Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of Praise

145 I will praise You, my God and King. I will honor Your name forever and ever. ² I will honor You every day, and praise Your name forever and ever. ³ The Lord is great and our praise to Him should be great. He is too great for anyone to understand. ⁴ Families of this time will praise Your works to the families-to-come. They will tell about Your powerful acts. ⁵ I will think about the shining-greatness of Your power and about Your great works. ⁶ Men will speak of Your powerful acts that fill us with fear. And I will tell of Your greatness. ⁷ Many words will come from their mouths about how good You are. They will sing for joy about how right You are.

⁸ The Lord is full of loving-favor and pity, slow to anger and great in loving-kindness. ⁹ The Lord is good to all. And His loving-kindness is over all His works. ¹⁰ All Your works will give thanks to You, O Lord. And all those who belong to You will honor You. ¹¹ They will speak of the shining-greatness of Your holy nation, and talk of Your power. ¹² They will make Your powerful acts and the great power of Your holy nation known to the sons of men. ¹³ Your holy nation is a nation that lasts forever. And Your rule lasts for all time.

¹⁴ The Lord holds up all who fall. He raises up all who are brought down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You. And You give them their food at the right time. ¹⁶ You open Your hand and fill the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is right and good in all His ways, and kind in all His works. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. ¹⁹ He will fill the desire of those who fear Him. He will also hear their cry and will save them. ²⁰ The Lord takes care of all who love Him. But He will destroy all the sinful. ²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord. And all flesh will honor His holy name forever and ever.

⁹ You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride. You have made my heart beat faster with one look from your eyes, with one piece of the beautiful chain around your neck. ¹⁰ How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the sweet smell of your oils than all kinds of spices! ¹¹ Honey comes from your lips, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. And the sweet smell of your clothing is like the smell of Lebanon. ¹² A garden closed and locked is my sister, my bride, a garden shut up and covered over. ¹³ Your young branches are a garden of pomegranates with all the best fruits, henna with nard plants. ¹⁴ There is nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices. ¹⁵ You are a garden well, a well of flowing water, and rivers coming from Lebanon.”

The Woman

¹⁶ “Wake up, O north wind! Come, south wind! Blow upon my garden so the sweet smells will spread far. May my loved one come into his garden and eat its best fruits.”

King Solomon

5 “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my perfume with my spice. I have eaten my honey and the comb. I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat and drink, friends. Drink much, O lovers.”

Jesus Teaches about Going without Food So You Can Pray Better ^(A)

³³ They asked Jesus, “Why do the followers of John and of the proud religious law-keepers go without food so they can pray better, but Your followers keep on eating and drinking?” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Can the friends at a wedding be sorry when the man just married is with them? ³⁵ The days will come when the man just married will be taken from them. Then they will not eat food so they can pray better in those days.”

The Picture-Story of the Cloth and the Bags

³⁶ Then Jesus told them a picture-story. He said, “No one sews a piece of cloth from a new coat on an old coat. If he does, the new coat will have a hole. The new piece and the old coat will not be the same. ³⁷ No man puts new wine into old skin bags. If they did, the skins would break and the wine would run out. The bags would be no good. ³⁸ New wine must be put into new bags and both are kept safe. ³⁹ No one wants new wine after drinking old wine. He says, ‘The old wine is better.’”