Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 99
The King Is Holy
1 The Lord reigns! Let the peoples tremble.
He is enthroned above the cherubim.(A)
Let the earth quake.(B)
2 Yahweh is great in Zion;
He is exalted above all the peoples.(C)
3 Let them praise Your great
and awe-inspiring name.(D)
He is holy.(E)
4 The mighty King loves justice.
You have established fairness;
You have administered justice
and righteousness in Jacob.(F)
5 Exalt the Lord our God;
bow in worship at His footstool.(G)
He is holy.(H)
6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests;(I)
Samuel also was among those calling on His name.
They called to Yahweh and He answered them.(J)
7 He spoke to them in a pillar of cloud;(K)
they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.
8 Lord our God, You answered them.
You were a forgiving God to them,(L)
an avenger of their sinful actions.(M)
9 Exalt the Lord our God;
bow in worship at His holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.(N)
22 Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel(A) and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.(B) 23 He said to them, “Why are you doing these things? I have heard about your evil actions from all these people. 24 No, my sons, the report I hear from the Lord’s people is not good. 25 If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?”(C) But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to kill them.(D) 26 By contrast, the boy Samuel grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men.(E)
27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him,(F) “This is what the Lord says: ‘Didn’t I reveal Myself to your ancestral house when it was in Egypt and belonged to Pharaoh’s palace?(G) 28 Out of all the tribes of Israel, I selected your house[a] to be priests, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence.(H) I also gave your house all the Israelite fire offerings. 29 Why, then, do all of you despise My sacrifices and offerings that I require at the place of worship?(I) You have honored your sons more than Me,(J) by making yourselves fat with the best part of all of the offerings of My people Israel.’
30 “Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel:
‘Although I said
your family and your ancestral house
would walk before Me forever,(K)
the Lord now says, “No longer!”
I will honor those who honor Me,(L)
but those who despise Me will be disgraced.(M)
31 “‘Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestral family, so that none in your family will reach old age.(N) 32 You will see distress in the place of worship,(O) in spite of all that is good in Israel, and no one in your family will ever again reach old age.(P) 33 Any man from your family I do not cut off from My altar will bring grief[b] and sadness to you. All your descendants will die violently.[c][d] 34 This will be the sign that will come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas:(Q) both of them will die on the same day.(R)
35 “‘Then I will raise up a faithful priest(S) for Myself. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. I will establish a lasting dynasty for him,(T) and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.(U) 36 Anyone who is left in your family will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. He will say: Please appoint me to some priestly office so I can have a piece of bread to eat.’”
The Third Sign: Healing the Sick
5 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(A) 2 By the Sheep Gate(B) in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda[a] in Hebrew, which has five colonnades.[b] 3 Within these lay a large number of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed [—waiting for the moving of the water, 4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had].[c]
5 One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time,(C) He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,”(D) the sick man answered, “I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”
8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk!” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
Now that day was the Sabbath,(E) 10 so the Jews(F) said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath!(G) It’s illegal for you to pick up your mat.”
11 He replied, “The man who made me well(H) told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was cured did not know who it was,(I) because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.[d]
14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex(J) and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.(K)
Honoring the Father and the Son
16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting(L) Jesus[e] because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.(M) 17 But Jesus responded to them, “My Father(N) is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill Him:(O) Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
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