Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
22 Thus says Adonai Elohim: “I, even I, will take from a sprig from the top of the lofty cedar and will plant it. I will crop off a tender twig from the topmost of its young shoots, and I will plant it on a tall and prominent mountain. 23 I will plant it on Israel’s high mountain. It will bring forth branches, bear fruit and be a magnificent cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it—they will nest in the shade of its branches. 24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I, Adonai, have brought down the high tree, exalted the lowly tree, dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree flourish. I, Adonai, have spoken and I will do it.”
It Is Good to Praise
Psalm 92
1 A psalm, a song for the Shabbat.
2 It is good to praise Adonai
and to make music to Your Name, Elyon,
3 to declare Your love in the morning
and Your faithfulness at night,
4 with a ten-string harp,
with resounding music on the lyre.
12 My eye can gaze on those lying in wait for me.
My ears hear about evildoers rising up against me.
13 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree.
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
14 Planted in the House of Adonai,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They will still yield fruit in old age.
They will be full of sap and freshness.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether at home or absent, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, so that each one may receive what is due for the things he did while in the body—whether good or bad.
Ambassadors for Messiah
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord,[a] we are trying to persuade people, but what we are is known to God—and I hope it is known to your consciences as well. 12 For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity for boasting about us, so that you may have something to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. [b] 13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Messiah compels us, since we have concluded that One died for all; as a result all died. 15 And He died for all so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.
16 So from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Messiah according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him this way. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
What Is the Kingdom of God Like?
26 And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like when a man spreads seed on the soil 27 and falls asleep at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He himself doesn’t know how. 28 Automatically, the earth brings forth a crop—first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ready, at once he sends in the sickle, for the harvest has come.”
30 Yeshua also said, “How should we picture the kingdom of God? Or by what story shall we present it? 31 It is like a mustard seed when it’s planted in the ground. Though the smallest of all seeds in the earth, 32 yet when planted it grows up and becomes the largest of all the herbs. It puts forth big branches, so the birds of the air can nest in its shade.”[a]
33 With many such parables He used to tell them the word, as much as they were able to hear. 34 But apart from a parable, He wasn’t speaking to them. Yet when they were alone, to His own disciples He would explain everything.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.