Then the Lord said to Moses: Assemble for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders and authorities among the people, and bring them to the tent of meeting. When they are in place beside you, 17 I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that is on you and will confer it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself. 18 To the people, however, you shall say: “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, when you shall have meat to eat. For in the hearing of the Lord you have cried, ‘If only we had meat for food! Oh, how well off we were in Egypt!’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat to eat, 19 and you will eat it, not for one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your very nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have rejected the Lord who is in your midst, and in his presence you have cried, ‘Why did we ever l

This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality, 4 that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor, 5 not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 not to take advantage of or exploit a brother in this matter, for the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you before and solemnly affirmed. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness. 8 Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who [also] gives his holy Spirit to you. 9 On the subject of mutual charity you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. 10 Indeed, you do this for all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Nevertheless we urge you, brothers, to progress even more, 11 and to aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your [own] hands, as we instructed you, 12 that you may conduct yourselves properly toward outsiders

And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, have become imitators of the churches of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you suffer the same things from your compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us; they do not please God, and are opposed to everyone, 16 trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved, thus constantly filling up the measure of their sins. But the wrath of God has finally begun to come upon them. Paul expressed continuous thanks to God for the Thessalonians' response to the Gospel because they did not merely hear the divine message but accepted and embraced it wholeheartedly.  God’s dynamic and transformative word is now living and effective in their lives and bearing frui

My son, if you have the means, treat yourself well, and enjoy life as best you can. 12 Remember that death does not delay, and you have not been told the grave’s appointed time. 13 Before you die, be good to your friends; give them a share in what you possess. 14 Do not deprive yourself of good things now or let a choice portion escape you. 15 Will you not leave your riches to others, and your earnings to be divided by lot? 16 Give and take, treat yourself well, for in Sheol there are no joys to seek. 17 All flesh grows old like a garment; the age-old law is: everyone must die. 18 As with the leaves growing on a luxuriant tree—one falls off and another sprouts—So with the generations of flesh and blood: one dies and another flourishes. 19 All human deeds surely perish; the works they do follow after them. In this passage, Ben Sira reflects on enjoying life’s blessings while being cognizant of the inevitability of death.  One should not deprive oneself of life’s good things especially w

He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. 2 Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 3 was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 7 When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and

As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.  12 As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13 and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”  14 And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed.  15 And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16 and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.17  Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?  18 Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, 19 “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you. Jesus was traveling through the regions of Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem.  Samaria was inhabited by people who were regarded as religious and ethnic outsiders by the Jews, due to their different worship practices and mixed ancestry.  As Jesus approa

As they left Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “[Lord,] Son of David, have pity on us!” 31 The crowd warned them to be silent, but they called out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have pity on us!” 32 Jesus stopped and called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They answered him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 Moved with pity, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight, and followed him. Jericho was a significant city located 15 miles from Jerusalem near the Jordan River.  Its importance in Israel's history, especially in the Old Testament (e.g., Joshua 6), adds weight to its mention here as part of the final journey of Jesus to Jerusalem.  Jesus’ ministry was growing and a large crowd followed him.  The two blind men by the roadside symbolize spiritual blindness, a common Gospel theme that represents the inability of people

The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ 5 So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6 Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 8 When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ 9 When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 10 So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but

When the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple area and began to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and said, “How does he know scripture without having studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not my own but is from the one who sent me. 17 Whoever chooses to do his will shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no wrong in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You are possessed! Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work and all of you are amazed 22 because of it. Moses gave you circumcision—not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs—and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23 If a man can receive circumcision on a sabbath so that the law of Moses m

After this, Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him.  2 But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.  3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.  4 No one works in secret if he wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to the world.”  5 For his brothers did not believe in him.  6 So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but the time is always right for you.  7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify to it that its works are evil.  8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, because my time has not yet been fulfilled.”  9 After he had said this, he stayed on in Galilee.  10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but [as it were] in secret.  11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, “Where is he?”  12 And

A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41 “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. 42 Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was fo

At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, 28 and one of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine all over the world, and it happened under Claudius. 29 So the disciples determined that, according to ability, each should send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea. 30 This they did, sending it to the presbyters in care of Barnabas and Saul. Prophets in the early Church were individuals who received and conveyed messages from God, often offering guidance, encouragement, or predictions about future events.  The gift of prophecy was an essential aspect of early Christian leadership, and these prophets served as key figures in establishing the faith in various communities.  Some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch, a significant center for the early Christian Church growing rapidly and including Jewish and Gentile believers.  The visit of the prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch likely reflected the close ties betw

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but Jews. 20 There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however, who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. 21 The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas [to go] to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, 24 for he was a good man, filled with the holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord. 25 Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were fi

First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, 2 for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. 3 This is good and pleasing to God our savior, 4 who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument. 9 Similarly, [too,] women should adorn themselves with proper conduct, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hairstyles and gold ornaments, or pearls, or expensive clothes, 10 but rather, as befits women who pr