Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁶ Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.^(A)

⁷ Who is like Me? Let him [stand and] proclaim it, declare it, and set [his proofs] in order before Me, since I made and established the people of antiquity. [Who has announced from of old] the things that are coming? Then let them declare yet future things.

⁸ Fear not, nor be afraid [in the coming violent upheavals]; have I not told it to you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a God besides Me? There is no [other] Rock; I know not any.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.^(A)

¹² I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.

¹³ For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].

¹⁴ O God, the proud and insolent are risen against me; a rabble of violent and ruthless men has sought and demanded my life, and they have not set You before them.

¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness and truth.

¹⁶ O turn to me and have mercy and be gracious to me; grant strength (might and inflexibility to temptation) to Your servant and save the son of Your handmaiden.

¹⁷ Show me a sign of [Your evident] goodwill and favor, that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because You, Lord, [will show Your approval of me when You] help and comfort me.

¹² So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.

¹³ For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵ For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

¹⁷ And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.

¹⁸ [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and ^[a]for us and ^[b]conferred on us!

¹⁹ For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

²⁰ For the creation (nature) was subjected to ^[c]frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope^(A)

²¹ That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

²² We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.^(B)

²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons).

²⁴ For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?

²⁵ But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.

²⁴ Another parable He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵ But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat, and went on his way.

²⁶ So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also.

²⁷ And the servants of the owner came to him and said, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have darnel shoots in it?

²⁸ He replied to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and weed them out?

²⁹ But he said, No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the [true] wheat along with it.

³⁰ Let them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my granary.

³⁶ Then He left the throngs and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.

³⁷ He answered, He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one,

³⁹ And the enemy who sowed it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰ Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.

⁴¹ The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [^[a]persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,

⁴² And will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

⁴³ Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him ^[b]consider and perceive and understand by hearing.^(A)