Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

8 My Lord Yahweh showed me this, and there was a basket of summer fruit. ² And he said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” And Yahweh said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel. I will not pass by them again!” ³ “And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares^[a] my Lord Yahweh. “The corpses are numerous; he throws them in every place. Be quiet!” ⁴ Hear this, those who trample on the poor and who annihilate the afflicted of the land, ⁵ saying, “When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make the ephah small and make the shekel large, and can practice deceit with a set of scales of deceit? ⁶ That we can^[b] buy the powerless with silver and the poor for the sake of a pair of sandals, and we can sell the waste of the grain?” ⁷ Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds! ⁸ On account of this, will not the land tremble and will not every living thing in it mourn? And all of it will rise like the Nile and it will be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt. ⁹ And then in that day,” declares^[c] my Lord Yahweh, “I^[d] will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the land on a day of light. ¹⁰ And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lament, and I will put sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day. ¹¹ Look, the days are coming,” declares^[e] my Lord Yahweh, “when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but of hearing^[f] the words of Yahweh! ¹² And they will wander from sea to sea and from the north and to the east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it!

God’s Judgment on the Wicked and Love for the Faithful

For the music director. A maskil of David.

When Doeg the Edomite came and informed Saul.

And he said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”^[a]

¹⁵ who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all^[a] creation, ¹⁶ because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, ¹⁷ and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together, ¹⁸ and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything, ¹⁹ because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by^[b] making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹ And although you were formerly alienated^[c][d] and enemies in attitude, because of your evil deeds, ²² but now you have been reconciled^[e] by his physical body^[f] through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you remain in the faith, established and steadfast and not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul’s Suffering and Stewardship

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the church, ²⁵ of which I became a minister, according to God’s stewardship which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God, ²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been revealed to his saints, ²⁷ to whom God wanted to make known what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, ²⁸ whom we proclaim, by^[g] admonishing every person^[h] and teaching every person^[i] with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person^[j] mature in Christ,

Martha and Mary

³⁸ Now as they traveled along, he entered into a certain village. And a certain woman named^[a] Martha welcomed him.^{[b] 39} And she had^[c] a sister named Mary, who also sat at the feet of Jesus^[d] and^[e] was listening to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much preparation, so she approached and^[f] said, “Lord, is it not a concern to you that my sister has left me alone to make preparations? Then tell her that she should help me!” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered and^[g] said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things! ⁴² But few things are necessary, or only one thing,^[h] for Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”