Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
78 (A)Listen, O my people, to my [b]instruction;
(B)Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will (C)open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter (D)dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And (E)our fathers have told us.
4 We will (F)not conceal them from their children,
But (G)tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His (H)wondrous works that He has done.
52 But He (A)led forth His own people like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness (B)like a flock;
53 He led them (C)safely, so that they did not fear;
But (D)the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 So (E)He brought them to His holy [a]land,
To this [b](F)hill country (G)which His right hand had gained.
55 He also (H)drove out the nations before them
And (I)apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they [c](J)tempted and (K)rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But turned back and (L)acted treacherously like their fathers;
They (M)turned aside like a treacherous bow.
58 For they (N)provoked Him with their (O)high places
And (P)aroused His jealousy with their (Q)graven images.
59 When God heard, He [d]was filled with (R)wrath
And greatly (S)abhorred Israel;
60 So that He (T)abandoned the (U)dwelling place at Shiloh,
The tent [e]which He had pitched among men,
61 And gave up His (V)strength to captivity
And His glory (W)into the hand of the adversary.
62 He also (X)delivered His people to the sword,
And [f]was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
63 (Y)Fire devoured [g]His young men,
And [h]His (Z)virgins had no wedding songs.
64 [i]His (AA)priests fell by the sword,
And [j]His (AB)widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord (AC)awoke as if from sleep,
Like a (AD)warrior [k]overcome by wine.
66 He [l](AE)drove His adversaries backward;
He put on them an everlasting reproach.
67 He also (AF)rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount (AG)Zion which He loved.
69 And He (AH)built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has founded forever.
70 He also (AI)chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From [m](AJ)the care of the [n]ewes (AK)with suckling lambs He brought him
To (AL)shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel (AM)His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the (AN)integrity of his heart,
And guided them with his skillful hands.
David Takes Consecrated Bread
21 Then David came to (A)Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech (B)came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘(C)Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ 3 Now therefore, what [a]do you have on hand? Give [b]me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” 4 The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread [c]on hand, but there is (D)consecrated bread; if only the young men have (E)kept themselves from women.” 5 David answered the priest and said to him, “(F)Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the (G)vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will [d]their vessels be holy?” 6 So (H)the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the (I)bread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.
The Healing at Bethesda
5 After these things there was (A)a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by (B)the sheep gate a pool, which is called (C)in [a]Hebrew [b]Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [[c]waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] 5 A man was there who had been [d]ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He *said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when (D)the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus *said to him, “(E)Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” 9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
(F)Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So (G)the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and (H)it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” 11 But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not (I)sin anymore, (J)so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15 The man went away, and told (K)the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason (L)the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
Jesus’ Equality with God
18 For this reason therefore (M)the Jews (N)were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, (O)making Himself equal with God.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.