The Season of Lent

¹⁰David had a guilty conscience after he had counted the fighting men. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But, Lord, please take away the guilt of your servant, because I have acted very foolishly.”

¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet, David’s seer. The Lord said, ¹²“Go tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says. I am laying out three choices before you. Choose one of them for yourself, and I will carry it out against you.’”

¹³So Gad went to David and told him about this. He said, “Shall seven years of famine in your land come upon you, or three months of fleeing with your enemies pursuing you, or three days of plague in your land? Now consider this and decide what answer I should return to the one who sent me.”

¹⁴David said to Gad, “This puts me in a difficult position. Please! Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great. But do not let me fall into the hands of man.”

¹⁵So the Lord sent a plague against Israel from the next morning until the appointed time. Seventy thousand people from Dan to Beersheba died. ¹⁶The angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented and did not bring the disaster. He said to the angel who was carrying out the destruction among the people, “Enough. Now hold back your hand.”

The angel of the Lord was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷David said to the Lord, as he was watching the angel striking the people, “Look! I am the one who sinned. I am guilty. But these sheep—what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”

¹⁸Gad came to David on that day and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up and obeyed Gad’s instructions as the Lord had commanded.

²⁰Araunah looked up and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed down to the king with his face to the ground, ²¹and he said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

David said, “To purchase the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague will be held back from the people.”

²²Araunah said to David, “My lord the king can take it and offer whatever seems good to him. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, as well as the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³O King, Araunah is giving all this to the king.” Araunah also said to the king, “The Lord your God will accept you.”

²⁴But the king said to Araunah, “No. I insist on purchasing it from you for what it is worth. I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that I did not pay for.”

So David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵He built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings there. The Lord heard the requests for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.

¹⁴To the messenger of the church in Laodicea write:

The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation, says this:

¹⁵I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. If only you were cold or hot! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm and not hot or cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷You say, “I am rich. I have become very wealthy and need nothing.” But you do not know that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments, so that you may be clothed and the shame of your nakedness may not become public, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

¹⁹I rebuke and discipline those whom I love. So take this seriously and repent.

²⁰Look, I stand at the door and I am knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in with him and dine with him, and he with me. ²¹To the one who is victorious I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.

²²Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

⁹Jesus told this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves (that they were righteous) and looked down on others: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple courts to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all my income.’

¹³“However the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴“I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁶Joshua got up early in the morning, and he had Israel come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe of Judah was identified. ¹⁷Then he had the tribe of Judah come forward, and he identified the clan of the Zerahites. Next, he had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by individual familes, and Zabdi’s family was identified. ¹⁸Then he had Zabdi’s household come forward one man at a time, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was identified.

¹⁹Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory now to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him praise. Now tell me what you did. Do not conceal it from me.”

²⁰Achan answered Joshua, “It is true. I am the one who has sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹Among the plunder I saw an expensive Mesopotamian robe, a fine one, and two hundred shekels of silver and one wedge of gold—it weighed fifty shekels. I coveted them and I took them. Now they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver is underneath it.”

²²So Joshua sent agents. They ran to the tent, and there it was! The robe was hidden in his tent, and the silver was underneath it! ²³They took them from the middle of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel, where they poured them out before the Lord.

²⁴Then Joshua took Achan son of Zerah and the silver, the garment, and the wedge of gold, as well as Achan’s sons and his daughters, his ox, his donkey and his flock, and his tent and everything that belonged to him—so all Israel, led by Joshua, brought them up to the Valley of Achor.

²⁵Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you this day!”

Then all Israel stoned Achan to death. They also burned him and them with fire, and they pelted them with stones. ²⁶They erected a large heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from the heat of his anger. For that reason the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, namely, Jesus the Son of God, let us continue to hold on to our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. ¹⁶So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where he was tempted by the Devil for forty days. He did not eat anything during those days. When they came to an end, he was hungry. ³The Devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

⁵The Devil led him up to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶The Devil told him, “I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, because it has been entrusted to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. ⁷So, if you worship me, it will all be yours.”

⁸Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

⁹The Devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰because it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you.

¹¹And,

they will lift you up with their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

¹²Jesus answered him, “It says: ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’”

¹³When the Devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time.

⁸When Jeremiah had finished saying everything the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people, then the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him and said, “You must die! ⁹Why do you prophesy in the name of the Lord that this house will be like Shiloh and that this city will be desolate with no one living here?” All the people crowded around Jeremiah in the House of the Lord.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they came up from the king’s house to the House of the Lord and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

¹¹Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death because he has been prophesying against this city, as you heard with your own ears.”

¹²Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the things that you have heard. ¹³Now reform your ways and your actions, and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring about the disaster he has pronounced against you. ¹⁴But as for me, look, I am in your hands. Do with me whatever seems good and right in your eyes. ¹⁵But you can be certain of this. If you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live here, for it is true that the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

¹⁷Brothers, join together in imitating me and in paying attention to those who are walking according to the pattern we gave you. ¹⁸To be sure, many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. I told you about them often, and now I am saying it while weeping. ¹⁹Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, and their glory is in their shame. They are thinking only about earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, he will transform our humble bodies to be like his glorious body.

