Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 92
It Is Good to Praise the Lord
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A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.
A Call to Praise
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
2 to proclaim your mercy in the morning
and your faithfulness every night,
3 with a ten-stringed instrument and with a harp,
with a melody on a lyre.
The Blessings of Praise
4 Yes, you make me glad by your work, O Lord.
I sing loudly at the works of your hands.
12 The righteous will shoot up like a palm tree.
They will grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house of the Lord,
they will shoot up in the courtyards of our God.
14 They will still produce fruit in old age.
They will stay fresh and green.
Closing Praise
15 Yes, they can proclaim, “The Lord is upright.
He is my Rock, and he does no wrong.”
Amaziah Son of Joash, King of Judah
14 In the second year of Joash[a] son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin[b] from Jerusalem. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not like his father David. He did everything his father Joash had done, 4 but the high places were still not removed. The people were still offering sacrifices and burning incense at the high places.
5 When the royal power was firmly in his hand, he killed his officials who had killed his father the king. 6 But he did not put the sons of the assassins to death, in obedience to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, “Fathers are not to be put to death on account of their sons, and sons are not to be put to death on account of their fathers, but each person will die for his own sin.”[c]
7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He seized Sela in the war and named it Jokthe’el, the name it has to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s confront each other face-to-face.”
9 Then Jehoash king of Israel sent a message to Amaziah king of Judah:
A thornbush in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, “Give your daughter to my son as his wife.” But a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
10 You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Accept that honor and remain in your palace. Why stir up disaster so that you fall, and Judah falls with you?
11 But Amaziah did not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah confronted each other face-to-face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man fled to his tent. 13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, at Beth Shemesh. Then they went to Jerusalem. Jehoash broke down six hundred feet[d] of the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 Then he took all the gold and silver, all the articles found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s palace. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria.
The Parable of the Sower
4 Another time Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the sea. The whole crowd was on the seashore. 2 Then he taught them many things in parables. As he taught them, he said, 3 “Listen! There was a sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. 6 When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered. 7 Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it did not produce fruit. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit, sprouting and growing and producing a crop: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.” 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When Jesus was alone, those who were around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, 12 so that
they will certainly see but not perceive,
and they will certainly hear but not understand.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.”[a]
13 Then he asked them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. 17 Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. 18 Still others are sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things enter in and choke the word, so it becomes unfruitful. 20 But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.