Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
97 How I love your ·teachings [instructions; laws]!
I ·think about [ponder; meditate on] them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
because they are mine forever.
99 I am ·wiser [more insightful] than all my teachers,
because I ·think about [ponder; meditate on] your ·rules [decrees; testimonies].
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
because I ·follow [protect] your ·orders [precepts].
101 I have ·avoided [L kept my feet from] every evil way
so I could ·obey [keep; guard] your word.
102 I haven’t ·walked [turned] away from your ·laws [judgments],
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 ·Your promises are sweet to me [L How sweet your words slip/slide down my palate],
sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 Your ·orders [precepts] give me understanding,
so I hate lying ways.
The Place for Worship
12 These are the ·commands [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and laws you must carefully obey in the land the Lord, the God of your ·ancestors [fathers], is giving you to possess. Obey them as long as you live in the land. 2 When you ·inherit [possess] the lands of these nations, you must completely destroy all the places where they serve their gods, on high mountains and hills and under every green tree. 3 Tear down their altars, smash their holy stone pillars, and burn their ·Asherah idols [L Asherim; 7:5; Judg. 3:7] in the fire. Cut down their idols and destroy their names from those places.
4 Don’t ·worship [act for] the Lord your God that way, 5 but look for the place the Lord your God will choose—·a place among your tribes where he is to be worshiped [L as his dwelling where he will place his name]. Go there, 6 and bring to that place your burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] and sacrifices; bring ·a tenth of what you gain [T your tithes] and your special gifts; bring what you have ·promised [vowed] and the special gifts you want to give the Lord, and bring the first animals born to your herds and flocks.
7 There you and your families will eat in the presence of the Lord, and you will enjoy all ·the good things for which you have worked [your undertakings; L all that is sent out from your hand], because the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 Do not ·worship [act] the way we have been ·doing [acting] today, each person doing what ·he thinks is right [L is right/virtuous in his own eyes]. 9 You have not yet come to a resting place, to the ·land [L inheritance] the Lord your God will give you as your own. 10 But soon you will cross the Jordan River to live in the land the Lord your God is ·giving you as your own [L causing you to inherit], where he will give you rest from all your enemies and you will live in safety [2 Sam. 7:1; C David would achieve rest from enemies; Solomon would build the temple in an era of peace]. 11 Then the Lord your God will choose a place where he ·is to be worshiped [L will cause his name to dwell; C Zion, where the Temple would be built]. To that place you must bring everything I ·tell [command] you: your burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] and sacrifices, your ·offerings of a tenth of what you gain [T tithes], your special gifts, and all your best things you ·promised [vowed] to the Lord. 12 There rejoice before the Lord your God. Everyone should rejoice: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites ·from your towns [L in your gates] who have no ·land [allotment] of their own.
41 ·Some people [The Jewish leaders; L The Jews] began to ·complain [grumble; murmur] about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” 42 They said, “·This is [L Is this not…?] Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. How can he [L now] say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 But Jesus ·answered [responded], “Stop ·complaining to each other [grumbling/murmuring among yourselves]. 44 The Father is the One who sent me. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him to me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God [Is. 54:13].’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 ·No one has [or Not that anyone has] seen the Father except the One who is from God; only he has seen the Father. [C Some interpreters put the previous sentence in parentheses as a side comment made by the author.] 47 ·I tell you the truth [L Truly, truly I say to you], whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the ·bread that gives life [T bread of life]. 49 Your ·ancestors [forefathers; L fathers] ate the manna [see 6:31] in the ·desert [wilderness], but still they died. 50 Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give up so that the world may have life.”
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