Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Sinful Men

14 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are sinful and their actions are sinful. There is no one who does good. ² The Lord has looked down from heaven on the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand and look for God. ³ They have all turned aside. Together they have become bad. There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴ Will those who sin never learn? They eat up my people like they eat bread. They do not call on the Lord. ⁵ There they are in much fear. For God is with the people of this day who do what is right and good. ⁶ You would put to shame the planning of the poor. But the Lord keeps him safe.

⁷ O, that it would come out of Zion that Israel would be saved! When the Lord returns His people to their land, Jacob will be full of joy and Israel will be glad.

¹³ So Joab and the people who were with him came near to battle against the Syrians, and they ran away from him. ¹⁴ When the sons of Ammon saw that the Syrians had run away, they ran away from Abishai and went into the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ When the Syrians saw that they had lost the battle against Israel, they gathered together. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent men and brought out the Syrians who were on the other side of the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam. They were led by Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer’s army. ¹⁷ When it was told to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Syrians dressed themselves for battle against David, and fought against him. ¹⁸ But the Syrians ran away from Israel. David killed 700 drivers of the Syrian war-wagons, and 40,000 horsemen. He killed Shobach, the captain of their army, who died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had lost the battle against Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. The Syrians were afraid to help the sons of Ammon any more.

Jesus Tells Them of a New Kind of Food

³¹ During this time His followers were saying to Him, “Teacher, eat something.” ³² He said, “I have food to eat that you do not know of.” ³³ The followers said to each other, “Has someone taken food to Him?” ³⁴ Jesus said, “My food is to do what God wants Me to do and to finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘It is four months yet until the time to gather grain’? Listen! I say to you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are white now and waiting for the grain to be gathered in. ³⁶ The one who gathers gets his pay. He gathers fruit that lasts forever. The one who plants and the one who gathers will have joy together. ³⁷ These words are true, ‘One man plants and another man gathers.’ ³⁸ I sent you to gather where you have not planted. Others have planted and you have come along to gather in their fruit.”