Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
10 Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran. 11 When he came upon a certain place,[a] he stopped there for the night, since the sun had already set. Taking one of the stones at the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 Then he had a dream: a stairway[b] rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.(A) 13 And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.(B) 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing.(C) 15 I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.(D)
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!” 17 He was afraid and said: “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a sacred pillar,[c] and poured oil on top of it.(E) 19 He named that place Bethel,[d] whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.(F)
Psalm 139[a]
The All-knowing and Ever-present God
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
Lord, you have probed me, you know me:
2 you know when I sit and stand;[b](A)
you understand my thoughts from afar.
3 You sift through my travels and my rest;
with all my ways you are familiar.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
Lord, you know it all.
5 Behind and before you encircle me
and rest your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
far too lofty for me to reach.(B)
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence, where can I flee?
8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.(C)
9 If I take the wings of dawn[c]
and dwell beyond the sea,
10 Even there your hand guides me,
your right hand holds me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light”[d]—
12 Darkness is not dark for you,
and night shines as the day.
Darkness and light are but one.(D)
12 Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.(A)
Children of God Through Adoption.[a] 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.(B) 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba,[b] Father!”(C) 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,(D) 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.(E)
Destiny of Glory.[c] 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.(F) 19 For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; 20 for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,(G) in hope 21 that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.(H) 22 We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;(I) 23 and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.(J) 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?(K) 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat. 24 He proposed another parable to them.[a] “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds[b] all through the wheat, and then went off. 26 When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. 27 The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let them grow together until harvest;[c] then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”(A)
The Parable of the Mustard Seed.[d]
The Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds. 36 Then, dismissing the crowds,[a] he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 [b]He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world,[c] the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age,[d] and the harvesters are angels. 40 Just as weeds are collected and burned [up] with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom[e] all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. 42 (A)They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 43 [f](B)Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.
More Parables.[g]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.