Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of Praise

138 I will give You thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to You in front of the gods. ² I will bow down toward Your holy house. And I will give thanks to Your name for Your loving-kindness and Your truth. For You have honored Your Word because of what Your name is. ³ You answered me on the day I called. You gave me strength in my soul.

⁴ O Lord, all the kings of the earth will give thanks to You when they have heard the words of Your mouth. ⁵ And they will sing of the ways of the Lord. For the shining beauty of the Lord is great. ⁶ For even if the Lord is honored, He thinks about those who have no pride. But He knows the proud from far away. ⁷ Even if I walk into trouble, You will keep my life safe. You will put out Your hand against the anger of those who hate me. And Your right hand will save me. ⁸ The Lord will finish the work He started for me. O Lord, Your loving-kindness lasts forever. Do not turn away from the works of Your hands.

The Special Box Returned to Israel

6 The special box of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines seven months. ² The Philistines called for the religious leaders and those who were wise in secret ways, saying, “What should we do with the special box of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.” ³ And they said, “If you send away the special box of the God of Israel, do not send it empty. But be sure to return to Him a sin gift. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand does not turn away from you.” ⁴ Then they said, “What should we return to Him for a sin gift?” And they said, “Five sores made of gold and five gold mice, as many as there are Philistine leaders. For the same trouble was upon all of you and on your leaders. ⁵ So make objects to look like your sores and your mice that destroyed the land, and you will give honor to the God of Israel. It may be that He will be easier on you, your gods, and your land. ⁶ Why do you make your hearts hard as the Egyptians and Pharaoh made their hearts hard? Do not forget how the God of Israel made it hard for them. And did they not let the people go? ⁷ So now take and make ready a new wagon and two milk cows that have never pulled a load. Tie the cows to the wagon and take their calves away from them. ⁸ Take the special box of the Lord and put it on the wagon. Put the objects of gold which you return to Him as a sin gift in a box by its side. Then send it away, and let it be gone. ⁹ And watch. If it goes on the way to its own land, to Bethshemesh, then He has done this very bad thing to us. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that destroyed us. It will have just happened for no reason.”

¹⁰ The men did so. They took two milk cows and tied them to the wagon, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ They put the special box of the Lord on the wagon, and the box with the gold mice and the objects made to look like their sores. ¹² And the cows went straight toward Bethshemesh. They went along the straight road, making a sound as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the leaders of the Philistines followed them to the outside of Bethshemesh. ¹³ Now the people of Bethshemesh were gathering their grain in the valley. They looked up and saw the special box of the Lord, and were glad to see it. ¹⁴ The wagon came into the field of Joshua the Bethshemite and stopped there by a big stone. They cut the wood of the wagon into pieces and gave the cows as a burnt gift to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the special box of the Lord and the box that was with it that had the objects of gold, and put them on the big stone. The men of Bethshemesh gave burnt gifts in worship that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five leaders of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

¹⁷ These are the sores made of gold which the Philistines returned for a sin gift to the Lord. There was one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸ And the gold mice were as many as the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five leaders, both cities with walls and country towns. The big stone where they set the special box of the Lord is there in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite to this day.

The Picture-Story of the Man Who Planted Seed ^(A)

⁴ Many people came together from every town to Jesus. He told them a picture-story.

⁵ “A man went out to plant seed. As he planted the seed, some fell by the side of the road. It was walked on and birds came and ate it. ⁶ Some seed fell between rocks. As soon as it started to grow, it dried up because it had no water. ⁷ Some seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew and did not give the seed room to grow. ⁸ Some seed fell on good ground. It grew and gave one hundred times as much grain.” When Jesus had finished saying this, He cried out, “You have ears, then listen!”

⁹ His followers asked Him what this picture-story meant. ¹⁰ Jesus said, “You were given the secrets about the holy nation of God. Others are told picture-stories. As they look, they do not see. As they hear, they do not understand.

Jesus Tells about the Man Who Planted Seed

¹¹ “This is what the picture-story means. The seed is the Word of God. ¹² Those by the side of the road hear the Word. Then the devil comes and takes the Word from their hearts. He does not want them to believe and be saved from the punishment of sin. ¹³ Those which fell among rocks are those who when they hear the Word receive it with joy. These have no root. For awhile they believe, but when they are tempted they give up. ¹⁴ Those which fell among thorns hear the Word but go their own way. The cares of this life let the thorns grow. A love for money lets the thorns grow also. And the fun of this life lets the thorns grow. Their grain never becomes full-grown. ¹⁵ But those which fell on good ground have heard the Word. They keep it in a good and true heart and they keep on giving good grain.