Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 “It is the voice of my well-beloved. Behold, he comes leaping by the mountains, and skipping by the hills.
9 “My well-beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag. Lo, he stands behind our wall, looking forth from the windows, showing himself through the grates.
10 “My well-beloved spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come your way.
11 ‘For behold, winter has passed. The rain has ended and has gone away.
12 ‘The flowers appear on the Earth. The time of the singing of birds has come. And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
13 ‘The fig tree has brought forth her young figs. And the vines, with small grapes, have cast a savor. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.’
45 My heart stirs with good words. I will speak of my works concerning the King. My tongue is as the pen of a swift writer.
2 You are more beautiful than the children of men. Grace is poured in Your lips because God has blessed You forever.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your Kingdom is a scepter of righteousness.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness, because God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.
8 All Your garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, of the ivory palaces where they have made You glad.
9 King’s daughters were among Your honorable women. Upon Your right hand stood the queen in a vesture of gold of Ophir.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change or turning shadow.
18 Of His own will He begat us with the Word of Truth, so that we would be as the firstfruits of His creatures.
19 Therefore my dear brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.
20 For the wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore, put aside all filthiness and abundance of wickedness. In humility, receive the Word implanted in you which is able to save your souls.
22 And be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if any hear the Word, and does not do it, he is like a man who beholds his natural face in a mirror.
24 For after he has looked at himself, he goes his way and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein (not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work), he shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If anyone among you seems religious but does not refrain his tongue and deceives his own heart, their religion is vain.
27 Religion, pure and undefiled before God (even the Father) is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their adversity, and to keep oneself undefiled by the world.
7 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came to Him from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of His disciples eat with common hands (that is to say, unwashed), they complained.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they have washed their hands, holding to the traditions of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, they do not eat until they have washed. And there are many other things there which they have taken upon themselves to observe - such as the washing of cups and pots and of metal vessels and of meal mats).
5 Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked Jesus, “Why do not Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?”
6 Then He answered and said to them, “Surely Isaiah has prophesied well of you, hypocrites. As it is written, ‘This people honors Me with lips, but their heart is far away from Me.
7 ‘But they worship Me in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 For you lay the Commandments of God aside, and observe the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots, and of cups. And there are many other such things that you do.”
14 Then He called the whole multitude to Him, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand!
15 “There is nothing outside of a man that can defile him when it enters into him. But the things which proceed out of him are those which defile the man.
21 “For from within, even out of the heart of man, proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 “thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 “All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
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