Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Vision of the Plumb Line
7 This is what he showed me: Look! The Lord was standing upon a wall that stood straight and true, with a plumb line in his hand.[a] 8 And the Lord was asking me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I replied, “A plumb line.”
So the Lord said,
“Look, I have set a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel.
I will no longer spare them.
9 Isaac’s high places will be destroyed,
and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined.
I will rise in opposition to the house of Jeroboam with my[b] sword.”
A Rebuke for Amaziah
10 So Amaziah priest of Bethel sent a message[c] to Jeroboam king of Israel. It said, “Amos has been conspiring against you in the very heart of the house of Israel! The land cannot bear everything he has to say, 11 because Amos is saying this:
‘By the sword will Jeroboam die,
and Israel will surely go into exile
far from her homeland.’”
12 So Amaziah kept saying to Amos, “Get out of here, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Live[d] there and prophesy there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because it’s the king’s sanctuary and a temple of the kingdom.”
14 Amos replied in answer to Amaziah,
“I am no prophet,
nor am I a prophet’s son,
for I have been shepherding
and picking the fruit of[e] sycamore[f] trees.
15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and the Lord kept saying to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Very well then, hear this message from the Lord:
‘You are saying,
“Don’t prophesy against Israel,
and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.”
17 ‘Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Your wife will become a whore in the city,
and your sons and daughters will die by the sword.
Your land will be divided and apportioned,
and you will die in a foreign[g] land.
Israel will surely go into exile,
far from its homeland.”’”
A Psalm of Asaph
Asking God for Justice
2 “How long will you judge partially
by showing favor on the wicked?[c]
3 “Defend the poor and the fatherless.
Vindicate the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the poor and the needy,
delivering them from the power of the wicked.
5 They neither know nor understand;
they walk about in the dark
while all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “Indeed I said, ‘You are gods,
and all of you are sons of the Most High.
7 However, as all human beings do, you will die,
and like other rulers, you will fall.’
8 Arise, God, to judge the earth,
for all nations belong to you.
Greetings from Paul
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.
2 To: The holy[c] and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with the Messiah.[d]
May grace and peace from God our Father[e] be yours!
Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[f] praying always for you, 4 because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah[g] Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, 5 based on the hope laid up for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope[h] through the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing[i] among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. 7 You learned about this gospel[j] from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of the Messiah[k] on your[l] behalf. 8 He has told us about your love in the Spirit.
The Messiah is Above All
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of God’s[m] will with respect to all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you might live in a manner worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him[n] as you bear fruit while doing all kinds of good things and growing in the full knowledge of God. 11 You are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might patiently endure everything with joy 12 and might thank the Father, who has enabled us[o] to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 God[p] has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves, 14 through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Good Samaritan
25 Just then an expert in the Law stood up to test Jesus.[a] He asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 Jesus[b] answered him, “What is written in the Law? What do you read there?”
27 He answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.[c] And you must love[d] your neighbor as yourself.”[e]
28 Jesus[f] told him, “You have answered correctly. ‘Do this, and you will live.’”[g]
29 But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 After careful consideration, Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of bandits. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man,[h] he went by on the other side. 32 Similarly, a descendant of Levi came to that place. When he saw the man,[i] he also went by on the other side. 33 But as he was traveling along, a Samaritan came across the man.[j] When the Samaritan[k] saw him, he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, he took out two denarii[l] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If you spend more than that, I’ll repay you when I come back.’
36 “Of these three men, who do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the bandits?”
37 He said, “The one who showed mercy to him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do what he did.”
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