Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
(By Asaph for the music leader.[a])
God Makes Us Strong
1 Be happy and shout to God
who makes us strong!
Shout praises to the God
of Jacob.
10 I am the Lord your God.
I rescued you from Egypt.
Just ask, and I will give you
whatever you need.
11 “But, my people, Israel,
you refused to listen,
and you would have nothing
to do with me!
12 So I let you be stubborn
and keep on following
your own advice.
13 “My people, Israel,
if only you would listen
and do as I say!
14 I, the Lord, would quickly
defeat your enemies
with my mighty power.
15 Everyone who hates me
would come crawling,
and that would be the end
of them.
16 But I would feed you
with the finest bread
and with the best honey[a]
until you were full.”
Israel's Unfaithfulness
2 The Lord told me 2 to go to Jerusalem and tell everyone that he had said:
When you were my young bride,
you loved me and followed me
through the barren desert.
3 You belonged to me alone,
like the first part of the harvest,
and I severely punished
those who mistreated you.
14 People of Israel,
you weren't born slaves;
you were captured in war.
15 Enemies roared like lions
and destroyed your land;
towns lie burned and empty.
16 Soldiers from the Egyptian towns
of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have cracked your skulls.
17 It's all your own fault!
You stopped following me,
the Lord your God,
18 and you trusted the power
of Egypt and Assyria.[a]
19 Your own sins will punish you,
because it was a bitter mistake
for you to reject me
without fear of punishment.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have spoken.
20 Long ago you left me
and broke all ties between us,
refusing to be my servant.
Now you worship other gods
by having sex
on hilltops or in the shade
of large trees.[b]
21 You were a choice grapevine,
but you have become
a wild, useless vine.
Israel Is Stained with Guilt
22 The Lord said:
People of Israel,
you are stained with guilt,
and no soap or bleach
can wash it away.
A Mother's Request
(Mark 10.35-45)
20 The mother of James and John[a] came to Jesus with her two sons. She knelt down and started begging him to do something for her. 21 Jesus asked her what she wanted, and she said, “When you come into your kingdom, please let one of my sons sit at your right side and the other at your left.”[b]
22 Jesus answered, “Not one of you knows what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup[c] that I must soon drink from?”
James and John said, “Yes, we are!”
23 Jesus replied, “You certainly will drink from my cup! But it isn't for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. This is for my Father to say.”
24 When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. 25 (A) But Jesus called the disciples together and said:
You know foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. 26 (B) But don't act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. 27 And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. 28 The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue[d] many people.
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