusively from the midst of the Israelites.[q] I have taken them for myself in place of the firstborn of every womb, every firstborn from the Israelites.[r] 17 For every firstborn among the Israelites[s] is mine, both humankind and animal. On the day I destroyed every firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them to me, 18 and I have taken the Levites in the place of every firstborn among the Israelites.[t] 19 And I have given the Levites; they are given to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the Israelites[u] to do the work of the Israelites[v] in the tent of the assembly and to make atonement for the Israelites,[w] so a plague will not be among the Israelites[x] when the Israelites[y] come near the sanctuary.”
20 And Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites[z] did to the Levites; everything that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the Israelites[aa] did to them. 21 And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their garments, and Aaron offered them[ab] as a wave offering before Yahweh;[ac] and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them. 22 After this the Levites came to do their work in the tent of assembly before Aaron and his sons. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levities, so they did to them.
Greeting
1 Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of the chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth that is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life which God, who does not lie, promised before eternal ages, 3 but at the proper time has disclosed his message in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the command of God our Savior, 4 to Titus, my true child according to a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Instructions to Titus in Crete
5 On account of this, I left you behind in Crete, in order that what remains may be set in order and you may appoint elders in every town, as I ordered you. 6 If anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful[a] children, not accused of dissipation[b] or rebellious. 7 For it is necessary for the overseer to be blameless as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, prudent, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast to the faithful message according to the teaching, in order that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to reprove those who speak against it.
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