Mark 4:26-34
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground(A) 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”(B)
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?(C) 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
The Use of Parables
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;(D) 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.(E)
Read full chapter
Ezekiel 17:22-24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Israel Exalted at Last
22 Thus says the Lord God:
I myself will take a sprig
from the lofty top of the cedar;
I will set it out.
I will break off a tender shoot
from the topmost of its young twigs;
I myself will transplant it
on a high and lofty mountain.(A)
23 On the mountain height of Israel
I will transplant it,
and it will produce boughs and bear fruit
and become a noble cedar.
Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.(B)
24 All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.
I bring low the high tree;
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.(C)
1 Samuel 15:34-35
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.(A) 35 Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.(B)
Read full chapter
1 Samuel 16:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
David Anointed as King
16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”(A) 2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’(B) 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.”(C) 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?”(D) 5 He said, “Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.(E)
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely his anointed is now before the Lord.”(F) 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”(G) 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”(H) 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”(I) 10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.”(J) 12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.”(K) 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.(L)
Read full chapter
Psalm 92:1-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 92
Thanksgiving for Vindication
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High,(A)
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning
and your faithfulness by night,(B)
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.(C)
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
Psalm 92:12-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.(A)
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,(B)
15 showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.(C)
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 So we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.(A) 8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil.(B)
Read full chapter
2 Corinthians 5:11-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.(A) 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.(B) 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.(C)
Read full chapter
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.(A) 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;[a] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,[b] we no longer know him in that way.(B) 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there[c] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.