Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord is holy!^[a]

¹⁵ So I turned and I went down the mountain. It was still burning with fire. I held the two stones with the covenant on them in my hands. ¹⁶ When I looked, I saw that you had made an image of a calf as your idol. You really had done a very bad thing. You had quickly stopped doing the things that the Lord your God had commanded you to do. ¹⁷ When I saw that, I threw the two flat stones down onto the ground. I broke them into pieces while you watched.

¹⁸ Then I again fell down with my face on the ground, to pray to the Lord. I did that for 40 days and nights. I did not eat or drink anything. You had done an evil thing which caused the Lord to be very angry. ¹⁹ I prayed, because the Lord had said that he would destroy you. He was so angry with you that I was very afraid. But the Lord listened to me this time too.

²⁰ The Lord was also angry with my brother Aaron. He wanted to kill Aaron. But at that time, I prayed for Aaron too.

²¹ When you made that idol, it was a sin that you did. So I took that gold calf and I burned it in the fire. Then I beat it into powder, like dust. I threw the powder into a stream that ran down from the mountain.

²² After that, you also caused the Lord to be angry with you at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth-Hattaavah. ²³ When the Lord sent you out from Kadesh-Barnea, he said, ‘Go into the land that I have given to you and live there.’ But you turned against the Lord your God. You refused to trust him or obey him. ²⁴ You have refused to obey the Lord ever since I have known you.

Jesus is very happy

²¹ At this moment, the Holy Spirit made Jesus very happy. He said, ‘Father, you rule over everything in heaven and on the earth! People that do not know many things now can understand your message. I thank you for this. But you have hidden these things from other people. Those people think that they understand everything. They think that they are wise. Yes, Father, this is how you wanted it to happen.’

²² Jesus then said, ‘My Father has given me authority over all things. Only the Father knows who I am, his Son. Only I know who the Father is, because I am his Son. I also choose to tell some people about him. Then they also know him.’

²³ Then Jesus turned and he spoke only to his disciples. He said to them, ‘Be happy because of the things that you are now able to see and understand. ²⁴ I tell you this: Many prophets and kings from a long time ago wanted to see these things. But they did not see the things that you are seeing. They wanted to hear the message that you are hearing. But they did not hear it.’