Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Listen! My love is approaching.
Look! Here he comes,
leaping over the mountains,(A)
bounding over the hills.
9 My love is like a gazelle
or a young stag.(B)
See, he is standing behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My love calls to me:
Man
Arise,(C) my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.
11 For now the winter is past;
the rain has ended and gone away.
12 The blossoms appear in the countryside.
The time of singing[a] has come,
and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land.(D)
13 The fig tree ripens its figs;(E)
the blossoming vines give off their fragrance.(F)
Arise, my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.
Psalm 45
A Royal Wedding Song
For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.”(A) A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song.
6 Your throne,(A) God, is[a] forever and ever;
the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.(B)
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;(C)
therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy
more than your companions.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume all your garments;
from ivory palaces harps bring you joy.(D)
9 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women;(E)
the queen, adorned with gold from Ophir,
stands at your right hand.(F)
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.(A) 18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.(B)
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,(C) 20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent,[a] humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.(D)
22 But(E) be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face[b] in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.(F)
26 If anyone[c] thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue,(G) his religion is useless and he deceives himself. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows(H) in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.(I)
The Traditions of the Elders
7 The(A) Pharisees(B) and some of the scribes(C) who had come from Jerusalem(D) gathered around him. 2 They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean(E)—that is, unwashed—hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace,(F) they do not eat unless they have washed.(G) And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.[a](H)) 5 So the Pharisees(I) and the scribes(J) asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live[b] according to the tradition of the elders,(K) instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean[c] hands?”
6 He answered them, “Isaiah(L) prophesied(M) correctly about you hypocrites,(N) as it is written: (O)
This people honors(P) me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
7 They worship me in vain,
teaching(Q) as doctrines(R) human commands.[d](S)
8 Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.”[e]
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