Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Rendezvous in the Countryside
8 The voice of my beloved!
Look! Here he[a] comes leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills!
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.[b]
Look! He is[c] standing behind our wall,
gazing through[d] the window,
looking through[e] the lattice.
10 My beloved answered and said to me,
“Arise,[f] my beloved! Come, my beauty![g]
11 For look! The winter is over;
the rainy season[h] has turned and gone away.[i]
12 The blossoms appear[j] in the land;[k]
the time of singing[l] has arrived;[m]
the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth her figs,
and the vines are in blossom; they give fragrance.
Arise,[n] my beloved! Come, my beauty!”[o]
Celebration of a Royal Wedding
For the music director; according to The Lilies. Of the sons of Korah.
A maskil. A song of love.[a]
45 My heart is moved with a good word;
I recite my compositions[b] to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.
2 You are the most handsome of the sons of humankind;
grace is poured out on your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of uprightness is
the scepter of your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
from among your companions with festive oil.
8 All your robes are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From palaces of ivory stringed instruments gladden you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble ladies.
The queen stands at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of change. 18 By his[a] will he gave birth to us through the message of truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Doers of the Message, Not Just Hearers
19 Understand this, my dear brothers: every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for human[b] anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all moral uncleanness and wicked excess, welcome[c] with humility the implanted message which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the message and not hearers only,[d] deceiving yourselves, 23 because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone[e] staring at his own face[f] in a mirror, 24 for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed in what he does[g].
26 If anyone thinks he is religious, although he[h] does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our[i] God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Human Traditions and God’s Commandments
7 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. 2 And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their[a] bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually,[b] thus[c] holding fast to the traditions of the elders. 4 And when they come[d] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions[e] which they have received and[f] hold fast to—for example,[g] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)[h] 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their[i] bread with unclean hands?” 6 So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their[j] lips,
but their heart is far, far away from me.
7 And they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’[k]
8 Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”
21 For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy,[a] abusive speech, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”
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