Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
14 Therefore, I will now allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.(A)
15 From there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.(B)
16 On that day, says the Lord, you will call me “my husband,” and no longer will you call me “my Baal.”[a] 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.(C) 18 I will make for you[b] a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish[c] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you[d] lie down in safety.(D) 19 And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.(E) 20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.(F)
Psalm 103
Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness
Of David.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.(A)
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,(B)
4 who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,(C)
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live[a]
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.(D)
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger forever.(E)
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our iniquities.(F)
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;(G)
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.(H)
13 As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.(I)
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Ministers of the New Covenant
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?(A) 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all, 3 and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are human hearts.[a](B)
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are qualified of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our qualification is from God,(C) 6 who has made us qualified to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.(D)
Jesus Calls Levi
13 Jesus[a] went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.(A) 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.(B)
15 And as he sat at dinner[b] in Levi’s[c] house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting[d] with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the scribes of[e] the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat[f] with tax collectors and sinners?”(C) 17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”(D)
The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people[g] came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.(E)
21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”[h]
New 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.