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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Version
Psalm 81:1

Psalm 81

A Call to Obedience

For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.(A)

Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.(B)

Psalm 81:10-16

10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.(A)
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.(B)

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel did not obey me.(C)
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own plans.(D)
13 If only my people would listen to me
and Israel would follow my ways,(E)
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.”(F)
15 Those who hate the Lord
would cower to him;(G)
their doom would last forever.(H)
16 But he would feed Israel[a] with the best wheat.
“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”(I)

Jeremiah 2:1-3

Israel Accused of Apostasy

The word of the Lord came to me: “Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:

I remember the loyalty of your youth,(A)
your love as a bride—
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord,(B)
the firstfruits of his harvest.(C)
All who ate of it found themselves guilty;(D)
disaster came on them.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Jeremiah 2:14-22

Consequences of Apostasy

14 Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?[a]
Why else has he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared at him;(A)
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.(B)
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16 The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes(C)
have also broken your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself(D)
by abandoning the Lord your God
while he was leading you along the way?
18 Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt(E)
to drink the water of the Nile?[b]
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria(F)
to drink the water of the Euphrates?(G)
19 Your own evil will discipline you;(H)
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Recognize[c] how evil and bitter(I) it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of me.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.

20 For long ago I[d] broke your yoke;(J)
I[e] tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree(K)
you lay down like a prostitute.(L)

21 I planted you, a choice vine(M)
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?(N)

22 Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of bleach,[f](O)
the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me.(P)
This is the Lord God’s declaration.

Matthew 20:20-28

Suffering and Service

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons.(A) She knelt down to ask him for something.(B) 21 “What do you want?” he asked her.

“Promise,”[a] she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.”(C)

22 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”[b](D)

“We are able,” they said to him.

23 He told them, “You will indeed drink my cup,[c] but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”(E)

24 When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. 26 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,(F) 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,(G) and to give his life as a ransom for many.”(H)

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

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