Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Yahweh Surrounds His People
A Song of Ascents.
125 Those who trust in Yahweh
Are as Mount Zion, which (A)will not be shaken but (B)will abide forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So (C)Yahweh surrounds His people
(D)From now until forever.
3 For the (E)scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the [a]land of the righteous,
So that the righteous (F)would not send forth their hands in unrighteousness.
The Sin of Favoritism
2 (A)My brothers, (B)do not hold your faith in our [a](C)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of (D)personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your [b]assembly with a gold ring and dressed in (E)bright clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in (F)dirty clothes, 3 and you [c]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the (G)bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges (H)with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, (I)my beloved brothers: did not (J)God choose the poor [d]of this world to be (K)rich in faith and (L)heirs of the kingdom which He (M)promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and they themselves (N)drag you into [e]court? 7 (O)Do they not blaspheme the good name [f]by which you have been called?
8 If, however, you (P)are fulfilling the [g]royal law according to the Scripture, “(Q)You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you (R)show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the [h]law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole [i]law and yet (S)stumbles in one point, he has become (T)guilty of all.
11 For He who said, “(A)Do not commit adultery,” also said, “(B)Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the [a]law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by (C)the law of freedom. 13 For (D)judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy [b]triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 (A)What use is it, (B)my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can [a]that faith save him? 15 (C)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “(D)Go in peace, [b]be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so (E)faith, if it has no works, is [c]dead by itself.
A Gentile Woman’s Faith
24 (A)Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of (B)Tyre[a]. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; [b]yet He could not escape notice. 25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26 Now the woman was a [c]Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not [d]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” 29 And He said to her, “Because of this [e]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And going back to her home, she found the child [f]lying on the bed, the demon having left.
The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak
31 (C)And again He went out from the region of (D)Tyre, and came through Sidon to (E)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the (F)Decapolis. 32 And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to (G)lay His hand on him. 33 (H)And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after (I)spitting, He touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven with a (J)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 And his ears were opened, and the [g]impediment of his tongue [h]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And (K)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they (L)continued to proclaim it. 37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
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