Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 92
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
and to sing praises unto Your name, O Most High:
2 to declare forth Your lovingkindness in the morning
and Your faithfulness in the night,
3 on a ten-stringed lute and on the harp,
and on the lyre with a solemn sound.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad through Your work;
I will sing joyfully at the works of Your hands.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
they shall be filled with vitality and foliage,
15 to show that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Amaziah, King of Judah(A)
14 In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem. 3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, only not like David his father. He did everything that Joash his father did. 4 But he did not remove the high places. Still the people sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
5 As soon as he seized the kingdom, he killed his servants who had killed his father, the king. 6 But he did not kill the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, “Fathers must not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers. Rather, a man should be put to death for his own sin.”
7 He struck ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela in battle. He called it Joktheel, as it is to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.”
9 Then Jehoash the king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thorn bush in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife.’ But a wild animal passed through in Lebanon and trampled the thorn bush. 10 You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy respect and sit at home. Why stir up trouble and fall, you and Judah with you?”
11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 Judah was beaten before Israel, and every man fled to his tent. 13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Then he came to Jerusalem and breached the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.[a] 14 He took all the gold and silver, all the vessels found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and hostages, and then returned to Samaria.
The Parable of the Sower(A)
4 Again He began to teach by the seaside. A large crowd was gathered before Him, so that He entered a boat and sat in it on the sea. And the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 He taught them many things in parables and said to them in His teaching: 3 “Listen! And take note: A sower went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and soon it sprang up because it did not have deep soil. 6 But when the sun rose, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seed fell on good ground, and it yielded grain that sprang up and increased by thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much.”
9 Then He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables(B)
10 When He was alone, those who were around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 He said to them, “To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything is said in parables, 12 so that
‘seeing they may see, and not perceive,
and hearing they may hear and not understand;
lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.’[a]”
The Parable of the Sower Explained(C)
13 Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are those beside the path, where the word is sown. But when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word which is sown in their hearts. 16 Others, likewise, are seed sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness, 17 but have no root in themselves, and so endure for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution rises for the word’s sake, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are seed sown among thorns, the ones who hear the word. 19 But the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 Still others are seed sown on good ground, those who hear the word, and receive it, and bear fruit: thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.