Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Listen! My beloved!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.(A)
9 My beloved is like a gazelle(B) or a young stag.(C)
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;(D)
the blossoming(E) vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
6 Your throne, O God,[a] will last for ever and ever;(A)
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness(B) and hate wickedness;(C)
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing(D) you with the oil of joy.(E)
8 All your robes are fragrant(F) with myrrh(G) and aloes(H) and cassia;(I)
from palaces adorned with ivory(J)
the music of the strings(K) makes you glad.
9 Daughters of kings(L) are among your honored women;
at your right hand(M) is the royal bride(N) in gold of Ophir.(O)
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above,(A) coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,(B) who does not change(C) like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth(D) through the word of truth,(E) that we might be a kind of firstfruits(F) of all he created.
Listening and Doing
19 My dear brothers and sisters,(G) take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak(H) and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger(I) does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of(J) all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you,(K) which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.(L) 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,(M) and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.(N)
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues(O) deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after(P) orphans and widows(Q) in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.(R)
That Which Defiles(A)
7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled,(B) that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.(C) 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])(D)
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders(E) instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[b](F)
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”(G)
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed,(A) malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
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