Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 15

A Psalm of David.

¹ Lord, who shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill?

² He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart,

³ He who does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;

⁴ In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he who honors those who fear the Lord (who revere and worship Him); who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

⁵ [He who] does not put out his money for ^[a]interest [to one of his own people] and who will not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.^(A)

14 In the days of the kings Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim,

² They made war on the kings Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, ^[a]that is, Zoar.

³ The latter kings joined together [as allies] in the Valley of Siddim, which is [now] the [Dead] Sea of Salt.

⁴ Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵ And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him attacked and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

⁶ And the Horites in their Mount Seir as far as El-paran, which is on the border of the wilderness.

⁷ Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat, which [now] is Kadesh, and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸ Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, that is, Zoar, went out and [together] they joined battle [with those kings] in the Valley of Siddim,

⁹ With the kings Chedorlaomer of Elam, Tidal of Goiim, Amraphel of Shinar, and Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five.

¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of slime or bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell (were overthrown) there and the remainder [of the kings] fled to the mountain.

¹¹ [The victors] took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the supply of provisions and departed.

¹² And they also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods away with them.

¹³ Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew [one from the other side], who was living by the oaks or terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and of Aner—these were allies of Abram.

¹⁴ When Abram heard that [his nephew] had been captured, he armed (led forth) the 318 trained servants born in his own house and pursued the enemy as far as Dan.

¹⁵ He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and attacked and routed them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

¹⁶ And he brought back all the goods and also brought back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, the women also and the people.

⁴ And when a very great throng was gathering together and people from town after town kept coming to Jesus, He said in a parable:

⁵ A sower went out to sow seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the traveled path and was trodden underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up.

⁶ And some [seed] fell on the rock, and as soon as it sprouted, it withered away because it had no moisture.

⁷ And other [seed] fell in the midst of the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it [off].

⁸ And some seed fell into good soil, and grew up and yielded a crop a hundred times [as great]. As He said these things, He called out, He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him ^[a]consider and understand by hearing!

⁹ And when His disciples asked Him the meaning of this parable,

¹⁰ He said to them, To you it has been given to [come progressively to] know (to recognize and understand more strongly and clearly) the mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that, [though] looking, they may not see; and hearing, they may not comprehend.^(A)