Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

87 ^1-2 High on his holy mountain stands Jerusalem,^[a] the city of God, the city he loves more than any other!

³ O city of God, what wondrous tales are told of you! ⁴ Nowadays when I mention among my friends the names of Egypt and Babylonia, Philistia and Tyre, or even distant Ethiopia, someone boasts that he was born in one or another of those countries. ⁵ But someday the highest honor will be to be a native of Jerusalem! For the God above all gods will personally bless this city. ⁶ When he registers her citizens, he will place a check mark beside the names of those who were born here. ⁷ And in the festivals they’ll sing, “All my heart is in Jerusalem.”

¹⁷ “Then you shall know at last that I am the Lord your God in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem shall be mine forever; the time will come when no foreign armies will pass through her anymore.

¹⁸ “Sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and the hills shall flow with milk. Water will fill the dry streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Temple of the Lord to water Acacia Valley. ¹⁹ Egypt will be destroyed, and Edom, too, because of their violence against the Jews, for they killed innocent people in those nations.

²⁰ “But Israel will prosper forever, and Jerusalem will thrive as generations pass.

²⁸ “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work on the farm today.’ ²⁹ ‘I won’t,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ Then the father told the youngest, ‘You go!’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t. ³¹ Which of the two was obeying his father?”

They replied, “The first, of course.”

Then Jesus explained his meaning: “Surely evil men and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom before you do. ³² For John the Baptist told you to repent and turn to God, and you wouldn’t, while very evil men and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to repent, and so you couldn’t believe.