Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Mem

Detailed Stipulations: Purity and Unity

12 “These are the rules and the regulations that you must diligently observe^[a] in the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^[b] has given to you to take possession of it, during all the days that you are living on the land.

² You must completely demolish all of the places there where they served their gods, that is, the nations whom you are about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree.^{[c] 3} And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this. ⁵ But only^[d] to the place that Yahweh your God will choose from all of your tribes to place his name there as his dwelling shall you seek, and there you shall go. ⁶ And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and your donations^[e] and your votive gifts and your freewill offerings and the firstling of your herd and your flock. ⁷ And you shall eat there before^[f] Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all your endeavors,^[g] you and your family in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You must not do just as we are doing here today,^[h] each according to all that is right in his eyes.^{[i] 9} For you have not come up to now to the resting place and to the inheritance that Yahweh your God is giving to you. ¹⁰ But you will cross the Jordan, and you will settle in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give rest to you from all your enemies from all around, and you will live securely, ¹¹ and then^[j] at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there, there you shall bring all the things I am commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations,^[k] and all of the choice things, your votive gifts that you vow to Yahweh. ¹² And you shall rejoice before^[l] Yahweh your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your slaves and your slave women and the Levite who is in your towns,^[m] because there is not for him a plot of ground and an inheritance with you.

⁴¹ Now the Jews began to grumble^[a] about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” ⁴² and they were saying, “Is this one not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves!^{[b] 44} No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’^[c] Everyone who hears from the Father and learns comes to me. ⁴⁶ (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—this one has seen the Father.)^{[d] 47} Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that someone may eat from it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever.^[e] And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”