Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
9 God, I will sing a new song to you.
On a harp of ten strings I will play to you—
10 to you who gives victory to kings,
rescuing his servant David from cruel swords.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the control of foreigners,[a]
whose mouths speak lies,
and whose right hand deceives.[b]
12 May our sons in their youth be like full-grown plants,
and our daughters like pillars
destined to decorate a palace.
13 May our granaries be filled,
storing produce in abundance;
may our sheep bring forth thousands,
even tens of thousands in our fields.
14 May our cattle grow heavy with young,
with no damage or loss.
May there be no cry of anguish in our streets!
15 Happy are the people to whom these things come;
happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
The Young Women
5 Who is this coming up from the desert,
leaning on her beloved?
The Loved One
Under the apple tree[a] I awakened you.
There your mother had gone into labor with you;
there she went into labor and gave birth to you.
6 Set me like a seal[b] over your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
passion[c] as intense as Sheol.[d]
The flames of love[e] are flames of fire,
a blaze that comes from the Lord.[f]
7 Mighty bodies of water cannot extinguish love,
rivers cannot put it out.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
he would surely be viewed with contempt.
9 Then he told them, “You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition! 10 Because Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[a] and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.’[b] 11 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother, “Whatever support you might have received from me is Corban,”’ (that is, an offering to God) 12 ‘you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.’ 13 You are destroying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that.”
14 Then he called to the crowd again and told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand! 15 Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!”[c]
17 When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples began asking him about the parable. 18 He asked them, “Are you so ignorant? Don’t you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean? 19 Because it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then into the sewer,[d] thereby expelling[e] all foods.” 20 Then he continued, “It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean, 21 because it’s from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come, as well as sexual immorality, stealing, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, slander,[f] arrogance, and foolishness. 23 All these things come from inside and make a person unclean.”
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