Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

138 Lord, with all my heart I thank you. I will sing your praises before the armies of angels.^{[a] 2} I face your Temple as I worship, giving thanks to you for all your loving-kindness and your faithfulness, for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.^{[b] 3} When I pray, you answer me and encourage me by giving me the strength I need.

⁴ Every king in all the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for all of them shall hear your voice. ⁵ Yes, they shall sing about Jehovah’s glorious ways, for his glory is very great. ⁶ Yet though he is so great, he respects the humble, but proud men must keep their distance. ⁷ Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will bring me safely through them. You will clench your fist against my angry enemies! Your power will save me. ⁸ The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your loving-kindness, Lord, continues forever. Don’t abandon me—for you made me.

6 The Ark remained in the Philistine country for seven months in all. ² Then the Philistines called for their priests and diviners and asked them, “What shall we do about the Ark of God? What sort of gift shall we send with it when we return it to its own land?”

³ “Yes, send it back with a gift,” they were told. “Send a guilt offering so that the plague will stop. Then, if it doesn’t, you will know God didn’t send the plague upon you after all.”

^4-5 “What guilt offering shall we send?” they asked.

And they were told, “Send five gold models of the tumor caused by the plague, and five gold models of the rats that have ravaged the whole land—the capital cities and villages alike. If you send these gifts and then praise the God of Israel, perhaps he will stop persecuting you and your god. ⁶ Don’t be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. They wouldn’t let Israel go until God had destroyed them with dreadful plagues. ⁷ Now build a new cart and hitch to it two cows that have just had calves—cows that never before have been yoked—and shut their calves away from them in the barn. ⁸ Place the Ark of God on the cart beside a chest containing the gold models of the rats and tumors, and let the cows go wherever they want to. ⁹ If they cross the border of our land and go into Beth-shemesh, then you will know that it was God who brought this great evil upon us; if they don’t but return to their calves,^[a] then we will know that the plague was simply a coincidence and was not sent by God at all.”

¹⁰ So these instructions were carried out. Two cows with newborn calves were hitched to the cart and their calves were shut up in the barn. ¹¹ Then the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and tumors were placed upon the cart. ¹² And sure enough, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went; and the Philistine mayors followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. ¹³ The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping wheat in the valley, and when they saw the Ark, they went wild with joy!

¹⁴ The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock. So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord as a burnt offering. ¹⁵ Several men of the tribe of Levi lifted the Ark and the chest containing the gold rats and tumors from the cart and laid them on the rock. And many burnt offerings and sacrifices were offered to the Lord that day by the men of Beth-shemesh.

¹⁶ After the five Philistine mayors had watched for a while, they returned to Ekron that same day. ¹⁷ The five gold models of tumors which had been sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were gifts from the mayors of the capital cities, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸ The gold rats were to placate God for the other Philistine cities, both the fortified cities and the country villages controlled by the five capitals. (By the way, that large rock at Beth-shemesh can still be seen in the field of Joshua.)

⁴ One day he gave this illustration to a large crowd that was gathering to hear him—while many others were still on the way, coming from other towns.

⁵ “A farmer went out to his field to sow grain. As he scattered the seed on the ground, some of it fell on a footpath and was trampled on; and the birds came and ate it as it lay exposed. ⁶ Other seed fell on shallow soil with rock beneath. This seed began to grow, but soon withered and died for lack of moisture. ⁷ Other seed landed in thistle patches, and the young grain stalks were soon choked out. ⁸ Still other fell on fertile soil; this seed grew and produced a crop one hundred times as large as he had planted.” (As he was giving this illustration he said, “If anyone has listening ears, use them now!”)

⁹ His apostles asked him what the story meant.

¹⁰ He replied, “God has granted you to know the meaning of these parables, for they tell a great deal about the Kingdom of God. But these crowds hear the words and do not understand, just as the ancient prophets predicted.

¹¹ “This is its meaning: The seed is God’s message to men. ¹² The hard path where some seed fell represents the hard hearts of those who hear the words of God, but then the devil comes and steals the words away and prevents people from believing and being saved. ¹³ The stony ground represents those who enjoy listening to sermons, but somehow the message never really gets through to them and doesn’t take root and grow. They know the message is true, and sort of believe for a while; but when the hot winds of persecution blow, they lose interest. ¹⁴ The seed among the thorns represents those who listen and believe God’s words but whose faith afterwards is choked out by worry and riches and the responsibilities and pleasures of life. And so they are never able to help anyone else to believe the Good News.

¹⁵ “But the good soil represents honest, good-hearted people. They listen to God’s words and cling to them and steadily spread them to others who also soon believe.”