Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A praise song of David.
110 The Lord said to my lord,[a]
“Sit at my right side, while I put your enemies under your control.”
2 The Lord will cause your kingdom to grow, beginning at Zion,
until you rule the lands of your enemies!
3 Your people will gladly join you
when you gather your army together.
You will wear your special clothes
and meet together early in the morning.
Your young men will be all around you
like dew on the ground.[b]
4 The Lord has made a promise with an oath
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever—
the kind of priest Melchizedek was.”
5 My Lord is at your right side.
He will defeat the other kings when he becomes angry.
6 He will judge the nations.
The ground will be covered with dead bodies.
He will punish the leaders of powerful nations all around the world.
7 The king will drink from a stream on the way.
Then he will lift his head and become strong![c]
7 Then the Lord said, “I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt, and I have heard their cries when the Egyptians hurt them. I know about their pain. 8 Now I will go down and save my people from the Egyptians. I will take them from that land and lead them to a good land where they can be free from these troubles.[a] It is a land filled with many good things.[b] Many different people live in that land: the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 I have heard the cries of the Israelites, and I have seen the way the Egyptians have made life hard for them. 10 So now I am sending you to Pharaoh. Go! Lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “I am not a great man! How can I be the one to go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 God said, “You can do it because I will be with you. This will be the proof that I am sending you: After you lead the people out of Egypt, you will come and worship me on this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “But if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me,’ then the people will ask, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 Then God said to Moses, “Tell them, ‘I Am Who I Am.’[c] When you go to the Israelites, tell them, ‘I Am’ sent me to you.” 15 And God said, “Tell the Israelites that you were sent by Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. This will always be my name. It is how I want the people to remember me from now on.
39 They said, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s descendants, you would do what Abraham did. 40 I am someone who has told you the truth I heard from God. But you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that. 41 So you are doing what your own father did.”
But they said, “We are not like children who never knew who their father was. God is our Father. He is the only Father we have.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were really your Father, you would love me. I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority. God sent me. 43 You don’t understand the things I say, because you cannot accept my teaching. 44 Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies.
45 “I am telling you the truth, and that’s why you don’t believe me. 46 Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God accepts what he says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”
Jesus Talks About Himself and Abraham
48 The Jews there answered, “We say you are a Samaritan. We say a demon is making you crazy! Are we not right when we say this?”
49 Jesus answered, “I have no demon in me. I give honor to my Father, but you give no honor to me. 50 I am not trying to get honor for myself. There is one who wants this honor for me. He is the judge. 51 I promise you, whoever continues to obey my teaching will never die.”
52 The Jews said to Jesus, “Now we know that you have a demon in you! Even Abraham and the prophets died. But you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never die.’ 53 Do you think you are greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I give honor to myself, that honor is worth nothing. The one who gives me honor is my Father. And you say that he is your God. 55 But you don’t really know him. I know him. If I said I did not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey what he says. 56 Your father Abraham was very happy that he would see the day when I came. He saw that day and was happy.”
57 The Jews said to Jesus, “What? How can you say you have seen Abraham? You are not even 50 years old!”
58 Jesus answered, “The fact is, before Abraham was born, I Am.” 59 When he said this, they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid, and then he left the Temple area.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International