2nd Sunday of Epiphany

2^nd Sunday of Epiphany

 

Numbers 10:29-11:10

29 And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us, and we will do you good; for the Lord has promised good to Israel.” ³⁰ But he said to him, “I will not go; I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” ³¹ And he said, “Do not leave us, I beg you, for you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. ³² And if you go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you.”

33 So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them. ³⁴ And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp.

35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered; and let them who hate you flee before you.” ³⁶ And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”

Complaining in the Desert

11 And the people complained in the hearing of the Lordabout their misfortunes; and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. ² Then the people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated. ³ So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving; and the people of Israel also wept again, and said, “O that we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶ but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of gum resin. ⁸ The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. ⁹ When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lordblazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.

 

Isaiah 45:11-17

¹¹ Thus says the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:

“Will you question me about my children,

or command me concerning the work of my hands?

¹² I made the earth,

and created man upon it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host.

¹³ I have aroused him in righteousness,

and I will make straight all his ways;

he shall build my city

and set my exiles free,

not for price or reward.”

says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴ Thus says the Lord:

“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,

and the Sabeans, men of stature,

shall come over to you and be yours,

they shall follow you;

they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.

They will make supplication to you, saying:

‘God is with you only, and there is no other,

no god besides him.’ ”

¹⁵ Truly, you are a God who hide yourself,

O God of Israel, the Savior.

¹⁶ All of them are put to shame and confounded,

the makers of idols go in confusion together.

¹⁷ But Israel is saved by the Lord

with everlasting salvation;

you shall not be put to shame or confounded

to all eternity.

 

Hebrews 3:1-4:7

Moses a Servant, Christ a Son

3 Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly call, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. ² He was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God’s house. ³ Yet Jesus has been counted worthy of as much more glory than Moses as the builder of a house has more honor than the house. ⁴ (For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God.) ⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, ⁶ but Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope.

Warning against Unbelief

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, when you hear his voice,

⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹ where your fathers put me to the test

and saw my works for forty years.

¹⁰ Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts;

they have not known my ways.’

¹¹ As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

¹² Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end, ¹⁵ while it is said,

“Today, when you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶ Who were they that heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was he provoked forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they should never enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

The Rest That God Promised

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. ² For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. ³ For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall never enter my rest,’ ”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this place he said,

“They shall never enter my rest.”

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he sets a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, when you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

 

John 1:1-18

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God; ³ all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.

9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. ¹¹ He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father. ¹⁵ John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.