Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 99

Praise to God for His Holiness

Prophecy against Eli’s Household

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 entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, ‘Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. ²⁵ If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord;^[a] but if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession?’ But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favour with the Lord and with the people.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him, ‘Thus the Lord has said, “I revealed^[b] myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt when they were slaves^[c] to the house of Pharaoh. ²⁸ I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to offer incense, to wear an ephod before me; and I gave to the family of your ancestor all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹ Why then look with greedy eye^[d] at my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honour your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?” ³⁰ Therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares: “I promised that your family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me for ever”; but now the Lord declares: “Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. ³¹ See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family, so that no one in your family will live to old age. ³² Then in distress you will look with greedy eye^[e] on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed upon Israel; and no one in your family shall ever live to old age. ³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his^[f] eyes and grieve his^[g] heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword.^{[h] 34} The fate of your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you—both of them shall die on the same day. ³⁵ I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one for ever. ³⁶ Everyone who is left in your family shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and shall say, Please put me in one of the priest’s places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

5 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew^[a] Beth-zatha,^[b] which has five porticoes. ³ In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed.^{[c] 5} One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ ⁷ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ ⁸ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ ⁹ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ ¹¹ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.”’ ¹² They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in^[d] the crowd that was there. ¹⁴ Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ ¹⁸ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.