1 Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His mercy is everlasting.
2 Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can proclaim all His praise?
3 How blessed are those who maintain justice,
Who practice righteousness at all times!
4 Remember me, Lord, in Your favor toward Your people.
Visit me with Your salvation,
5 So that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the joy of Your nation,
That I may boast with Your inheritance.
6 We have sinned like our fathers,
We have gone astray, we have behaved wickedly.
7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses,
But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
So that He might make His power known.
9 So He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the mighty waters, as through the wilderness.
10 So He saved them from the hand of one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
13 They quickly forgot His works;
They did not wait for His plan,
14 But became lustfully greedy in the wilderness,
And put God to the test in the desert.
15 So He gave them their request,
But sent a wasting disease among them.
16 When they became envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And engulfed the company of Abiram.
18 And a fire blazed up in their company;
The flame consumed the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped a cast metal image.
20 So they exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wonders in the land of Ham,
And awesome things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
If Moses, His chosen one, had not stood in the gap before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they rejected the pleasant land;
They did not believe His word,
25 But grumbled in their tents;
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore He swore to them
That He would have them fall in the wilderness,
27 And that He would bring down their descendants among the nations,
And scatter them in the lands.
28 They also followed Baal-peor,
And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
29 So they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
And so the plague was brought to a halt.
31 And it was credited to him as righteousness,
To all generations forever.
32 They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters of Meribah,
So that it went badly for Moses on their account.
33 Because they were rebellious against His Spirit,
He spoke rashly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the peoples,
As the Lord had commanded them,
35 But they got involved with the nations
And learned their practices,
36 And served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,
38 And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and their daughters
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was defiled with the blood.
39 So they became unclean in their practices,
And were unfaithful in their deeds.
40 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people,
And He loathed His inheritance.
41 So He handed them over to the nations,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were subdued under their power.
43 Many times He would rescue them;
They, however, were rebellious in their plan,
And they sank down into their guilt.
44 Nevertheless He looked at their distress
When He heard their cry;
45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake,
And relented according to the greatness of His mercy.
46 He also made them objects of compassion
In the presence of all their captors.
47 Save us, Lord our God,
And gather us from the nations,
To give thanks to Your holy name
And glory in Your praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
Praise the Lord!
1 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A large crowd was following Him, because they were watching the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. 3 But Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5 So Jesus, after raising His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” 6 But He was saying this only to test him, for He Himself knew what He intended to do. 7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive just a little!” 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people recline to eat.” Now there was plenty of grass in the place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were reclining; likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, He *said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
15 So Jesus, aware that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself, alone.
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 In addition, the sea began getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He *said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 So they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
22 The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had departed alone. 23 Other small boats came from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What are we to do, so that we may accomplish the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “What then are You doing as a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work are You performing? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
41 So then the Jews were complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop complaining among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat from it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How 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 the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
60 So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? 62 What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
66 As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot; for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.