Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

God teaches us about himself

Nehemiah helps poor people

5 Some men and their wives were upset, because of the things that some other Jews were doing. ² Many of them said, ‘We are big families, with many sons and daughters. We need to have food to eat so that we can stay alive.’ ³ Other people said, ‘People have to lend us money to buy food. We have to give them our fields, our vineyards and our homes until we can pay them back.’

⁴ Other people said, ‘We have to pay taxes to the king for our fields and our vineyards. People had to lend us money to pay the taxes. ⁵ Now we have to sell our sons and daughters as slaves so that we can pay back the money. But we are from the same human family as those other Jews. Our children are not different from their children. Already some of our daughters have become slaves. Our fields and vineyards now belong to other people, so we are helpless to do anything.’

⁶ When I heard what they were complaining about, I was very angry. ⁷ I thought carefully about what they had said. Then I said to the Jewish leaders and officers, ‘You are cheating your own people! You are taking back more money than you have lent to them.’

I told the Jews to come together for a big meeting. ⁸ I said to them all, ‘When our own Jewish people have become slaves of foreign people, we have tried hard to buy them back. But now you are making your own people sell their children to you. And you want us to pay you to buy them back again!’ The Jewish leaders kept quiet. They had nothing to say.

⁹ Then I said to them, ‘You are doing something that is completely wrong. Instead, you should obey God and live in a good way. Then the foreign people who are our enemies will not have a chance to insult us. ¹⁰ I myself have agreed to lend poor people money and food. My family and my friends have done the same thing. But we must not make those poor people pay back more to us. ¹¹ Now you must give back to them their fields, their vineyards, their gardens of olive trees and their houses. Do not make them pay any extra money for the money, food, wine or olive oil that you lent to them.’

¹² The leaders replied, ‘We will give everything back to them. We will not make them pay back their debts to us. We will do everything that you have said.’

I told the priests to come to our meeting. While they were with us, I made the Jewish leaders and officers make a strong promise. They agreed to do what they had promised to do. ¹³ I shook my coat so that everything fell out of its pockets. I said, ‘You must all do what you have promised to do. If not, I pray that God will shake you out like that! He will take away your homes and all your things. You will be left with nothing!’ Everyone at the meeting said, ‘Amen, we agree!’ They praised the Lord.

All the people did what they had promised to do.

³⁹ When Mary and Joseph had done everything that God's rules said, they returned home. That was in the town of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁴⁰ There the child grew up. God was good and kind to him and he became strong. He learned many things and he could understand them well.

Jesus visits the temple as a young boy

⁴¹ Every year, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.^[a]

⁴² When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents took him with them to Jerusalem. They went as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the week finished, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem to return home. But Jesus stayed behind and his parents did not know this. ⁴⁴ They thought that he was with their group on the way home. They travelled for a whole day. Then they began to look for him among their family and friends.

⁴⁵ They could not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem. They looked for him there. ⁴⁶ After three days, they found him in the temple. He was sitting there among the teachers. He was listening to what they were saying. He was also asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard Jesus was very surprised. He understood so many things and he could answer difficult questions. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him there, they were also very surprised. His mother said to him, ‘My son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have looked everywhere for you. We have had a lot of troubles in our mind.’

⁴⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘You should not have needed to look for me. I must be doing what my Father wants me to do. You should have known that.’ ⁵⁰ But his parents did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹ Then Jesus returned to Nazareth with them. He did what they wanted. His mother, Mary, was careful to remember all the special things that had happened. She thought about them a lot. ⁵² Jesus grew up into a man. He became strong and he could understand more and more things. God was pleased with him, and people were pleased with him too.