Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
16 Here is what Adonai says,
who made a way in the sea,
a path through the raging waves;
17 who led out chariot and horse,
the army in its strength —
they lay down, never to rise again,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick:
18 “Stop dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
19 I am doing something new;
it’s springing up — can’t you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
because I put water in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland,
for my chosen people to drink,
21 the people I formed for myself,
so that they would proclaim my praise.
126 (0) A song of ascents:
(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Our mouths were full of laughter,
and our tongues shouted for joy.
Among the nations it was said,
“Adonai has done great things for them!”
3 Adonai did do great things with us;
and we are overjoyed.
4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,
as streams fill vadis in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping
as he carries his sack of seed
will come home with cries of joy
as he carries his sheaves of grain.
4 even though I certainly have grounds for putting confidence in such things. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for putting confidence in human qualifications, I have better grounds:
- 5 b’rit-milah on the eighth day,
- by birth belonging to the people of Isra’el,
- from the tribe of Binyamin,
- a Hebrew-speaker, with Hebrew-speaking parents,
- in regard to the Torah, a Parush,
- 6 in regard to zeal, a persecutor of the Messianic Community,
- in regard to the righteousness demanded by legalism, blameless.
7 But the things that used to be advantages for me, I have, because of the Messiah, come to consider a disadvantage. 8 Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiah 9 and be found in union with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having that righteousness which comes through the Messiah’s faithfulness, the righteousness from God based on trust. 10 Yes, I gave it all up in order to know him, that is, to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings as I am being conformed to his death, 11 so that somehow I might arrive at being resurrected from the dead. 12 It is not that I have already obtained it or already reached the goal — no, I keep pursuing it in the hope of taking hold of that for which the Messiah Yeshua took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I, for my part, do not think of myself as having yet gotten hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining forward toward what lies ahead, 14 I keep pursuing the goal in order to win the prize offered by God’s upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua.
12 Six days before Pesach, Yeshua came to Beit-Anyah, where El‘azar lived, the man Yeshua had raised from the dead; 2 so they gave a dinner there in his honor. Marta served the meal, and El‘azar was among those at the table with him. 3 Miryam took a whole pint of pure oil of spikenard, which is very expensive, poured it on Yeshua’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair, so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But one of the talmidim, Y’hudah from K’riot, the one who was about to betray him, said, 5 “This perfume is worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” 6 Now he said this not out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief — he was in charge of the common purse and used to steal from it. 7 Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She kept this for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.