Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Mercy
A song ·for going up to worship [of ascents; C perhaps sung while traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate an annual religious festival like Passover].
130 Lord, ·I am in great trouble [L from the depths],
so I ·call out [pray] to you.
2 Lord, hear my voice;
·listen to my prayer for help [L let your ear pay attention to the sound of my supplication].
3 Lord, if you ·punished people for all their sins [L observed/watched/guarded against iniquity],
·no one would be left [L who could stand…?], Lord.
4 But you forgive ·us [L your people],
so you are ·respected [feared; Prov. 1:7].
5 I ·wait [hope] for the Lord ·to help me [L my soul hopes],
and I ·trust [hope in] his word.
6 I ·wait for the Lord to help me [hope for the Lord]
more than night watchmen wait for the ·dawn [morning],
more than night watchmen wait for the ·dawn [morning].
7 People of Israel, put your hope in the Lord
because he is ·loving [loyal]
and ·able to save [L with him is abundant redemption].
8 He will ·save [redeem] Israel
from all their ·sins [iniquities].
The First People
4 ·This is the story [L These are the generations; C introduces a new section of the book; see also 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9] of the creation of the ·sky [heavens] and the earth. When the ·Lord God [Yahweh Elohim; C Elohim is the common term for God; Lord (capital letters) represents the divine name YHWH, usually pronounced “Yahweh”; see Ex. 3:14–15] first made the earth and the ·sky [heavens], 5 there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to ·care for [or till; work] the ground, 6 but a ·mist [or stream] would rise up from the earth and water all the ground.
7 Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it [C there is wordplay between “ground” (adama) and “man” (adam)]. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. 8 ·Then the Lord God [or The Lord God had] planted a garden in the east [C probably east of Palestine], in a place called Eden [C related to a word meaning “luxurious”], and put the man he had formed into it. 9 The Lord God caused every ·beautiful [L desirous to see] tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree ·that gives life [T of life] and also the tree ·that gives the knowledge [T of the knowledge] of good and evil.
10 A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river ·branched out [divides] to become four ·rivers [L heads]. 11 The first river, named Pishon [C otherwise unknown], flows around the whole land of Havilah [C otherwise unknown], where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium [C a sweet-smelling resin like myrrh] and onyx [C a precious stone] are also found there. 13 The second river, named Gihon [C a small stream in Jerusalem (1 Kin. 1:33), but here perhaps referring to another river], flows around the whole land of Cush [C often referring to Ethiopia, but here likely a place in Mesopotamia; see 10:7]. 14 The third river, named Tigris [C a major river in Mesopotamia], flows out of Assyria [C in northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq)] toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates [C a major river in Mesopotamia; the location of Eden is uncertain, but this passage suggests Mesopotamia].
A Story About Planting Seed(A)
4 When a great crowd was gathered, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he told them this ·story [parable]:
5 “A ·farmer [sower] went out to ·plant [sow] his seed. While he was ·planting [sowing, scattering seed], some seed fell ·by the road [along the footpath]. People ·walked [trampled] on the seed, and the ·birds [L birds of the sky] ate it up. 6 Some seed fell on rock, and when it began to grow, it ·died [withered; dried up] because it had no ·water [moisture]. 7 Some seed fell among thorny weeds, but the weeds grew up with it and choked ·the good plants [L it]. 8 And ·some [L other] seed fell on good ·ground [soil] and grew and made a hundred times more.”
As Jesus finished the story, he called out, “·Let those with ears use them and listen [L The one who has ears to hear, let him hear]!”
9 Jesus’ ·followers [disciples] asked him what this ·story [parable] meant.
10 Jesus said, “·You have been chosen [L It has been granted/given to you] to ·know [understand] the ·secrets [mysteries] about the kingdom of God. But I use ·stories [parables] to speak to ·other people [the rest] so that:
‘They will ·look [see], but they may not ·see [perceive].
They will ·listen [hear], but they may not understand [Is. 6:9].’
11 “This is what the ·story [parable] means: The seed is God’s ·message [word]. 12 The seed that fell ·beside the road [along the footpath] is like the people who hear God’s teaching, but [L then] the devil comes and takes it away from ·them [L their hearts] so they cannot believe it and be saved. 13 The seed that fell on rock is like those who hear God’s teaching and ·accept [receive] it ·gladly [L with joy], but they ·don’t allow the teaching to go deep into their lives [L have no root]. They believe for a while, but when ·trouble [L a time of temptation/testing] comes, they ·give up [fall away; depart]. 14 The seed that fell among the thorny weeds is like those who hear God’s teaching, but they let the ·worries [cares; anxieties], riches, and pleasures of this life ·keep them from growing and producing [L choke/crowd them and they do not produce] ·good [mature; ripe] fruit. 15 And the seed that fell on the good ground is like those who hear ·God’s teaching [the word] with good, honest hearts and ·obey [cling/hold to] it and ·patiently [with perseverance] produce good fruit.
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