Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Futility of Boastful Wickedness.
For the music 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, you mighty man?
The (B)faithfulness of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue devises (C)destruction,
Like a (D)sharp razor, (E)you worker of deceit.
3 You (F)love evil more than good,
(G)Lies more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
You (H)deceitful tongue.
5 [c]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 The righteous will (L)see and fear,
And they will (M)laugh at him, saying,
7 “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But (N)trusted in the abundance of his riches
And (O)was strong in [d]his evil desire.”
“Carefree in Zion”
6 (A)Woe to those who are carefree in Zion,
And to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
The (B)dignitaries of the foremost of nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Go 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 is their territory greater than yours?
3 Are you (F)postponing the day of disaster,
And would you (G)bring near the seat of violence?
4 Those who lie on beds of ivory,
And lounge around on their (H)couches,
And (I)eat lambs from the flock,
And calves from the midst of the fattened cattle,
5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have [b]composed (J)songs for themselves,
6 Who (K)drink wine from sacred bowls
While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils—
Yet they have not (L)grieved over the collapse of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now (M)go into exile at the head of the exiles,
And the revelry of those who (N)lounge around will come to an end.
8 The Lord [c]God has (O)sworn by Himself, the Lord God of armies has declared:
“I (P)loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
And [d]detest his (Q)citadels;
Therefore I will (R)give up the city and [e]all it contains.”
9 And it will be, if (S)ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10 Then one’s [f]uncle, or his (T)undertaker, will lift him up to carry 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 [g]answer, “(U)Keep quiet! For [h]the name of the Lord is (V)not to be mentioned.” 11 For behold, the Lord is going to (W)command that the (X)great house be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one [i]plow them with oxen?
Yet you have turned (Y)justice into poison,
And the fruit of righteousness into [j]wormwood,
13 You who rejoice in [k](Z)Lodebar,
[l]And say, “Have we not (AA)by our own strength taken [m]Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, (AB)I am going to raise up a nation against you,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord God of armies,
“And they will torment you from the (AC)entrance of Hamath
To the (AD)brook of the Arabah.”
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 underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up. 6 Other seed fell on rocky soil, and when it came up, it withered away because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8 And yet other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as much.” As He said these things, He would call out, “(B)The one who has ears to hear, [a]let him hear.”
9 (C)Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable [b]meant. 10 And He said, “(D)To you it has been granted to know the [c]mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest they are told in parables, so that [d](E)while seeing they may not see, and [e]while hearing they may not understand.
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