Psalm 96; Psalm 97; Amos 5:6–24; John 6:41–71

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Psalm 96

Worship in the Splendor of Holiness

aOh sing to the Lord ba new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

ctell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

For dgreat is the Lord, and egreatly to be praised;

he is to be feared above fall gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

but the Lord gmade the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before him;

hstrength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O ifamilies of the peoples,

jascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

Ascribe to the Lord kthe glory due his name;

bring lan offering, and mcome into his courts!

Worship the Lord in nthe splendor of holiness;1

otremble before him, all the earth!

10  Say among the nations, pThe Lord reigns!

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;

he will qjudge the peoples with equity.

11  Let rthe heavens be glad, and let sthe earth rejoice;

let tthe sea roar, and all that fills it;

12  let uthe field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall all vthe trees of the forest sing for joy

13  before the Lord, for he comes,

for he comes wto judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness,

and the peoples in his faithfulness.


Psalm 97

The Lord Reigns

xThe Lord reigns, ylet the earth rejoice;

let the many zcoastlands be glad!

aClouds and thick darkness are all around him;

brighteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

cFire goes before him

and burns up his adversaries all around.

His dlightnings light up the world;

the earth sees and etrembles.

The mountains fmelt like gwax before the Lord,

before hthe Lord of all the earth.

iThe heavens proclaim his righteousness,

and all jthe peoples see his glory.

All worshipers of images are kput to shame,

who make their boast in lworthless idols;

mworship him, all you gods!

Zion hears and nis glad,

and the daughters of Judah rejoice,

because of your judgments, O Lord.

For you, O Lord, are omost high over all the earth;

you are exalted far above pall gods.

10  O you who love the Lord, qhate evil!

He rpreserves the lives of his ssaints;

he tdelivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11  uLight vis sown1 for the righteous,

and joy for the upright in heart.

12  wRejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,

and xgive thanks to his holy name!


Amos 5:6–24

mSeek the Lord and live,

plest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, with none to quench it for nBethel,

O qyou who turn justice to wormwood1

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

He who made the rPleiades and Orion,

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and sdarkens the day into night,

who tcalls for the waters of the sea

tand pours them out on the surface of the earth,

uthe Lord is his name;

vwho makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10  wThey hate him who reproves xin the gate,

and they yabhor him who speaks the truth.

11  Therefore because you ztrample on2 the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

ayou have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

ayou have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

12  For I know how many are your transgressions

and how great are your sins

you who afflict the righteous, who btake a bribe,

and cturn aside the needy xin the gate.

13  Therefore he who is prudent will dkeep silent in such a time,

efor it is an evil time.

14  fSeek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the Lord, gthe God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said.

15  hHate evil, and love good,

and establish justice xin the gate;

iit may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus says the Lord, gthe God of hosts, the Lord:

In all the squares jthere shall be wailing,

and in all the streets they shall say, Alas! Alas!

They shall call the farmers to mourning

and jto wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

17  and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

for kI will pass through your midst,

says the Lord.

Let Justice Roll Down

18  Woe to you who desire lthe day of the Lord!

Why would you have the day of the Lord?

mIt is darkness, and not light,

19  nas if a man fled from a lion,

and a bear met him,

or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,

and a serpent bit him.

20  mIs not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?

21  oI hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22  pEven though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

23  Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to qthe melody of your harps I will not listen.

24  But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.


John 6:41–71

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, mI am the bread that came down from heaven. 42 They said, nIs not this Jesus, othe son of Joseph, whose father and mother pwe know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? 43 Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me qdraws him. And rI will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, sAnd they will all be ttaught by God. uEveryone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me 46 vnot that anyone has seen the Father except whe who is from God; he xhas seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, ywhoever believes has eternal life. 48 zI am the bread of life. 49 aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and bthey died. 50 cThis is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it dand not die. 51 I am the living bread ethat came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give ffor the life of the world is gmy flesh.

52 The Jews then hdisputed among themselves, saying, iHow can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of jthe Son of Man and drink his blood, you khave no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood lhas eternal life, and mI will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood nabides in me, and I in him. 57 As othe living Father psent me, and qI live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 rThis is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread1 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. 59 Jesus2 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught sat Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

60 tWhen many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? 61 But Jesus, vknowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see wthe Son of Man xascending to ywhere he was before? 63 zIt is the Spirit who gives life; athe flesh is no help at all. bThe words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But cthere are some of you who do not believe. (For Jesus vknew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and dwho it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, This is why I told you ethat no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.

66 fAfter this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to gthe twelve, Do you want to go away as well? 68 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have hthe words of eternal life, 69 and iwe have believed, and have come to know, that jyou are kthe Holy One of God. 70 Jesus answered them, lDid I not choose you, gthe twelve? And yet one of you is ma devil. 71 He spoke of Judas nthe son of Simon Iscariot, for ohe, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.