Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord Brings Justice

⁷ All of this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had rescued them from Egypt, where they had been slaves. They worshiped foreign gods, ⁸ followed the customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel, and were just as sinful as the Israelite kings. ⁹ Even worse, the Israelites tried to hide their sins from the Lord their God. They built their own local shrines everywhere in Israel—from small towns to large, walled cities. ^10 (A) They also built stone images of foreign gods and set up sacred poles^[a] for the worship of Asherah on every hill and under every shady tree. ¹¹ They offered sacrifices at the shrines,^[b] just as the foreign nations had done before the Lord forced them out of Israel. They did sinful things that made the Lord very angry.

¹² Even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to worship idols,^[c] they did it anyway. ¹³ So the Lord made sure that every prophet warned Israel and Judah with these words: “I, the Lord, command you to stop doing sinful things and start obeying my laws and teachings! I gave them to your ancestors, and I told my servants the prophets to repeat them to you.”

¹⁴ But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They ignored the Lord's warnings and commands, and they rejected the solemn agreement he had made with their ancestors. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The Lord had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them.

^16 (B) The people of Israel disobeyed all the commands of the Lord their God. They made two gold statues of calves and set up a sacred pole for Asherah; they also worshiped the stars and the god Baal. ^17 (C) They used magic and witchcraft and even sacrificed their own children. The Israelites were determined to do whatever the Lord hated. ¹⁸ The Lord became so furious with the people of Israel that he allowed them to be carried away as prisoners.

Only the people living in Judah were left, ¹⁹ but they also disobeyed the Lord's commands and acted like the Israelites. ²⁰ So the Lord turned his back on everyone in Israel and let them be punished and defeated until no one was left.

²⁵ They found him on the west side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I tell you for certain that you are not looking for me because you saw the miracles,^[a] but because you ate all the food you wanted. ^27 (A) Don't work for food that spoils. Work for food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because God the Father has given him the right to do so.”

²⁸ “What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked.

²⁹ Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”

³⁰ They replied, “What miracle will you work, so that we can have faith in you? What will you do? ^31 (B) For example, when our ancestors were in the desert, they were given manna^[b] to eat. It happened just as the Scriptures say, ‘God gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

³² Jesus then told them, “I tell you for certain that Moses wasn't the one who gave you bread from heaven. My Father is the one who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ And the bread that God gives is the one who came down from heaven to give life to the world.”

³⁴ The people said, “Sir, give us this bread and don't ever stop!”

³⁵ Jesus replied:

I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty.