Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: A Davidic instruction[a] about Doeg, the Edomite, when he went to Saul and told him, “David went to the house of Abimelech.”
A Rebuke to the Deceitful
52 Why do you make evil
the foundation of your boasting, mighty one?[b]
God’s gracious love never ceases.[c]
2 Your tongue, like a sharp razor, devises wicked things
and crafts treachery.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking uprightly.
4 You love all words that destroy, you deceitful tongue!
5 But God will tear you down forever;
he will take you away,
even snatching you out of your tent!
He will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 The righteous will fear when they see this,
but then they will laugh at him, saying,
7 “Look, here is a young man who refused to make God his strength;
instead, he trusted in his great wealth
and made his wickedness his strength.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the gracious love of God forever and ever.
9 Therefore I will praise you forever
because of what you did;
I will proclaim that your name is good
in the midst of your faithful ones.
Mourning for the House of Israel
6 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
to those who rest on the mountain of Samaria—
the famous men of the nations
to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Cross over to Calneh[a] and look around,
then go on to that great city of[b] Hamath,
and from there go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory more extensive than yours?
3 “Disbelieving that a day of evil will come,[c]
embracing opportunities to commit violence,[d]
4 lying on ivory beds,
stretching out on your couches,
eating lambs from the flock,
and fattened calves from the stall,
5 chanting to the sound of stringed instruments as if they were David,
composing songs to themselves as if they were musicians,
6 drinking wine from bowls,
anointing themselves with the choicest of oils,
but not grieving on the occasion of Joseph’s ruin—
7 therefore you will be the first to go into exile,
and the celebrations of those who are lounging will end.”
The Lord Swears an Oath
8 “The Lord God has sworn by himself,”
declares the Lord, the God of the Heavenly Armies,
“I utterly detest the arrogance of Jacob;
I hate his fortresses;
and I will deliver up the city,
along with everyone in it.
9 “And if there are ten men remaining in one house,
they will die.
10 One’s relative will pick up the corpse[e]
to carry them from the house for burning,[f]
saying to whomever remains inside the house,
‘Is there anyone still with you?’
And he will say, ‘No.’
He will respond, ‘Be quiet,
because we do not mention the name “Lord”.’
11 For indeed, the Lord is giving the command—
and he will smash the large house to rubble
and the small house into bits.
12 “Horses don’t run over bare rock, do they?
One doesn’t plow rock[g] with oxen, does he?
But you have turned justice to gall,
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness.[h]
13 You rejoice in nothing worth mentioning—
that is, you keep on saying,
‘We captured Karnaim by our own strength of will
and by our own effort, didn’t we?’
14 “So look, house of Israel! I will raise up a nation against you,”
declares the Lord, the God of the Heavenly Armies,
“and they will harass you from the entrance of Hamath
to the wadi[i] of the wilderness.”
The Parable about a Farmer(A)
4 Now while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus[a] from every city, he said in a parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, were trampled on, and birds from the sky ate them up. 6 Others fell on stony ground, and as soon as they came up, they dried up because they had no moisture. 7 Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew with them and choked them. 8 But others fell on good soil, and when they came up, they produced 100 times as much as was planted.” As he said this, he called out, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”
The Purpose of the Parables(B)
9 Then his disciples began to ask him what this parable meant. 10 So he said, “You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the kingdom of God. But to others they are given[b] in parables, so that
‘they might look but not see,
and they might listen but not understand.’”[c]
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