Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love them. I think about them all day long. ⁹⁸ They make me wiser than my enemies because they are my constant guide. ⁹⁹ Yes, wiser than my teachers, for I am ever thinking of your rules. ¹⁰⁰ They make me even wiser than the aged.

¹⁰¹ I have refused to walk the paths of evil, for I will remain obedient to your Word. ^102-103 No, I haven’t turned away from what you taught me; your words are sweeter than honey. ¹⁰⁴ And since only your rules can give me wisdom and understanding, no wonder I hate every false teaching.

12 “These are the laws you must obey when you arrive in the land that Jehovah, the God of your fathers, has given you forever:

² “You must destroy all the heathen altars wherever you find them—high in the mountains, up in the hills, or under the trees. ³ Break the altars, smash the obelisks, burn the shameful images, cut down the metal idols, and leave nothing even to remind you of them!

^4-5 “You must not make sacrifices to your God just anywhere, as the heathen sacrifice to their gods. Rather, you must build a sanctuary for him at a place he himself will select as his home. ⁶ There you shall bring to the Lord your burnt offerings and other sacrifices—your tithes, your offerings presented by the gesture of waving before the altar, your offerings to fulfill your vows, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds. ⁷ There you and your families shall feast before the Lord your God and shall rejoice in all he has done for you.

⁸ “You will no longer go your own way as you do now, everyone doing whatever he thinks is right; ⁹ (for these laws don’t go into effect until you arrive in the place of rest the Lord will give to you). ¹⁰ But when you cross the Jordan River and live in the Promised Land, and the Lord gives you rest and keeps you safe from all your enemies, ¹¹ then you must bring all your burnt sacrifices and other offerings to his sanctuary, the place he will choose as his home. ¹² You shall rejoice there before the Lord with your sons and daughters and servants; and remember to invite the Levites to feast with you, for they have no land of their own.

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to murmur against him because he claimed to be the Bread from heaven.

⁴² “What?” they exclaimed. “Why, he is merely Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. What is this he is saying, that he came down from heaven?”

⁴³ But Jesus replied, “Don’t murmur among yourselves about my saying that. ⁴⁴ For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me, and at the Last Day I will cause all such to rise again from the dead. ⁴⁵ As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Those the Father speaks to, who learn the truth from him, will be attracted to me. ⁴⁶ (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen him.)

⁴⁷ “How earnestly I tell you this—anyone who believes in me already has eternal life! ^48-51 Yes, I am the Bread of Life! When your fathers in the wilderness ate bread from the skies, they all died. But the Bread from heaven gives eternal life to everyone who eats it. I am that Living Bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread shall live forever; this Bread is my flesh given to redeem humanity.”