Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 78
Lessons from Israel’s Past
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 My people, hear my instruction;
listen to the words from my mouth.(B)
2 I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past(C)—
3 things we have heard and known
and that our ancestors have passed down to us.(D)
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but will tell a future generation
the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
his might, and the wondrous works
he has performed.(E)
52 He led his people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.(A)
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.(B)
54 He brought them to his holy territory,
to the mountain his right hand acquired.(C)
55 He drove out nations before them.(D)
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.(E)
56 But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep his decrees.(F)
57 They treacherously turned away like their ancestors;
they became warped like a faulty bow.(G)
58 They enraged him with their high places
and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.(H)
59 God heard and became furious;
he completely rejected Israel.(I)
60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where he resided among mankind.(J)
61 He gave up his strength to captivity
and his splendor to the hand of a foe.(K)
62 He surrendered his people to the sword
because he was enraged with his heritage.(L)
63 Fire consumed his chosen young men,
and his young women had no wedding songs.[a](M)
64 His priests fell by the sword,
and the widows could not lament.(N)
65 The Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine.(O)
66 He beat back his foes;
he gave them lasting disgrace.(P)
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.(Q)
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.(R)
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;(S)
71 he brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over his people Jacob—
over Israel, his inheritance.(T)
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands.(U)
David Flees to Nob
21 David went to the priest Ahimelech(A) at Nob.(B) Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”
2 David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place. 3 Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”
4 The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread,(C) but the young men may eat it[a] only if they have kept themselves from women.”(D)
5 David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle.(E) The young men’s bodies[b] are consecrated(F) even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread,(G) for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence(H) that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.
The Third Sign: Healing the Sick
5 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(A) 2 By the Sheep Gate(B) in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda[a] in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.[b]
5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time,(C) he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,”(D) the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”
8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
Now that day was the Sabbath,(E) 10 and so the Jews(F) said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath.(G) The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”
11 He replied, “The man who made me well(H) told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was,(I) because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.[c]
14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple(J) and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.(K) 16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting(L) Jesus[d] because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.(M)
Honoring the Father and the Son
17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father(N) is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him:(O) Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
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