Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Restoration of Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
(A)Bring her into the wilderness
And speak [a]kindly to her.
15 “Then I will give her her (B)vineyards from there,
And (C)the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will [b](D)sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the (E)day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 “It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord,
“That you will call Me [c](F)Ishi
And will no longer call Me [d]Baali.
17 “For (G)I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
So that they will be [e]mentioned by their names no more.
18 “In that day I will also make a covenant for them
With the (H)beasts of the field,
The birds of the sky
And the creeping things of the ground.
And I will [f](I)abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land,
And will make them (J)lie down in safety.
19 “I will (K)betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in (L)righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will (M)know the Lord.
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
103 (A)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His (B)holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And (C)forget none of His benefits;
3 Who (D)pardons all your iniquities,
Who (E)heals all your diseases;
4 Who (F)redeems your life from the pit,
Who (G)crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who (H)satisfies your [a]years with good things,
So that your youth is (I)renewed like the eagle.
6 The Lord (J)performs [b]righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are (K)oppressed.
7 He (L)made known His ways to Moses,
His (M)acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The Lord is (N)compassionate and gracious,
(O)Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He (P)will not always strive with us,
Nor will He (Q)keep His anger forever.
10 He has (R)not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high (S)as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who [c]fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He (T)removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just (U)as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who [d]fear Him.
22 Bless the Lord, (A)all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Ministers of a New Covenant
3 Are we beginning to (A)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, (B)letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 (C)You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, [a](D)cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of (E)the living God, not on (F)tablets of stone but on (G)tablets of [b](H)human hearts.
4 Such (I)confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but (J)our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as (K)servants of a (L)new covenant, not of (M)the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but (N)the Spirit gives life.
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and (A)all the [a]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
Levi (Matthew) Called
14 (B)As He passed by, He saw [b](C)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, “(D)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
15 And it *[c]happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and [d]sinners [e]were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When (E)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “(F)Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and [f]sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “(G)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
18 (H)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, [g]the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the (I)days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
21 “No one sews [h]a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise [i]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.