Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Call to Praise the Lord
A psalm of thanks.
100 Shout to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with joy;
come before him with singing.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
He made us [Gen. 1–2], and ·we belong to him [or not ourselves];
we are his people, the sheep ·he tends [L of his pasture; 74:1; 79:13; John 10:11–14].
4 Come into his ·city [L gates] with songs of thanksgiving
and into his courtyards with songs of praise.
·Thank [Praise] him and ·praise [bless] his name.
5 The Lord is good. His ·love [loyalty] is forever,
and his ·loyalty [faithfulness] ·goes on and on [L for all generations].
17 “The people of Israel are like a flock of sheep that are scattered
from being ·chased [driven] by lions.
The first lion to eat them up
was the king of Assyria [C Sennacherib defeated the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 bc].
The last lion to ·crush [gnaw] their bones
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [C defeated the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 bc].”
18 So this is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts], the God of Israel, says:
“I will punish the king of Babylon and his country
as I punished the king of Assyria [C defeated by Babylon at the end of the seventh century bc].
19 But I will bring the people of Israel back to their own pasture.
They will ·eat [feed] on Mount Carmel and in Bashan [C particularly lush areas].
They will ·eat and be full [be sated]
on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.”
20 The Lord says,
“At that time and in those days people will try to find Israel’s guilt,
but there will be no guilt.
People will try to find Judah’s sins,
but no sins will be found,
because I will leave a ·few people alive from Israel and Judah [remnant],
and I will forgive their sins.
31 Again some of the ·people [Jewish leaders; L Jews] picked up stones to ·kill [L stone] Jesus. 32 But he ·said to [answered] them, “I have ·done [L shown you] many good works from the Father. Which of these good works are you ·killing [L stoning] me for?”
33 ·They [The Jewish leaders; L The Jews] answered him, “We are not ·killing [L stoning] you because of any good work you did, but ·because you speak against God [L for blasphemy]. You are only a human, but you ·say you are the same as God [claim to be God; L make yourself God]!”
34 Jesus answered them, “·It is written [L Is it not written…?] in your law that God said, ‘I said, you are gods’ [Ps. 82:6; C the “gods” here may be Israel’s judges, or the Israelites generally, or angelic powers]. 35 This Scripture called those people gods who received God’s ·message [word], and Scripture ·is always true [L cannot be broken/annulled/set aside]. 36 So why do you say that I ·speak against God [L blaspheme] because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? [C Jesus is not denying he is God, but is making a lesser-to-greater argument; if Scripture calls lesser beings “gods,” why should they object that he—the One God sent—calls himself the Son of God?] I am the one ·God [L the Father] ·chose [consecrated; set apart] and sent into the world. 37 If I don’t do ·what my Father does [L the works of my Father], then don’t believe me. 38 But if I do ·what my Father does [the works of my Father; L them], even though you don’t believe in me, believe ·what I do [L the works]. Then you will ·know [recognize; learn] and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 [L So] They tried to ·take [seize; arrest] Jesus again [see 7:30], but he escaped from ·them [L their hands].
40 Then he went back across the Jordan River to the place where John had ·first [or earlier] baptized. Jesus stayed there, 41 and many people came to him and said, “John never did a ·miracle [L sign], but everything John said about this man is true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.