Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁷ Bless me with life^[a] so that I can continue to obey you. ¹⁸ Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word. ¹⁹ I am but a pilgrim here on earth: how I need a map—and your commands are my chart and guide. ²⁰ I long for your instructions more than I can tell.

²¹ You rebuke those cursed proud ones who refuse your commands— ²² don’t let them scorn me for obeying you. ²³ For even princes sit and talk against me, but I will continue in your plans. ²⁴ Your laws are both my light and my counselors.

²⁵ I am completely discouraged—I lie in the dust. Revive me by your Word. ²⁶ I told you my plans and you replied. Now give me your instructions. ²⁷ Make me understand what you want; for then I shall see your miracles.

²⁸ I weep with grief; my heart is heavy with sorrow; encourage and cheer me with your words. ^29-30 Keep me far from every wrong; help me, undeserving as I am, to obey your laws, for I have chosen to do right. ³¹ I cling to your commands and follow them as closely as I can. Lord, don’t let me make a mess of things. ³² If you will only help me to want your will, then I will follow your laws even more closely.

⁵ The Lord Almighty touches the land and it melts, and all its people mourn. It rises like the river Nile in Egypt and then sinks again. ⁶ The upper stories of his home are in the heavens, the first floor on the earth. He calls for the vapor to rise from the ocean and pours it down as rain upon the ground. Jehovah, the Lord, is his name.

⁷ “O people of Israel, are you any more to me than the Ethiopians are? Have not I, who brought you out of Egypt, done as much for other people too? I brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians out of Kir.

⁸ “The eyes of the Lord God are watching Israel, that sinful nation, and I will root her up and scatter her across the world. Yet I have promised that this rooting out will not be permanent. ⁹ For I have commanded that Israel be sifted by the other nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. ¹⁰ But all these sinners who say, ‘God will not touch us,’ will die by the sword.

¹¹ “Then, at that time I will rebuild the City of David, which is now lying in ruins, and return it to its former glory, ¹² and Israel will possess what is left of Edom and of all the nations that belong to me.” For so the Lord, who plans it all, has said.

¹³ “The time will come when there will be such abundance of crops that the harvesttime will scarcely end before the farmer starts again to sow another crop, and the terraces of grapes upon the hills of Israel will drip sweet wine! ¹⁴ I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again; they will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine. ¹⁵ I will firmly plant them there upon the land that I have given them; they shall not be pulled up again,” says the Lord your God.

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to murmur against him because he claimed to be the Bread from heaven.

⁴² “What?” they exclaimed. “Why, he is merely Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. What is this he is saying, that he came down from heaven?”

⁴³ But Jesus replied, “Don’t murmur among yourselves about my saying that. ⁴⁴ For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me, and at the Last Day I will cause all such to rise again from the dead. ⁴⁵ As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Those the Father speaks to, who learn the truth from him, will be attracted to me. ⁴⁶ (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen him.)

⁴⁷ “How earnestly I tell you this—anyone who believes in me already has eternal life! ^48-51 Yes, I am the Bread of Life! When your fathers in the wilderness ate bread from the skies, they all died. But the Bread from heaven gives eternal life to everyone who eats it. I am that Living Bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread shall live forever; this Bread is my flesh given to redeem humanity.”