Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

81 The Lord makes us strong! Sing praises! Sing to Israel’s God!

² Sing, accompanied by drums; pluck the sweet lyre and harp. ³ Sound the trumpet! Come to the joyous celebrations at full moon, new moon, and all the other holidays. ⁴ For God has given us these times of joy; they are scheduled in the laws of Israel. ⁵ He gave them as reminders of his war against Egypt where we were slaves on foreign soil.

I heard an unknown voice that said, ⁶ “Now I will relieve your shoulder of its burden; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.” ⁷ He said, “You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered from Mount Sinai^[a] where the thunder hides. I tested your faith at Meribah, when you complained there was no water. ⁸ Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you will only listen! ⁹ You must never worship any other god, nor ever have an idol in your home.^{[b] 10} For it was I, Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Only test me!^[c] Open your mouth wide and see if I won’t fill it. You will receive every blessing you can use!

¹¹ “But no, my people won’t listen. Israel doesn’t want me around. ¹² So I am letting them go their blind and stubborn way, living according to their own desires.

¹³ “But oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! ¹⁴ How quickly then I would subdue her enemies! How soon my hands would be upon her foes! ¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; their desolation would last forever. ¹⁶ But he would feed you with the choicest foods. He would satisfy you with honey for the taking.”^[d]

31 At that time, says the Lord, all the families of Israel shall recognize me as the Lord; they shall act like my people. ² I will care for them as I did those who escaped from Egypt, to whom I showed my mercies in the wilderness, when Israel sought for rest. ³ For long ago the Lord had said to Israel: I have loved you, O my people, with an everlasting love; with loving-kindness I have drawn you to me. ⁴ I will rebuild your nation, O virgin of Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with the timbrels. ⁵ Again you will plant your vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.

⁶ The day shall come when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will call out and say, “Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.”

³⁵ Jesus replied, “I am the Bread of Life. No one coming to me will ever be hungry again. Those believing in me will never thirst. ³⁶ But the trouble is, as I have told you before, you haven’t believed even though you have seen me. ³⁷ But some will come to me—those the Father has given me—and I will never, never reject them. ³⁸ For I have come here from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to have my own way. ³⁹ And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the Last Day. ⁴⁰ For it is my Father’s will that everyone who sees his Son and believes on him should have eternal life—that I should raise him at the Last Day.”