Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
14 But watch! I am going to court her.
I will bring her into the wilderness.
I will speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her.
The Valley of Achor[a] will be a door of hope.
She will respond there as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 In that day, declares the Lord, this is what will take place:
You will call me “my husband.”
You will no longer call me “my master.”[b]
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth.
She will no longer call them by their names.[c]
18 In that day I will make a covenant for the Israelites with the wild animals, with the birds of the sky and the things that creep on the ground.
I will break the bow and the sword.
I will abolish war from the land.
I will allow the people to lie down safely.[d]
19 I will pledge you to myself in marriage forever.
I will pledge you to myself in marriage—
with righteousness, justice, mercy, and compassion.
20 In faithfulness I will pledge you to myself in marriage,
and you will know the Lord.
Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, Who Forgives All Your Sins
Heading
By David.
Invitation to Praise
1 Bless the Lord,[a] O my soul.
All that is within me, bless his holy name.
Praise for Personal Blessings
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who pardons all your guilt,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
5 who satisfies your life[b] with goodness,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Praise for Blessings Through Moses
6 The Lord performs righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel.
God’s Great Mercy
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always accuse.
He will not keep his anger forever.
10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
He does not repay us according to our guilty deeds.
God’s Mercy Illustrated
11 Yes, as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so powerful is his mercy toward those who fear him.
12 As distant as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our rebellious acts from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
22 Bless the Lord, everything he has made
in all places where he rules.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent by ourselves to claim that anything comes from us; rather, our competence is from God. 6 He also made us competent as ministers of a new testament[a] (not of letter, but of spirit).[b] For the letter kills, but the spirit[c] gives life.
The Calling of Levi (Matthew)
13 Jesus went out again along the sea. The whole crowd went to him, and he taught them. 14 As he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him. And Levi got up and followed him.
15 Then when Jesus was reclining at a table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples because many of them also were following him. 16 When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
A Question About Fasting
18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. They came and asked Jesus, “Why is it that John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
19 Jesus said to them, “The friends of the bridegroom cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then on that day they will fast. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the patch shrinks, the new tears away from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will pour out,[a] and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.