Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

138 I will praise Thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.

² I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth, for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.

³ In the day when I cried, Thou answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.

⁴ All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.

⁵ Yea, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶ Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me; Thou shalt stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right hand shall save me.

⁸ The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of Thine own hands.

6 And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months.

² And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we shall send it to his place.”

³ And they said, “If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering. Then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.”

⁴ Then said they, “What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all and on your lords.

⁵ Therefore ye shall make images of your hemorrhoids and images of your mice that mar the land, and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from you and from your gods and from your land.

⁶ Why then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

⁷ Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the cows to the cart and bring their calves home from them.

⁸ And take the ark of the Lord and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return to him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

⁹ And see: If it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.”

¹⁰ And the men did so; and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

¹¹ And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their hemorrhoids.

¹² And the cows took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.

¹³ And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

¹⁴ And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they cleaved the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering unto the Lord.

¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord.

¹⁶ And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ And these are the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

¹⁸ and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.

⁴ And when many people had gathered together and had come to Him out of every city, He spoke by a parable:

⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

⁶ And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it had sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.

⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.

⁸ And other fell on good ground, and sprang up and bore fruit a hundredfold.” And when He had said these things, He cried, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!”

⁹ And His disciples asked Him, saying, “What might this parable mean?”

¹⁰ And He said, “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; but to others in parables, that ‘seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.’

¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.

¹² Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil and taketh away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

¹³ The seed on the rock are they that, when they hear, receive the Word with joy, but they have no root: they for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

¹⁴ And that which fell among thorns are they that, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

¹⁵ But that on the good ground are they that, in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.