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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
New Catholic Bible (NCB)
Version
Psalm 81:1

Psalm 81[a]

Exhortation To Worship Worthily

For the director.[b] “Upon the gittith.” Of Asaph.

Psalm 81:10-16

10 You must not accept a foreign god in your presence;
    you must not bow down to an alien deity.
11 I am the Lord, your God,
    who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
    open your mouth[a] wide so that I may fill it.’
12 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel refused to obey me.[b]
13 So I abandoned them to their stubborn hearts[c]
    and let them follow their own devices.
14 [d]“If only my people would listen to me,
    if only Israel would walk in my ways,[e]
15 I would quickly subdue their enemies
    and raise my hand[f] against their foes.
16 “Then those who hate the Lord[g] would tremble before him,
    for their doom would last forever.

Jeremiah 2:1-3

Chapter 2[a]

Israel’s Unfaithfulness.[b] The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Go forth and proclaim this message in the hearing of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord:

I remember the devotion you displayed in your youth,
    your love like that of a bride,
when you followed me through the desert,
    through a land that was unsown.
Israel was sacred to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest.
Any people who partook of them were deemed guilty,
    and disaster afflicted them, says the Lord.

Jeremiah 2:14-22

14 Is Israel a slave?
    Was he born to be a servant?
    Why then has he become plunder?
15 His enemies roar loudly at him like lions;[a]
    they have made his country a wasteland;
    his cities are burned to the ground and deserted.
16 The people of Memphis[b] and Tahpanhes
    have shaved the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought all this upon yourself
    by forsaking the Lord, your God,
    when he guided you along the way?
18 What advantage would you now achieve
    by traveling to Egypt
    to drink the waters of the Nile?
What would you gain by traveling to Assyria
    to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your wickedness will bring about your punishment,
    and your infidelities will condemn you.
Therefore, concentrate your thoughts
    and see how bitter it is
    to forsake the Lord, your God,
and to have no fear of me,
    says the Lord, the God of hosts.
20 A long time ago you broke your yoke
    and burst your bonds,
    saying, “I will not serve.”
On every high hill
    and under every green tree
    you have sprawled and given yourself to harlotry.
21 I had planted you as a choice vine
    from the purest stock.
How then did you degenerate
    into a wild and corrupt vine?
22 Even if you would scrub yourself with lye
    and use soap in great abundance,
the stain of your guilt
    would still be clearly visible to me,
    says the Lord God.

Matthew 20:20-28

20 The Son of Man Has Come To Serve.[a] Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons and made a request of him after kneeling before him. 21 “What do you wish?” he asked her. She said to him, “Promise that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup[b] I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”

23 He then said to them, “You shall indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not in my power to grant. Those places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the other ten disciples heard this, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. 26 This must not be so with you. Instead, whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your servant. 28 In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[c]

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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