Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Safety
A maskil of David when he was in the cave. A prayer.
142 I cry out to the Lord.
I pray to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out my problems to him.
I tell him my troubles.
3 When I am afraid,
you, Lord, know the way out.
In the path where I walk,
a trap is hidden for me.
4 Look around me and see.
No one cares about me.
I have no place of safety.
No one cares if I live.
5 Lord, I cry out to you.
I say, “You are my protection.
You are all I want in this life.”
6 Listen to my cry
because I am helpless.
Save me from those who are chasing me.
They are too strong for me.
7 Free me from my prison.
Then I will praise your name.
Then the good people will surround me
because you have taken care of me.
17 Fig trees may not grow figs.
There may be no grapes on the vines.
There may be no olives growing on the trees.
There may be no food growing in the fields.
There may be no sheep in the pens.
There may be no cattle in the barns.
18 But I will still be glad in the Lord.
I will rejoice in God my Savior.
19 The Lord God gives me my strength.
He makes me like a deer, which does not stumble.
He leads me safely on the steep mountains.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
A Story About Three Servants
11 Jesus traveled closer to Jerusalem. Some of the people thought that God’s kingdom would appear soon. 12 Jesus knew that the people thought this, so he told them this story: “A very important man was preparing to go to a country far away to be made a king. Then he planned to return home and rule his people. 13 So the man called ten of his servants together. He gave a bag of money[a] to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money till I get back.’ 14 But the people in the kingdom hated the man. So they sent a group to follow him and say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king!’
15 “But the man became king. When he came home, he said, ‘Call those servants who have my money. I want to know how much they earned with it.’
16 “The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I earned ten bags of money with the one bag you gave me!’ 17 The king said to the servant, ‘Fine! You are a good servant. I see that I can trust you with small things. So now I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’
18 “The second servant said, ‘Sir, with your one bag of money I earned five bags!’ 19 The king said to this servant, ‘You can rule over five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came in. The servant said to the king, ‘Sir, here is your bag of money. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth and hid it. 21 I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t plant.’ 22 Then the king said to the servant, ‘You evil servant! I will use your own words to condemn you. You said that I am a hard man. You said that I even take money that I didn’t earn and gather food that I didn’t plant. 23 If that is true, then you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.’
24 “Then the king said to the men who were watching, ‘Take the bag of money away from this servant and give it to the servant who earned ten bags of money.’ 25 They said to the king, ‘But sir, that servant already has ten bags of money!’ 26 The king said, ‘The one who uses what he has will get more. But the one who does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him. 27 Now where are my enemies who didn’t want me to be king? Bring them here and kill them before me.’”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.