Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 130

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

¹ Out of the depths have I cried to You, O Lord.

² Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

³ If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat [us according to our] sins, O Lord, who could stand?^(A)

⁴ But there is forgiveness with You [just what man needs], that You may be reverently feared and worshiped.^(B)

⁵ I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.

⁶ I am looking and waiting for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, I say, more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is mercy and loving-kindness, and with Him is plenteous redemption.

⁸ And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

⁴ This is the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—

⁵ When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not [yet] caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the ground,

⁶ But there went up a mist (fog, vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground—

⁷ Then the Lord God formed man from the ^[a]dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.^(A)

⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted).

⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired—good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity.^(B)

¹⁰ Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [river] heads.

¹¹ The first is named Pishon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹² The gold of that land is of high quality; bdellium (pearl?) and onyx stone are there.

¹³ The second river is named Gihon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴ The third river is named Hiddekel [the Tigris]; it is the one flowing east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

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)

¹¹ Now the meaning of the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.

¹² Those along the traveled road are the people who have heard; then the devil comes and carries away the message out of their hearts, that they may not believe (^[b]acknowledge Me as their Savior and devote themselves to Me) and be saved [here and hereafter].

¹³ And those upon the rock [are the people] who, when they hear [the Word], receive and welcome it with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation fall away (withdraw and stand aloof).

¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, these are [the people] who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked and suffocated with the anxieties and cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not ripen (come to maturity and perfection).

¹⁵ But as for that [seed] in the good soil, these are [the people] who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in a just (^[c]noble, virtuous) and worthy heart, and steadily bring forth fruit with patience.