Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Is Good to His People
99 The Lord rules! Let the people shake in fear! He sits on His throne above the angels. Let the earth shake! 2 The Lord is great in Zion. And He is honored above all people. 3 Let them praise Your great name. It is to be honored with fear. He is holy!
4 The strength of the King loves what is right. You have set up what is fair. You do what is right and fair in Jacob. 5 Honor the Lord our God. Worship at His feet. For He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among His religious leaders. And Samuel was among those who called on His name. They called upon the Lord, and He answered them. 7 He spoke to them from the cloud. They kept His Word and the Law that He gave them. 8 O Lord our God, You answered them. You were a forgiving God to them. But You punished them for their wrong-doing. 9 Honor the Lord our God. And worship at His holy mountain. For the Lord our God is holy!
The Future of Eli’s Sons
22 Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the door of the meeting tent. 23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things, the sinful things I hear from all these people? 24 No, my sons, the news is not good which I hear from the Lord’s people. 25 If one man sins against another, God will help make peace for him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who can make peace for him?” Yet they would not listen to what their father said, for it was the Lord’s will to kill them. 26 Now the boy Samuel grew and was in favor both with the Lord and with men.
27 Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says. ‘Did I not let Myself be known to those of your father’s family when they were in Egypt being made to work for Pharaoh’s house? 28 Did I not choose them from all the families of Israel to be My religious leaders, to go up to My altar, to burn special perfume, and to wear a linen vest before Me? Did I not give all the gifts made by fire of the people of Israel to the family of your father? 29 Why do you show no respect to My gifts which I have asked for, and honor your sons more than Me? You make yourselves fat with the best part of every gift given in worship by My people Israel.’ 30 So the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I did promise that those of your family and the family of your father should walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May this be far from Me. For I will honor those who honor Me. And those who hate Me will not be honored. 31 See, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s family. So there will not be an old man in your family. 32 You will see the trouble of My family, even in all the good I do for Israel. And an old man will not be in your family forever. 33 But I will not destroy every man of yours from My altar. Some will be left to cry and be filled with sorrow. But all the children of your family will die in their best years. 34 This will be the special thing that you will see. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for Myself a faithful religious leader who will act by what is in My heart and mind. I will build him a family to last. And he will walk before My chosen one forever. 36 Everyone who is left in your family will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and say, “I beg you, put me in one of the religious leader’s places so that I may eat a piece of bread.”’”
Jesus Heals the Man at the Pool of Bethesda
5 Some time later, there was a religious gathering of the Jews. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 In Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches called Bethesda near the sheep gate. 3 Inside these porches lay many sick people. Some were blind. Some could not walk. Some could not move their bodies. 4 (*An angel of the Lord came at certain times and made the water move. All of them were waiting for it to move. Whoever got in the water first after it was moving was healed of whatever sickness he had.)
5 A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 Jesus saw him lying there and knew the man had been sick a long time. Jesus said to him, “Would you like to be healed?” 7 The sick man said, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is moving. While I am coming, another one gets in first.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk.” 9 At once the man was healed and picked up his bed and walked. This happened on the Day of Rest.
10 The Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Day of Rest. It is against the Law for you to carry your bed.” 11 He said to them, “The Man Who healed me said to me, ‘Pick up your bed and walk.’ 12 Then the Jews asked him, “What man said to you, ‘Pick up your bed and walk’?” 13 The man who had been healed did not know Who He was. Jesus had gone away while many people were there.
14 Later Jesus found the man who had been healed in the house of God. He said to him, “Listen! You have been healed. Stop sinning or something worse will come to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had healed him.
The Jews Want to Kill Jesus
16 Because Jesus did these things on the Day of Rest, the Jews made it very hard for Him. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is still working all the time so I am working also.” 18 The Jews tried all the more to kill Him, not only because He had worked on the Day of Rest, but because He had also called God His Own Father. This made Him the same as God.
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