Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Invitation to True Rewards
55 “Ho! Everyone thirsty, come to the waters!
And whoever has no money, come, buy and eat,
and come, buy without money,
wine and milk without price!
2 Why do you weigh out money for what is not food,
and your labor for what cannot satisfy?[a]
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and let your soul take pleasure in rich[b] food.
3 Extend your ear, and come to me!
Listen so that[c] your soul may live,
and I will make[d] an everlasting covenant with[e] you,
the enduring proofs of the mercies shown to[f] David.
4 Look! I made[g] him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and a commander for the peoples.
5 Look! You shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that does not know you shall run to you,
because of Yahweh your God,
and the holy one of Israel, for he has glorified you.”
6 Seek Yahweh while he lets himself be found;[h]
call him while he is[i] near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the man of sin his thoughts.
And let him return to Yahweh, that[j] he may take pity on him,
and to our God, for he will forgive manifold.[k]
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,”
declares[l] Yahweh.
Longing for God
A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.[a]
63 O God, you are my God;
I will seek you diligently.
My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you
as in a dry and weary land without water.
2 Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary,
beholding your strength and glory.
3 Because your loyal love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you while I live.
I will lift up my hands[b] in your name.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the best and richest food,
and with joyful lips my mouth will praise.
6 When I remember you on my bed,
I meditate on you in the night watches.
7 Because you have been my help,
therefore[c] in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to[d] you;
your right hand upholds me.
A History Lesson from Israel
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all went through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with the majority of them, for they were struck down in the desert.
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we should not be desirers of evil things, just as those also desired them, 7 and not become idolaters, as some of them did, just as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play,”[a] 8 nor commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed sexual immorality, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day, 9 nor put Christ to the test, as some of them tested him, and were destroyed by snakes, 10 nor grumble, just as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to those people as an example, but are written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore, the one who thinks that he stands must watch out lest he fall. 13 Temptation has not come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will also make a way out together with the temptation, so that you may be able to endure it.
Repent or Perish
13 Now at the same time some had come to tell him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered and[a] said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were sinners worse than all the Galileans, because they suffered these things? 3 No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as well! 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were sinners worse than all the people who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6 And he told this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.[b] 7 So he said to the gardener, ‘Behold, for three years[c] I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find any.[d] Cut it down![e] Why should it even exhaust the soil?’ 8 But he answered and[f] said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it.[g] 9 And if indeed it produces fruit in the coming year, so much the better,[h] but if not, you can cut it down.’”
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