Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain: 23 in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shade of the branches thereof shall they dwell. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, Jehovah, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done it.
Praise for Jehovah’s goodness.
A Psalm, a Song for the sabbath day.
92 It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah,
And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High;
2 To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,
And thy faithfulness every night,
3 With an instrument of ten strings, and with the psaltery;
With a solemn sound upon the harp.
4 For thou, Jehovah, hast made me glad through thy work:
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree:
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of Jehovah;
They shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and green:
15 To show that Jehovah is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
6 Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord 7 (for we walk by faith, not by [a]sight); 8 we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Wherefore also we [b]make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him. 10 For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done [c]in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. 12 We are not again commending ourselves unto you, but speak as giving you occasion of glorying on our behalf, that ye may have wherewith to answer them that glory in appearance, and not in heart. 13 For whether we [a]are beside ourselves, it is unto God; or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you.
14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. 16 Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [a]he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.
26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. 28 The earth [a]beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the fruit [b]is ripe, straightway he [c]putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
30 And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in what parable shall we set it forth? 31 [d]It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth, 32 yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.
33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it; 34 and without a parable spake he not unto them: but privately to his own disciples he expounded all things.
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