Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Waiting for the Redemption of the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
130 Out (A)of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3 (B)If You, Lord, should [a]mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could (C)stand?
4 But there is (D)forgiveness with You,
That (E)You may be feared.
4 (A)This is the [a]history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any (B)plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not (C)caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man (D)to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the (E)dust of the ground, and (F)breathed into his (G)nostrils the breath of life; and (H)man became a living being.
Life in God’s Garden
8 The Lord God planted (I)a garden (J)eastward in (K)Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made (L)every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. (M)The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and (N)evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts (O)the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. (P)Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is (Q)Hiddekel;[b] it is the one which goes toward the east of [c]Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Parable of the Sower(A)
4 (B)And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded [a]a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, (C)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The Purpose of Parables(D)
9 (E)Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the [b]mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
(F)‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
The Parable of the Sower Explained(G)
11 (H)“Now the parable is this: The seed is the (I)word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of [c]temptation fall away. 14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, (J)riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with (K)patience.[d]
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.