Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
I Trust in the Lovingkindness of God
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of David. [b]When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you (A)boast in evil, O mighty man?
The (B)lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue devises (C)destruction,
Like a (D)sharp razor, (E)O worker of deceit.
3 You (F)love evil more than good,
(G)Falsehood more than speaking what is right. [c]Selah.
4 You love all words that devour,
O (H)deceitful tongue.
5 [d]But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you up and (I)tear you away from your tent,
And (J)uproot you from the (K)land of the living, Selah.
6 So that the righteous will (L)see and fear,
And will (M)laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,
But (N)trusted in the abundance of his riches
And (O)was strong in his destruction.”
Woe to Those at Ease in Zion
6 (A)Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria,
The (B)distinguished men of the first of the nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Pass on over to (C)Calneh and look,
And go from there to (D)Hamath the great,
Then go down to (E)Gath of the Philistines.
Are [a]they better than these kingdoms,
Or are their borders greater than your borders?
3 Do you (F)put off the day of calamity,
And would you (G)cause the seat of violence to approach?
4 Those who lay down on beds of ivory
And sprawl on their (H)couches
And (I)eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall,
5 Who improvise to the [b]sound of the harp,
And like David have [c]composed (J)songs for themselves,
6 Who (K)drink wine from [d]sacrificial bowls
While they anoint themselves with the first pick of the oils,
Yet they have not (L)grieved over the destruction of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now (M)go into exile among the first of the exiles,
And the (N)sprawlers’ [e]banqueting will turn aside.
8 Lord Yahweh has (O)sworn by Himself, Yahweh God of hosts has declared:
“I (P)abhor the lofty pride of Jacob
And hate his (Q)citadels;
Therefore I will (R)deliver up the city as well as its fullness.”
9 And it will be, if (S)ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10 Then one’s [f]uncle, or the one who [g](T)burns his bones, will lift him up to bring out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will [h]answer, “(U)Keep quiet. For [i]the name of Yahweh is (V)not to be mentioned.” 11 For behold, Yahweh is going to (W)command and will strike the (X)great house to pieces and the small house to fragments.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one plow [j]them with oxen?
Yet you have overturned (Y)justice into gall
And the fruit of righteousness into [k]wormwood,
13 You who are glad in [l](Z)Lo-debar
[m]And say, “Have we not (AA)by our own strength taken [n]Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, (AB)I am going to raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh God of hosts,
“And they will press down on you from [o](AC)Lebo-hamath
To the (AD)brook of the Arabah.”
The Parable of the Sower
4 (A)Now when a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: 5 “The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the [a]air ate it up. 6 And other seed fell on rock and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And other seed fell among the thorns, and when the thorns grew up with it, they choked it out. 8 And other seed fell into the good soil; and growing up, it produced a crop one hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “(B)He who has ears to hear, [b]let him hear.”
The Parable of the Sower Explained
9 (C)And His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. 10 And He said, “(D)To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that (E)seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
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