Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

¹⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam^[a] there was not found a helper suitable for him.

²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. Then He took one of his ribs and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

²³ Then Adam said,

²⁴ Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Psalm 8

For the Music Director. According to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

God Has Spoken by His Son

1 God, who at various times and in diverse ways spoke long ago to the fathers through the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the world. ³ He is the brightness of His glory, the express image of Himself, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ⁴ He was made so much better than the angels as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

The Pioneer of Salvation

⁵ For it was not to the angels that He has subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. ⁶ But someone in a certain place testified, saying:

For in subjecting all things under him, He left nothing that is not subjected to him. Yet now we do not see all things subject to him. ⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels to suffer death, crowned with glory and honor, so that He, by the grace of God, should experience death for everyone.

¹⁰ For it was fitting for Him, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through suffering. ¹¹ For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of One. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers, ¹² saying:

² The Pharisees came to test Him, asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”

⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce her.”

⁵ Jesus answered them, “Due to the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. ⁶ But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’^{[a] 7} ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall be one flesh.’^[b] So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”

¹⁰ In the house His disciples asked Him concerning this matter again. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. ¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Little Children Blessed^(A)

¹³ They brought young children to Him, that He might touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, He was very displeased and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter it.” ¹⁶ And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.