Holy Bible Readings Sunday, April 22, 2018 Mark 16:9-13 9 When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. 12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country. 13 They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either. Exodus 40:1-15 1 Then the LORD said to Moses: 2 On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 3 Put the Ark of the Covenant in it, and screen off the ark with the veil. 4 Bring in the table and set it. Then bring in the menorah and set up the lamps on it. 5 Put the golden altar of incense in front of the Ark of the Covenant, and hang the curtain at the entrance of the tabernacle. 6 Put the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 7 Place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 8 Set up the court round about, and put the curtain at the gate of the court. 9 Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it, consecrating it and all its furnishings, so that it will be sacred. 10 Anoint the altar for burnt offerings and all its utensils, consecrating it, so that it will be most sacred. 11 Likewise, anoint the basin with its stand, and thus consecrate it. 12 Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and there wash them with water. 13 Clothe Aaron with the sacred vestments and anoint him, thus consecrating him as my priest. 14 Bring forward his sons also, and clothe them with the tunics. 15 As you have anointed their father, anoint them also as my priests. Thus, by being anointed, shall they receive a perpetual priesthood throughout all future generations. 1
Joshua 2:1-14 1 Then Joshua, son of Nun, secretly sent out two spies from Shittim, saying, Go, reconnoiter the land and Jericho. When the two reached Jericho, they went into the house of a prostitute named Rahab, where they lodged. 2 But a report was brought to the king of Jericho: Some men came here last night, Israelites, to spy out the land. 3 So the king of Jericho sent Rahab the order, Bring out the men who have come to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the entire land. 4 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them, so she said, True, the men you speak of came to me, but I did not know where they came from. 5 At dark, when it was time to close the gate, they left, and I do not know where they went. You will have to pursue them quickly to overtake them. 6 Now, she had led them to the roof, and hidden them among her stalks of flax spread out there. 7 But the pursuers set out along the way to the fords of the Jordan. As soon as they had left to pursue them, the gate was shut. 8 Before the spies lay down, Rahab went up to them on the roof 9 and said: I know that the LORD has given you the land, that a dread of you has come upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land tremble with fear because of you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, whom you destroyed under the ban. 11 We heard, and our hearts melted within us; everyone is utterly dispirited because of you, since the LORD, your God, is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now then, swear to me by the LORD that, since I am showing kindness to you, you in turn will show kindness to my family. Give me a reliable sign 13 that you will allow my father and mother, brothers and sisters, and my whole family to live, and that you will deliver us from death. 14 We pledge our lives for yours, they answered her. If you do not betray our mission, we will be faithful in showing kindness to you when the LORD gives us the land. Amos 4:6-13 6 Though I made your teeth clean of food in all your cities, and made bread scarce in all your dwellings, yet you did not return to me oracle of the LORD. 2
7 And I withheld the rain from you when the harvest was still three months away; I sent rain upon one city but not upon another; one field was watered by rain, but the one I did not water dried up; 8 Two or three cities staggered to another to drink water but were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me oracle of the LORD. 9 I struck you with blight and mildew; locusts devoured your gardens and vineyards, the caterpillar consumed your fig trees and olive trees; yet you did not return to me oracle of the LORD. 10 I sent upon you pestilence like that of Egypt; with the sword I killed your young men and your captured horses, and to your nostrils I brought the stench of your camps; yet you did not return to me oracle of the LORD. 11 I overthrew you as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; you were like a brand plucked from the fire, yet you did not return to me oracle of the LORD. 12 Therefore thus I will do to you, Israel: and since I will deal thus with you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! 13 The one who forms mountains and creates winds, and declares to mortals their thoughts; who makes dawn into darkness and strides upon the heights of the earth, the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! Acts 4:5-22 5 On the next day, their leaders, elders, and scribes were assembled in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly class. 7 They brought them into their presence and questioned them, By what power or by what name have you done this? 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered them, Leaders of the people and elders: 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, 10 then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. 11 He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved. 3
13 Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus. 14 Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them, they could say nothing in reply. 15 So they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, and conferred with one another, saying, 16 What are we to do with these men? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign was done through them, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it may not be spread any further among the people, let us give them a stern warning never again to speak to anyone in this name. 18 So they called them back and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 Peter and John, however, said to them in reply, Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. 20 It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard. 21 After threatening them further, they released them, finding no way to punish them, on account of the people who were all praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing had been done was over forty years old. Ephesians 2:1-10 1 You were dead in your transgressions and sins 2 in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so no one may boast. 10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. 4
Luke 24:13-35 13 Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, 14 and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. 15 And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, 16 but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, What are you discussing as you walk along? They stopped, looking downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days? 19 And he replied to them, What sort of things? They said to him, The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. 21 But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. 22 Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning 23 and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. 24 Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see. 25 And he said to them, Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory? 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. 29 But they urged him, Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. 30 And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. 5
32 Then they said to each other, Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us? 33 So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them 34 who were saying, The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon! 35 Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 6