Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
9 God, I will sing a new song[a] for you.
I will play a ten-stringed harp and sing praise to you.
10 You are the one who gives victory to kings.
You saved your servant David from the sword of his enemy.
11 Save me from these foreigners.
They are all liars,
even when they swear to tell the truth.
12 May our sons be as strong as trees
and our daughters as beautiful as the carved columns of a palace.
13 May our barns be filled
with crops of all kinds.
May our sheep produce so many lambs,
that thousands of sheep will fill our fields.
14 And may our cows be heavy with calves.
May no enemy break through our walls
or carry away any of our people.
May there be no cries of pain in our streets.
15 How wonderful to have such blessings!
Yes, great blessings belong to those who have the Lord as their God.
The Women of Jerusalem Speak
5 Who is this woman
coming from the desert, leaning on her lover?
She Speaks to Him
I woke you under the apple tree,
where your mother gave birth to you,
where you were born.
6 Keep me near you like a seal you wear over your heart,
like a signet ring you wear on your hand.
Love is as strong as death.
Passion is as strong as the grave.[a]
Its sparks become a flame,
and it grows to become a great fire[b]!
7 A flood cannot put out love.
Rivers cannot drown love.
Would people despise a man for giving
everything he owns for love?
9 Then he said, “You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! 10 Moses said, ‘You must respect your father and mother.’[a] He also said, ‘Whoever says anything bad to their father or mother must be killed.’[b] 11 But you teach that people can say to their father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ 12 You are telling people that they do not have to do anything for their father or mother. 13 So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think it is more important to follow those traditions you have, which you pass on to others. And you do many things like that.”
14 Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Everyone should listen to me and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing people can put in their mouth that will make them wrong.[c] People are made wrong by what comes from inside them.” 16 [d]
17 Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. The followers asked Jesus about what he had told the people. 18 He said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters the mouth from the outside can make people unacceptable to God. 19 Food does not go into a person’s mind. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant there is no food that is wrong for people to eat.)
20 And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside. 21 All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, 22 adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living. 23 These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International