Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath Day
Praise and Thanksgiving to God
92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord
and to sing praise to your name, Most High;
2 to proclaim your gracious love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
and the contemplative sound of a harp.
4 Because you made me glad
with your awesome deeds, Lord,
I will sing for joy at the works of your hands.
12 The righteous will flourish like palm trees;
they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the Lord’s Temple,
they will flourish in the courtyard of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit even in old age;[a]
they will be luxuriant and green.
15 They will proclaim: “The Lord is upright;
my rock, in whom there is no injustice.”
Amaziah Becomes King of Judah
14 Amaziah, son of Judah’s King Joash, became king during the second year of the reign of[a] Joash, son of King Joahaz of Israel, 2 at the age of 25. He reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin; she was[b] from Jerusalem.
3 He practiced what the Lord considered to be right, but not like his ancestor David did. He acted as his father Joash had done, 4 except that the high places were not abolished. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on the high places. 5 Later on, as soon as he was in firm control of his kingdom, he executed the servants who had murdered his father the king, 6 but he did not execute the children of the murderers, in keeping with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, as the Lord had commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death because of their children’s sin; nor are children to die because of their fathers’ sin, for each person is to be put to death for his own sin.”[c]
The Edomites are Defeated(A)
7 Joash executed 10,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley and captured Sela in battle, renaming it Joktheel, which remains its name to this day. 8 Later, Amaziah sent couriers to Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash, grandson of King Jehu of Israel, challenging him, “Come on! Let’s fight face to face!”
9 But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message to King Amaziah of Judah: “The thorn bush in Lebanon sent this message to the cedar[d] of Lebanon: ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ But just then a wild beast from Lebanon wandered by and trampled down the thorn bush. 10 You just defeated Edom and you’re[e] arrogant. Bask in your victory and stay home. Why incite trouble so that you—yes, you!—fall, along with Judah with you?”
11 But Amaziah refused to listen. So Israel’s King Jehoash and Judah’s King Amaziah faced each other at Beth-shemesh, which is part of Judah. 12 Judah was defeated by Israel, and everybody fled to their own tents. 13 Then King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s King Amaziah, the son of Jehoash and grandson of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. He went to Jerusalem and demolished 400 cubits[f] of the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 He confiscated all the gold and silver, all the instruments he could find in the Lord’s Temple and in the palace treasuries. He also captured some hostages and then returned to Samaria.
The Parable about a Farmer(A)
4 Then Jesus[a] began to teach again beside the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it,[b] while the entire crowd remained beside the sea on the shore. 2 He began teaching them many things in parables. While he was teaching them he said, 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow. 4 As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on stony ground, where they didn’t have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once, because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they didn’t have any roots, they dried up. 7 Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes came up and choked them out, and they didn’t produce anything. 8 But others fell on good soil and produced a crop. They grew up, increased in size, and produced 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.”[c] 9 He added, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”
The Purpose of the Parables(B)
10 When he was alone with the Twelve and those around him, they began to ask him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret about the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything comes in parables 12 so that
‘they may see clearly but not perceive,
and they may hear clearly but not understand,
otherwise they might turn around and be forgiven.’”[d]
Jesus Explains the Parable about the Farmer(C)
13 Then he told them, “You don’t understand this parable, so how can you understand any of the parables? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like the seeds[e] along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others are like the seeds[f] sown on the stony ground. When they hear the word, at once they joyfully accept it, 17 but since they don’t have any roots, they last for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall away. 18 Still others are like the seeds[g] sown among the thorn bushes. These are the people who hear the word, 19 but the worries of life, the deceitful pleasures of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word so that it can’t produce a crop. 20 Others are like the seeds[h] sown on good soil. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops—30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.”[i]
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