FIRST
READING: Exodus 32: 7 - 14
7
And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down; for your people, whom you
brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves;
8
they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them;
they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it
and sacrificed to it, and said, `These are your gods, O Israel, who
brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"
9
And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and
behold, it is a stiff-necked people;
10
now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them
and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation."
11
But Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does
thy wrath burn hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought forth
out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12
Why should the Egyptians say, `With evil intent did he bring them
forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the
face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this
evil against thy people.
13
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst
swear by thine own self, and didst say to them, `I will multiply your
descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have
promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it
for ever.'"
14
And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do to his
people.
PSALM: Psalms 106: 19 - 23
19
They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a molten image.
20
They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats
grass.
21
They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
22
wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red
Sea.
23
Therefore he said he would destroy them -- had not Moses, his chosen
one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from
destroying them.
GOSPEL: John 5: 31 - 47
31
If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true;
32
there is another who bears witness to me, and I know that the
testimony which he bears to me is true.
33
You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
34
Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this
that you may be saved.
35
He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice
for a while in his light.
36
But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the
works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works
which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me.
37
And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice
you have never heard, his form you have never seen;
38
and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe
him whom he has sent.
39
You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have
eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me;
40
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
41
I do not receive glory from men.
42
But I know that you have not the love of God within you.
43
I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if
another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
44
How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not
seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who
accuses you, on whom you set your hope.
46
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.
47
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my
words?"
