Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.
A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is (A)good to give thanks to the Lord
And to (B)sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
2 To (C)declare Your lovingkindness in the morning
And Your (D)faithfulness [a]by night,
3 [b]With the (E)ten-stringed lute and [c]with the (F)harp,
[d]With resounding music [e]upon the (G)lyre.
4 For You, O Lord, have made me glad by [f]what You (H)have done,
I will (I)sing for joy at the (J)works of Your hands.
12 The (A)righteous man will [a]flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a (B)cedar in Lebanon.
13 (C)Planted in the house of the Lord,
They will flourish (D)in the courts of our God.
14 They will still [b](E)yield fruit in old age;
They shall be [c]full of sap and very green,
15 To [d]declare that (F)the Lord is upright;
He is my (G)rock, and there is (H)no unrighteousness in Him.
Amaziah Reigns over Judah
14 (A)In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, (B)Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 He did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done. 4 Only (C)the high places were not taken away; (D)the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 5 Now it came about, as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he [a](E)killed his servants who had slain the king his father. 6 But the sons of the [b]slayers he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, “(F)The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but (G)each shall be put to death for his own sin.”
7 He [c]killed of Edom in (H)the Valley of Salt 10,000 and took (I)Sela by war, and named it (J)Joktheel to this day.
8 (K)Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “(L)Come, let us face each other.” 9 Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “(M)The thorn bush which was in Lebanon sent to the cedar which was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ But there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trampled the thorn bush. 10 (N)You have indeed [d]defeated Edom, and (O)your heart has [e]become proud. Enjoy your glory and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you, even you, would fall, and Judah with you?”
11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at (P)Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 Judah was defeated [f]by Israel, and (Q)they fled each to his tent. 13 Then Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and tore down the wall of Jerusalem from (R)the Gate of Ephraim to (S)the Corner Gate, 400 [g]cubits. 14 (T)He took all the gold and silver and all the utensils which were found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.
Parable of the Sower and Soils
4 (A)He began to teach again (B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that (C)He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in (D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “(E)He who has ears to hear, [a]let him hear.”
10 As soon as He was alone, [b]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but (F)those who are outside get everything (G)in parables, 12 so that (H)while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”
Explanation
13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately (J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they [c]fall away. 18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of (K)the [d]world, and the (L)deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and (M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.