Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This psalm is a song to sing on Sabbath days.

A song to praise God

Amaziah becomes the king of Judah

14 Joash's son Amaziah became the king of Judah when Jehoahaz's son Jehoash had been the king of Israel for two years. ² Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin. She was from Jerusalem. ³ Amaziah did things that the Lord said were good. He lived in the way that his father Joash had done. But he did not do as well as his ancestor King David had done. ⁴ He did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁵ Amaziah made himself strong to rule his kingdom with authority. Then he killed the officers who had murdered his father, King Joash. ⁶ But he did not punish their sons with death. He obeyed the Lord's command that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses. The command says, ‘Do not punish fathers with death when their sons do bad things. Do not punish children with death when their fathers do bad things. Each person must die only because of his own sins.’^[a]

⁷ Amaziah killed 10,000 soldiers from Edom in Salt valley.^[b] He attacked Sela city and he took it for himself. He gave it a new name, ‘Joktheel’. That is still its name.

⁸ Then Amaziah sent men with a message to King Jehoash of Israel. He was the son of Jehoahaz and the grandson of Jehu. Amaziah's message said, ‘Come here and meet me.’ ⁹ But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah: ‘In Lebanon, a thorn bush sent this message to a cedar tree: “Please give your daughter to my son, to be his wife.” Then a wild animal of Lebanon came and knocked down the thorn bush. It walked all over it! ¹⁰ Yes! You have won the fight against Edom. But do not boast about your power! You may be very happy, but stay at home! Do not try to fight against us. If you do that, you will cause trouble that destroys both you and your kingdom, Judah.’

¹¹ But Amaziah did not accept Jehoash's message. So King Jehoash of Israel prepared to attack Amaziah's army. Jehoash and Amaziah met together in battle at Beth Shemesh, a town in Judah. ¹² Israel's army won the battle against Judah's army. All the soldiers from Judah ran back home. ¹³ At Beth Shemesh, King Jehoash of Israel caught the king of Judah, Amaziah, the son of Joash and the grandson of Ahaziah. Then King Jehoash went to attack Jerusalem. He destroyed the wall of Jerusalem, between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 180 metres long. ¹⁴ He took all the gold and silver and all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and the palace. He also took some of the people away with him as prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.

Jesus tells a story about a farmer's seeds

4 Again, Jesus began to teach people near the edge of Lake Galilee. A large crowd came together to listen to him. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The crowd of people stayed on the shore. ² Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them, ³ ‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field.^{[a] 4} While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds. ⁵ Other seeds fell on ground which had many rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. ⁶ But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. So the plants could not make any new seeds. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil. Good strong plants grew from these seeds. Some plants made 30 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds. And some plants made 100 new seeds.’

⁹ Then Jesus said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains to his disciples why he uses stories

¹⁰ When Jesus was alone, the 12 apostles and other people who were there asked him about the stories. ¹¹ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you understand how he rules in the lives of his people. But these other people only listen to stories. ¹² This is so that:

If they did understand, they would turn to God. Then God would forgive them.’

Jesus explains the story about the seeds

¹³ Then Jesus answered the people who had asked him about the story. ‘You should understand this story. If you do not understand it, you will not understand any of my stories. ¹⁴ The seeds are like the message from God. The farmer is like a person who tells people about that message. ¹⁵ Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who listen to the message. But then Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. ¹⁶ Some of the seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is also like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. ¹⁷ But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or because they obey God's message, other people may do bad things to them. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. ¹⁸ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear God's message. ¹⁹ But they have many troubles in their minds. They think that more money and other valuable things will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. ²⁰ But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who listen to the message from God. They understand the message and they believe it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 30 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 100 new seeds.’