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God Challenges Israel

6Hear what the Lord says:
   Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
   and let the hills hear your voice.
² Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
   and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
   and he will contend with Israel.

³ ‘O my people, what have I done to you?
   In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
   and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
   Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵ O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
   what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
   that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.’

What God Requires

⁶ ‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
   and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
   with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God?

Cheating and Violence to Be Punished

⁹ The voice of the Lord cries to the city
   (it is sound wisdom to fear your name):
Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!^*
10   Can I forget^* the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
   and the scant measure that is accursed?
¹¹ Can I tolerate wicked scales
   and a bag of dishonest weights?
¹² Your^* wealthy are full of violence;
   your^* inhabitants speak lies,
   with tongues of deceit in their mouths.
¹³ Therefore I have begun^* to strike you down,
   making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴ You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
   and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not save,
   and what you save, I will hand over to the sword.
¹⁵ You shall sow, but not reap;
   you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
   you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
¹⁶ For you have kept the statutes of Omri^*
   and all the works of the house of Ahab,
   and you have followed their counsels.
Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your^* inhabitants an object of hissing;
   so you shall bear the scorn of my people.

Psalm 122

Song of Praise and Prayer for Jerusalem

A Song of Ascents. Of David.
¹ I was glad when they said to me,
   ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’
² Our feet are standing
   within your gates, O Jerusalem.

³ Jerusalem—built as a city
   that is bound firmly together.
⁴ To it the tribes go up,
   the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
   to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
⁵ For there the thrones for judgement were set up,
   the thrones of the house of David.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   ‘May they prosper who love you.
⁷ Peace be within your walls,
   and security within your towers.’
⁸ For the sake of my relatives and friends
   I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’
⁹ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
   I will seek your good.

The Resurrection of Jesus

28After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ²And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. ⁵But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he^* lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead,^* and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ ⁸So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

The Report of the Guard

11 While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²After the priests^* had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, ¹³telling them, ‘You must say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” ¹⁴If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ ¹⁵So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.

The Commissioning of the Disciples

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’^*