Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 81[a]
An Admonition to Fidelity
1 For the leader; “upon the gittith.”[b] Of Asaph.
I
2 Sing joyfully to God our strength;(A)
raise loud shouts to the God of Jacob!
3 Take up a melody, sound the timbrel,
the pleasant lyre with a harp.
4 [c]Blow the shofar at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our solemn feast.(B)
5 For this is a law for Israel,
an edict of the God of Jacob,(C)
6 He made it a decree for Joseph
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
II
7 [d]I heard a tongue I did not know:
“I removed his shoulder from the burden;[e]
his hands moved away from the basket.(D)
8 In distress you called and I rescued you;
I answered you in secret with thunder;
At the waters of Meribah[f] I tested you:(E) 9 ‘Listen, my people, I will testify against you
Selah
If only you will listen to me, Israel!(F)
10 There shall be no foreign god among you;[g](G)
you shall not bow down to an alien god.
11 ‘I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.’
12 But my people did not listen to my words;
Israel would not submit to me.
13 So I thrust them away to the hardness of their heart;
‘Let them walk in their own machinations.’(H)
14 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways,(I)
15 In a moment I would humble their foes,
and turn back my hand against their oppressors.(J)
16 Those who hate the Lord will try flattering him,
but their fate is fixed forever.
17 But Israel I will feed with the finest wheat,
I will satisfy them with honey from the rock.”(K)
4 Listen to the word of the Lord, house of Jacob!
All you clans of the house of Israel,
5 thus says the Lord:
What fault did your ancestors find in me
that they withdrew from me,
Went after emptiness,
and became empty themselves?(A)
6 They did not ask, “Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness,
through a land of wastes and ravines,
A land of drought and darkness,
a land which no one crosses,
where no one dwells?”(B)
7 I brought you into the garden land
to eat its fine fruits,
But you entered and defiled my land,
you turned my heritage into an abomination.(C)
8 The priests did not ask,
“Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law[a] did not know me:
the shepherds rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
and went after useless idols.(D)
9 Therefore I will again accuse you—oracle of the Lord—
even your children’s children I will accuse.(E)
10 Cross to the coast of Cyprus and see,
send to Kedar[b] and carefully inquire:
Where has anything like this been done?
11 Does any other nation change its gods?—
even though they are not gods at all!
But my people have changed their glory
for useless things.(F)
12 Be horrified at this, heavens;
shudder, be appalled—oracle of the Lord.
13 Two evils my people have done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.(G)
14 When the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple area and began to teach. 15 [a](A)The Jews were amazed and said, “How does he know scripture without having studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not my own but is from the one who sent me. 17 Whoever chooses to do his will[b] shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own.(B) 18 Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no wrong in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”(C) 20 The crowd answered, “You are possessed![c] Who is trying to kill you?”(D) 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work[d] and all of you are amazed(E) 22 because of it. Moses gave you circumcision—not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs—and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.(F) 23 If a man can receive circumcision on a sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole person well on a sabbath?(G) 24 Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly.”(H)
25 So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? 26 And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities[e] have realized that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”(I) 28 So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.(J) 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”(K) 30 So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.(L) 31 But many of the crowd began to believe in him, and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man has done?”(M)
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus.[f]
37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.(A) 38 Whoever believes in me, as scripture says:
39 He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet,[b] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.(C)
Discussion About the Origins of the Messiah.[c]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.