Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise to God
25 O Lord, You are my God.
(A)I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
(B)For You have done wonderful things;
(C)Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made (D)a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will (E)glorify You;
The city of the [a]terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
(F)A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be [b]diminished.
6 And in (G)this mountain
(H)The Lord of hosts will make for (I)all people
A feast of [c]choice pieces,
A feast of [d]wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And (J)the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will (K)swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will (L)wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
The Lord the Shepherd of His People
A Psalm of David.
23 The Lord is (A)my shepherd;
(B)I shall not [a]want.
2 (C)He makes me to lie down in [b]green pastures;
(D)He leads me beside the [c]still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
(E)He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Be Anxious for Nothing; Think These Thoughts
4 Therefore, my beloved and (A)longed-for brethren, (B)my joy and crown, so (C)stand fast in the Lord, beloved.
Be United, Joyful, and in Prayer
2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche (D)to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 [a]And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who (E)labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in (F)the Book of Life.
4 (G)Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your [b]gentleness be known to all men. (H)The Lord is at hand.
6 (I)Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with (J)thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and (K)the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Meditate on These Things
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are (L)true, whatever things are (M)noble, whatever things are (N)just, (O)whatever things are pure, whatever things are (P)lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and (Q)the God of peace will be with you.
The Parable of the Wedding Feast(A)
22 And Jesus answered (B)and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; (C)my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them [a]spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out (D)his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not (E)worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and (F)gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there (G)who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was (H)speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, [b]take him away, and cast him (I)into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 (J)“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.