Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Is Good to His People
78 O my people, hear my teaching. Listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in picture-stories. I will tell things which have been kept secret from long ago, 3 which we have heard and known because our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children. But we will tell the children-to-come the praises of the Lord, and of His power and the great things He has done.
52 But He brought His people out like sheep. And He led them like a flock in the desert. 53 He led them and kept them safe, so they were not afraid. But the sea covered those who hated them.
54 He brought them to His holy land, to the hill country His right hand had taken. 55 He drove out the nations before them. He gave them parts of the land for a gift. And He made the families of Israel live in their tents.
56 But they tempted and went against the Most High God. They did not keep His Law. 57 They turned away and acted without faith like their fathers. They were like a bow that cannot be trusted. 58 They made Him angry with their sinful places of worship. And they made Him jealous with their false gods. 59 God was very angry when He heard them, and He hated Israel. 60 He left the holy tent at Shiloh, the tent He had set up among men. 61 And He let His strength be taken. He put His greatness into the hands of those who hated Israel. 62 He allowed His people to be killed with the sword. And He was very angry with those who belong to Him. 63 Fire burned up their young men. And their young women had no wedding songs. 64 Their religious leaders fell by the sword. And the women who lost their husbands could not cry.
65 Then the Lord woke up as if from sleep, like a strong man wild with wine. 66 He beat back those who hated Him. And He put them to shame forever. 67 He turned away from the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the family of Ephraim, 68 but chose the family of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. 69 He built His holy place like the high mountains, like the earth He has built forever. 70 He chose David, His servant and took him from the flocks of sheep. 71 He brought him from caring for the sheep and their lambs to being the shepherd of Jacob His people, and Israel who belongs to Him. 72 So David was their shepherd with a heart that was right, and led them with good hands and wisdom.
David Runs from Saul
21 David came to Ahimelech the religious leader at Nob. Ahimelech came shaking in fear to meet David, and said to him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the religious leader, “The king has given me something to do. And he has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about what I have sent you to do.’ I have told the young men to meet at a certain place. 3 Now, what do you have ready? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you may have.” 4 The religious leader answered David, “I only have bread which has been set apart as holy, if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David told the religious leader, “For sure women have been kept from us while we have traveled. The bodies of the young men are holy even on everyday trips. How much more they are today!” 6 So the religious leader gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the bread before the Lord. It was taken from before the Lord, so hot bread could be put in its place.
Jesus Heals the Man at the Pool of Bethesda
5 Some time later, there was a religious gathering of the Jews. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 In Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches called Bethesda near the sheep gate. 3 Inside these porches lay many sick people. Some were blind. Some could not walk. Some could not move their bodies. 4 (*An angel of the Lord came at certain times and made the water move. All of them were waiting for it to move. Whoever got in the water first after it was moving was healed of whatever sickness he had.)
5 A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 Jesus saw him lying there and knew the man had been sick a long time. Jesus said to him, “Would you like to be healed?” 7 The sick man said, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is moving. While I am coming, another one gets in first.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk.” 9 At once the man was healed and picked up his bed and walked. This happened on the Day of Rest.
10 The Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Day of Rest. It is against the Law for you to carry your bed.” 11 He said to them, “The Man Who healed me said to me, ‘Pick up your bed and walk.’ 12 Then the Jews asked him, “What man said to you, ‘Pick up your bed and walk’?” 13 The man who had been healed did not know Who He was. Jesus had gone away while many people were there.
14 Later Jesus found the man who had been healed in the house of God. He said to him, “Listen! You have been healed. Stop sinning or something worse will come to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had healed him.
The Jews Want to Kill Jesus
16 Because Jesus did these things on the Day of Rest, the Jews made it very hard for Him. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is still working all the time so I am working also.” 18 The Jews tried all the more to kill Him, not only because He had worked on the Day of Rest, but because He had also called God His Own Father. This made Him the same as God.
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