Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Kindness to Rebellious Israel
A (A)Contemplation[a] of Asaph.
78 Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a (B)parable;
I will utter [b]dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4 (C)We will not hide them from their children,
(D)Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
52 But He (A)made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53 And He (B)led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea (C)overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And He brought them to His (D)holy border,
This mountain (E)which His right hand had acquired.
55 (F)He also drove out the nations before them,
(G)Allotted them an inheritance by [a]survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 (H)Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But (I)turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were turned aside (J)like a deceitful bow.
58 (K)For they provoked Him to anger with their (L)high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59 When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
60 (M)So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,
61 (N)And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.
62 (O)He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men,
And (P)their maidens were not given in marriage.
64 (Q)Their priests fell by the sword,
And (R)their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
(S)Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66 And (T)He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion (U)which He loved.
69 And He built His (V)sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70 (W)He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From following (X)the ewes that had young He brought him,
(Y)To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the (Z)integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
David and the Holy Bread
21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And (A)Ahimelech was (B)afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”
4 And the priest answered David and said, “There is no [a]common bread on hand; but there is (C)holy[b] bread, (D)if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”
5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And [c]the (E)vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated (F)in the vessel this day.”
6 So the priest (G)gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread (H)which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
A Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda
5 After (A)this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus (B)went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem (C)by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, [a]Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, [b]paralyzed, [c]waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, (D)“Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
And (E)that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; (F)it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 But the one who was (G)healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. (H)Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Honor the Father and the Son
16 For this reason the Jews (I)persecuted Jesus, [d]and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, (J)“My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
18 Therefore the Jews (K)sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, (L)making Himself equal with God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.