^4:1So then, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way keep standing firm in the Lord, my dear friends.

³¹In that very hour, some Pharisees came to him and said, “Leave, and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I am going to drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal. ³³Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it cannot be that a prophet would be killed outside Jerusalem!’

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you will say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

²³The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴“Tell the assembly, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’” ²⁵So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He told the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins!” ²⁷So from every side, they moved away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.

²⁸Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that all this was not just my idea. ²⁹If these men die a death like everyone else and if they suffer the same fate that everyone does, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰But if the Lord creates something unheard of and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”

³¹As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. ³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up everyone who was with Korah along with their households and all their possessions. ³³So they and everything that belonged to them went down alive into the grave. The earth closed up over them, and they disappeared from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴Hearing their screams, all the Israelites who were around them fled, because they said, “The earth will swallow us up too!” ³⁵Fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.

³⁶The Lord spoke to Moses: ³⁷“Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the burning debris and scatter the fire far away, for the censers are holy. ³⁸Make the censers belonging to those who sinned at the cost of their own lives into hammered sheets for plating the altar, because they presented them before the Lord, and the censers are holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which had been presented by those who had been burned up by fire. They hammered them into plating for the altar ⁴⁰as a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, who is not from the descendants of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers. Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord said to him through Moses.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, ²and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ! ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. He had them die in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did. ⁷Do not become idolaters like some of them—as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.” ⁸And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. ⁹Let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and so were being destroyed by the serpents. ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.

¹²So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. ¹³No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it.

At that time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? ³I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. ⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too.”

⁶He told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. ⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil?’ ⁸But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. ⁹If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down.’”

⁶Once again the people of Israel committed evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sihon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In this way they forsook the Lord and did not serve him.

⁷So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, ⁸who shattered and crushed the people of Israel that year.

For the next eighteen years, the Ammonites oppressed all the people of Israel who were in the territory east of the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹When the Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to wage war against Judah and Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, Israel suffered great distress.

¹⁰Finally the people of Israel called out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, for we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

¹¹At this, the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, from the Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from the Philistines? ¹²When the Sidonians and Amalek and Maon oppressed you, and you called out to me, I delivered you from their hands. ¹³It is you who have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will no longer deliver you. ¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen! Let them deliver you in the time of your distress!”

¹⁵But the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever seems good in your eyes, but please save us today.” ¹⁶When they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served the Lord, he could no longer refrain from relieving the misery of Israel.

⁷So, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded people. ⁹Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be changed into mourning and your joy into gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. ²But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³He told them this parable:

“A certain man had two sons. ¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all that he had and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted his wealth with reckless living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He would have liked to fill his stomach with the carob pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, and I am dying from hunger! ¹⁸I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

²⁰“He got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, hugged his son, and kissed him. ²¹The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate, ²⁴because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

²⁵“His older son was in the field. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. ²⁷The servant told him, ‘Your brother is here! Your father killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸The older brother was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.

²⁹He answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I’ve been serving you, and I never disobeyed your command, but you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours arrived after wasting your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

³¹“The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³²But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’”

¹⁶This is what the Lord says,

who makes a road through the sea

and a path through mighty waters,

¹⁷who brings out the chariot and the horses,

the army and the strong warrior.

They will all lie down together.

They will not get up.

They are extinguished.

Like a wick they go out.

¹⁸Do not remember the former things.

Do not keep thinking about ancient things.

¹⁹Watch, I am about to do a new thing.

Now it will spring up. Don’t you know about it?

Indeed I will make a road in the wilderness.

In the wasteland I will make rivers.

²⁰The wild animals, the jackals and ostriches, will honor me,

because I am providing water in the wilderness,

rivers in a parched wasteland,

to provide water for my chosen people to drink.

²¹This people that I formed for myself will declare my praise.

²²But you have not called on me, O Jacob.

Instead, you have become weary of me, O Israel.

²³You have not brought me sheep as your whole burnt offerings.

You did not glorify me with your sacrifices.

I did not make you serve me with a grain offering.

I did not make you weary with demands for incense.

²⁴You did not purchase fragrant cane for me with silver

or satisfy me with the fat from your sacrifices.

Instead you have made me serve because of your sins.

You have made me weary because of your guilt.

¹¹So I ask, “Did they stumble in order to fall permanently?” Absolutely not! Rather, by their trespass, salvation came to the Gentiles to make the Israelites jealous. ¹²Now if their trespass meant riches for the world, and their failure meant riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean!

¹³I am speaking to you Gentiles. For as long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I am going to speak highly of my ministry. ¹⁴Perhaps I may make my own people jealous, and so save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection meant the reconciliation of the world, what does their acceptance mean other than the dead coming to life?

