Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Song of Praise
92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and sing praises to Your name, O Most High. 2 It is good to tell of Your loving-kindness in the morning, and of how faithful You are at night, 3 with harps, and with music of praise. 4 For You have made me glad by what You have done, O Lord. I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
5 How great are Your works, O Lord! How deep are Your thoughts! 6 A man who cannot reason does not have much learning. A fool does not understand this. 7 Even if the sinful grow up like grass and all goes well with wrong-doers, they will be destroyed forever. 8 But You, O Lord, rule from Your high place forever. 9 For, look, those who hate You will be lost from You forever, O Lord. All those who do wrong will be destroyed.
10 But You have lifted up my horn like that of a wild bull. New oil has been poured upon me. 11 My eyes have seen those who wait to hurt me. My ears hear the bad men who rise up against me. 12 The man who is right and good will grow like the palm tree. He will grow like a tall tree in Lebanon. 13 Planted in the house of the Lord, they will grow well in the home of our God. 14 They will still give fruit when they are old. They will be full of life and strength. 15 And they will show that the Lord is faithful. He is my rock. There is nothing in Him that is not right and good.
23 The desire of those who are right with God is only good, but the hope of the sinful is anger.
24 There is one who is free in giving, and yet he grows richer. And there is one who keeps what he should give, but he ends up needing more.
25 The man who gives much will have much, and he who helps others will be helped himself.
26 The people curse him who keeps grain for himself, but good comes to him who sells it.
27 He who looks for good finds favor, but he who looks for wrong-doing will have bad come to him.
28 He who trusts in his riches will fall, but those who are right with God will grow like a green leaf.
29 He who troubles his own house will be given the wind, and the foolish will serve those with a wise heart.
30 The fruit of those who are right with God is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
Why Jesus Used Picture-Stories
10 The followers of Jesus came to Him and said, “Why do You speak to them in picture-stories?” 11 He said to the followers, “You were given the secrets about the holy nation of heaven. The secrets were not given to the others. 12 He who has will have more given to him. He will have even more than enough. But he who has little will have even that taken away from him.
13 “This is why I speak to them in picture-stories. They have eyes but they do not see. They have ears but they do not hear and they do not understand. 14 It happened in their lives as Isaiah said it would happen. He said, ‘You hear and hear but do not understand. You look and look but do not see. 15 The hearts of these people have become fat. They hear very little with their ears. They have closed their eyes. If they did not do this, they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts. Then they would be changed in their ways, and I would heal them.’ (A) 16 But how great are your eyes because they see. How great are your ears because they hear. 17 For sure, I tell you, that many early preachers and men right with God have wanted to see the things you see, but they did not see them. They wanted to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear them.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.