Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
For the Director: On the Gittith. By Asaph.
Celebrating and Remembering God
81 Sing joyfully to God, our strength.
Raise a shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Sing a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant-sounding lyre along with the harp.
3 Blow the ram’s horn when there is a New Moon,
when there is a full moon,
on our festival day,
4 because it is a statute in Israel,
an ordinance by the God of Jacob,
5 a decree that he prescribed for Joseph
when he went throughout the land of Egypt,
speaking a language I did not recognize.[a]
6 I removed the burden from your[b] shoulder;
your[c] hands were freed of the burdensome basket.[d]
7 In a time of need you called out and I delivered you;
I answered you from the dark thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Listen, My people and I will warn you.
Israel, if only you would obey me!
9 You must neither have a foreign god over you
or worship a strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
open your mouth that I may fill it.
11 Yet my people didn’t obey my voice;
Israel didn’t submit to me.
12 So I allowed them[e] to continue in their stubbornness,
living by their own advice.
13 If only my people would obey me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies.
I would turn against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord will cringe before him;
their punishment will be permanent.
16 But I will feed Israel[f] with the finest wheat,
satisfying you with honey from the rock.
Her Rejection of God’s Love
4 Listen to this message from the Lord,
you descendants of Jacob
and all the families of the descendants of Israel.
5 This is what the Lord says:
“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
that they left me,
and pursued worthless things,[a]
and so they became worthless?
6 “They didn’t ask, ‘Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
through the land of desert and pits,
through the land of dryness and deep darkness,
a land that people don’t pass through,
and where no one lives?’
7 “I brought you into the fruitful land to eat its fruit
and its good things.
But you came in, defiled my land,
and made my inheritance into an abomination.
8 “The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
and those handling the Law didn’t know me.
The rulers transgressed against me,
the prophets prophesied by Baal,
and they followed that which does not profit.[b]
9 “Therefore I’ll again accuse you,”
declares the Lord,
“and I’ll accuse your grandchildren.”
10 “Indeed, go over to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
send to Kedar and pay very close attention.
See if there has ever been such a thing as this!
11 Has a nation ever changed gods
when they aren’t even gods?
But my people have exchanged their glory
for that which does not profit.
12 Heavens, be appalled at this,
be shocked, be utterly[c] devastated,”
declares the Lord.
13 “Indeed, my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,[d]
and they have dug cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Jesus Openly Declares His Authority
14 Halfway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began teaching. 15 The Jewish leaders[a] were astonished and remarked, “How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?”
16 Jesus replied to them, “My teaching is not mine but comes from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he’ll know whether this teaching is from God or whether I’m speaking on my own. 18 The one who speaks on his own seeks his own praise. But the one who seeks the praise of him who sent him is genuine, and there’s nothing false in him. 19 Moses gave you the Law, didn’t he? Yet none of you is keeping the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered them, “I performed one action, and all of you are astonished. 22 Moses gave you circumcision—not that it is from Moses, but from the Patriarchs—and so you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man perfectly well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment!”
Is This the Messiah?
25 Then some of the people of Jerusalem began saying, “This is the man they are trying to kill, isn’t it? 26 And look, he is speaking in public, and they are not saying anything to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?[b] 27 We know where this man comes from. But when the Messiah[c] comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 At this point Jesus, still teaching in the Temple, shouted, “So you know me and know where I’ve come from? I haven’t come on my own accord. But the one who sent me is true, and he’s the one you don’t know. 29 I know him because I’ve come from him, and he sent me.”
30 Because of this, the Jewish leaders[d] kept trying to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. 31 However, many in the crowd believed in him. They kept saying, “When the Messiah[e] comes, he won’t do more signs than this man has done, will he?”
Rivers of Living Water
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me[a] and drink! 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have rivers of living water flowing from his heart.” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who were believing in him were to receive, because the Spirit[b] was not yet present[c] and Jesus had not yet been glorified.
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