Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me.[a]
O God, because of your great loyal love,
answer me with your faithful deliverance.[b]
14 Rescue me from the mud. Don’t let me sink.
Deliver me[c] from those who hate me,
from the deep water.
15 Don’t let the current overpower me.
Don’t let the deep swallow me up.
Don’t let the Pit[d] devour me.[e]
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good.[f]
Because of your great compassion, turn toward me.
30 I will sing praises to God’s name.[a]
I will magnify him as I give him thanks.[b]
31 That will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull
with horns and hooves.
32 The oppressed look on—let them rejoice.
You who seek God,[c] may you be encouraged.[d]
33 For the Lord listens to the needy;
he does not despise his captive people.[e]
34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
along with the seas and everything that swims in them.
35 For God will deliver Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and his people[f] will again live in them and possess Zion.[g]
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who are loyal to him[h] will live in it.[i]
The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel
11 The whole earth[a] had a common language and a common vocabulary.[b] 2 When the people[c] moved eastward,[d] they found a plain in Shinar[e] and settled there. 3 Then they said to one another,[f] “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.”[g] (They had brick instead of stone and tar[h] instead of mortar.)[i] 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens[j] so that[k] we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise[l] we will be scattered[m] across the face of the entire earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people[n] had started[o] building. 6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language[p] they have begun to do this, then[q] nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.[r] 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse[s] their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”[t]
8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building[u] the city. 9 That is why its name was called[v] Babel[w]—because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
The Narrow Gate
13 “Enter[a] through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How[b] narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life,[c] and there are few who find it!
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Watch out for false prophets,[d] who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.[e] 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered[f] from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?[g] 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad[h] tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.
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