Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O LORD.

² Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

³ If thou, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall endure?

⁴ Therefore there is forgiveness close to thee, that thou may be feared.

⁵ ¶ I have waited for the LORD, my soul has waited, and for his word I have waited.

⁶ My soul has waited for the Lord more than those that watch for the morning: I say, more than those that watch for the morning.

⁷ Let Israel wait for the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy and plenteous redemption close to him.

⁸ And he shall ransom Israel from all his sins.

⁴ ¶ These are the origins of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens

⁵ and every plant of the field before it was in the earth and all the grass of the field before it grew, for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and neither was there a man to till the ground.

⁶ But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

⁷ And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

⁸ ¶ And the LORD God had planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

⁹ And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is desirable to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided into four heads.

¹¹ The name of the first is Pison; that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

¹² and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

¹³ And the name of the second river is Gihon; this is the same that compasses the whole land of Ethiopia.

¹⁴ And the name of the third river is Hiddekel; this is that which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

⁴ ¶ And when many people were gathered together and were come to him out of every city, he spoke by a parable:

⁵ A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell along the way, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

⁶ And some fell upon the rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.

⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.

⁸ And some fell on good ground and sprang up and bore fruit a hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

⁹ And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?

¹⁰ And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.

¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

¹² Those along the way are those that hear; then comes the devil and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

¹³ Those on the rock are those that when they hear, receive the word with joy, but these have no root, who for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.

¹⁴ And that which fell among thorns are those who when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.

¹⁵ But that on the good ground are those who in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.