¹⁶If the part offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you—a wild olive branch—were grafted in among them and share in the rich sap from the root of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not boast that you are better than the branches. If you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, but the root is supporting you. ¹⁹Then you will say: “Branches were broken off so that I am grafted in.” ²⁰That is true—but remember that they were broken off because of unbelief, and you remain in place by faith. Do not be conceited, but stand in awe. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you.

⁹He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to some tenant farmers, and went away on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰When it was the right time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹The man went ahead and sent yet another servant, but they also beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²He then sent yet a third. They also wounded him and threw him out. ¹³The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my son, whom I love. Perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenant farmers saw him, they talked it over with one another. They said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. So what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others.”

When they heard this, they said, “May it never be!”

¹⁷But he looked at them and said, “Then what about this that is written:

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? 

¹⁸“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush the one on whom it falls.” 

¹⁹That very hour the chief priests and the experts in the law began looking for a way to lay hands on him, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

²²Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth,

because I am God,

and there is no other.

²³I have sworn by myself.

From my mouth a righteous word has gone out,

and it will not return unfulfilled.

Indeed, to me every knee will bow,

and every tongue will swear allegiance.

²⁴“Only in the Lord,” they will say of me,

“Only in the Lord is there true righteousness and strength.”

To him they will come and be ashamed—

all those who are angry at him.

²⁵In the Lord, all the descendants of Israel will be justified.

They will be praised by him.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us. ²Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal. In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne. ³Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.

²⁸After Jesus had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he came near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ahead, ³⁰saying, “Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³²Those who were sent ahead went and found things just as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They said, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵Then they brought the colt to Jesus. They threw their robes on the colt and set Jesus on it. ³⁶As he went along, people spread their robes on the road. ³⁷As he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God joyfully, with a loud voice, for all the miracles they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰He replied, “I tell you, if these people would be silent, the stones would cry out.”

³¹Yes, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah.

³²It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers,

when I took them by the hand

and led them out of the land of Egypt.

They broke that covenant of mine,

although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

³³But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,

declares the Lord.

I will put my law in their minds,

and I will write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

³⁴No longer will each one teach his neighbor,

or each one teach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord,

for I will forgive their guilt,

and I will remember their sins no more.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies in Scripture to us, for first he said:

¹⁶This is the covenant I will make with them

after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws on their hearts

and I will write them on their mind.

¹⁷Then he adds:

And I will not remember their sins and their lawlessness any longer.

¹⁸Now where these sins are forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

¹⁹Brothers, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus. ²⁰It is a new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh. ²¹We also have a great priest over the house of God. ²²So let us approach with a sincere heart, in the full confidence of faith, because our hearts have been sprinkled to take away a bad conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold on firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

²⁴Let us also consider carefully how to spur each other on to love and good works. ²⁵Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

⁷The day of Unleavened Bread arrived, when it was necessary to sacrifice the Passover lamb. ⁸Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.”

⁹They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”

¹⁰He told them, “Just as you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters. ¹¹Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ ¹²He will show you a large, furnished upper room. Make preparations there.” ¹³They went and found things just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴When the hour had come, Jesus reclined at the table with the twelve apostles. ¹⁵He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, ¹⁶for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷He took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, ¹⁸for I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰In the same way, he took the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is being poured out for you.

¹³Look, my servant will succeed.

He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at him—

his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man,

and his form was disfigured more than any other person—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations,

and kings will shut their mouths because of him,

because they will see something they had never been told before,

and they will understand something they had never heard before.

^53:1Who has believed our report,

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

²He grew up before him like a tender shoot

and like a root from dry ground.

He had no attractiveness and no majesty.

When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

a man who knew grief,

who was well acquainted with suffering.

Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at,

he was despised,

and we thought nothing of him.

⁴Surely he was taking up our weaknesses,

and he was carrying our sufferings.

We thought it was because of God

that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted,

⁵but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.

He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶We all have gone astray like sheep.

Each of us has turned to his own way,

but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth.

Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that is silent in front of its shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

⁸He was taken away without a fair trial and without justice,

and of his generation, who even cared?

So, he was cut off from the land of the living.

He was struck because of the rebellion of my people.

⁹They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked,

but he was given a grave with the rich in his death,

because he had done no violence,

and no deceit was in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him

and allow him to suffer.

Because you made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring.

He will prolong his days,

and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.

¹¹After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life.

He will provide satisfaction.

Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many,

for he himself carried their guilt.

¹²Therefore I will give him an allotment among the great,

and with the strong he will share plunder,

because he poured out his life to death,

and he let himself be counted with rebellious sinners.

He himself carried the sin of many,

and he intercedes for the rebels.

¹⁰In fact, those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law.” ¹¹Clearly no one is declared righteous before God by the law, because “The righteous will live by faith.” ¹²The law does not say “by faith.” Instead it says, “The one who does these things will live by them.”

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

They divided my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

So the soldiers did these things.

²⁵Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.