The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(A)the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ^2 (B)And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3 (C)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^(D)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[c]

⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be ^(A)my treasured possession among all peoples, for ^(B)all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a ^(C)kingdom of priests and ^(D)a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

6 In the year that ^(A)King Uzziah died I ^(B)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^[a] of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had ^(C)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

⁴ And ^(F)the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and ^(G)the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! ^(H)For I am lost; ^(I)for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the ^(J)King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he ^(K)touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for ^(L)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

^37 (A)Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore ^(B)pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to ^(C)send out laborers into his harvest.”

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

^5 (A)These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of ^(B)the Samaritans, ^6 (C)but go rather to ^(D)the lost sheep of ^(E)the house of Israel. ⁷ And proclaim as you go, saying, ^(F)‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’^{[a] 8 (G)}Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,^[b] cast out demons. ^(H)You received without paying; give without pay. ^9 (I)Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics^[c] or sandals or a staff, for ^(J)the laborer deserves his food. ¹¹ And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. ¹² As you enter the house, ^(K)greet it. ¹³ And if the house is ^(L)worthy, let ^(M)your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let ^(N)your peace return to you. ¹⁴ And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, ^(O)shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. ¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, ^(P)it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for ^(Q)the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

^18 (A)“Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of ^(B)the kingdom and ^(C)does not understand it, ^(D)the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately ^(E)receives it with joy, ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but ^(F)endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(G)he falls away.^{[a] 22} As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but ^(H)the cares of ^(I)the world and ^(J)the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³ As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and ^(K)understands it. He indeed ^(L)bears fruit and yields, in one case ^(M)a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴ He put another parable before them, saying, ^(N)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds^[b] among the wheat and went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷ And the servants^[c] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he said, ^(O)‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ^(P)“Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed is ^(A)the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are ^(B)the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. ^(C)The harvest is ^(D)the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ Just as the weeds ^(E)are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at ^(F)the end of the age. ^41 (G)The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all ^(H)causes of sin and ^(I)all law-breakers, ^42 (J)and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^(K)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then ^(L)the righteous will shine like the sun ^(M)in the kingdom of their Father. ^(N)He who has ears, let him hear.

¹⁹ I will give you ^(A)the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and ^(B)whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed^[a] in heaven.”

⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and ^(A)gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.