Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

8 ¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

² And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass over them any more.

³ And the cantors of the temple shall howl in that day, said the Lord GOD; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

⁴ ¶ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, and cut off the poor of the land,

⁵ saying, When the month is over, we will sell the wheat; and after the sabbath day we will open the storehouse of bread, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit;

⁶ that we may buy the poor for money and the needy for a pair of shoes and sell the refuse of the wheat.

⁷ The LORD has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

⁸ Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwells therein? and it shall all rise up as a flood, and it shall be cast out and sunk, as the river of Egypt.

⁹ And it shall come to pass in that day, said the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will cover the earth with darkness in the clear day;

¹⁰ and I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will cause sackcloth to be brought up upon all loins and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son and the end thereof as a bitter day.

¹¹ ¶ Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine to the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

¹² and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

To the Overcomer, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.

¹ ¶ Why dost thou boast of evil, O strong man? The mercy of God is day by day.

² Thy tongue devises wickedness like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³ Thou dost love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

⁴ Thou dost love all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

⁵ God shall likewise cast thee down for ever; he shall cut thee off and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

⁶ ¶ The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him, saying:

⁷ Behold, this is the man that did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

⁸ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the eternal mercy of God for ever.

⁹ I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it, and I will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy merciful ones.

¹⁵ who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature;

¹⁶ for by him were all things created, that are in the heavens and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they are thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by him and in him;

¹⁷ And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell

²⁰ and by him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, {Gr. stauro – stake} whether they are the things in the earth or the things in the heavens.

²¹ And you, that were in another time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled you

²² in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight

²³ if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard and which is preached to every creature which is under heaven, of which I Paul am made a minister,

²⁴ who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fulfill in my flesh that which is lacking of the tribulations of the Christ for his body’s sake, which is the congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

²⁵ of which I am made a minister by the dispensation of God which is given to me in you, to fulfil the word of God,

²⁶ even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints,

²⁷ to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery in the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

²⁸ whom we preach, warning every man and teaching in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,

³⁸ ¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word.

⁴⁰ But Martha was cumbered about in much serving and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.

⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things;

⁴² but only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.