Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Harvest of Joy

A Song of Ascents.

National Confession

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth upon their heads. ² And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ And they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; for another fourth of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. ⁴ Upon the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kad′mi-el, Shebani′ah, Bunni, Sherebi′ah, Bani, and Chena′ni; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kad′miel, Bani, Hashabnei′ah, Sherebi′ah, Hodi′ah, Shebani′ah, and Pethahi′ah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

⁶ And Ezra said:^[a] “Thou art the Lord, thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and thou preservest all of them; and the host of heaven worships thee. ⁷ Thou art the Lord, the God who didst choose Abram and bring him forth out of Ur of the Chalde′ans and give him the name Abraham; ⁸ and thou didst find his heart faithful before thee, and didst make with him the covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Per′izzite, the Jeb′usite, and the Gir′gashite; and thou hast fulfilled thy promise, for thou art righteous.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

¹² In these days he went out to the mountain to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. ¹³ And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles; ¹⁴ Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Teaches and Heals

¹⁷ And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; ¹⁸ and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹ And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all.