Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Family of Hosea
2 When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:
(A)“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For (B)the land has committed great [a]harlotry
By departing from the Lord.”
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to him:
“Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
(C)I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
(D)And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 (E)It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:
“Call her name [b]Lo-Ruhamah,
(F)For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
[c]But I will utterly take them away.
7 (G)Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the Lord their God,
And (H)will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.”
8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then God said:
“Call his name [d]Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.
The Restoration of Israel
Prayer that the Lord Will Restore Favor to the Land
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm (A)of the sons of Korah.
85 Lord, You have been favorable to Your land;
You have (B)brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people;
You have covered all their sin. Selah
3 You have taken away all Your wrath;
You have turned from the fierceness of Your anger.
4 (C)Restore us, O God of our salvation,
And cause Your anger toward us to cease.
5 (D)Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
6 Will You not (E)revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?
7 Show us Your mercy, Lord,
And grant us Your salvation.
8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak,
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His saints;
But let them not turn back to [a]folly.
9 Surely (F)His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
(G)That glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together;
(H)Righteousness and peace have kissed.
11 Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 (I)Yes, the Lord will give what is good;
And our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before Him,
And shall make His footsteps our pathway.
6 (A)As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 (B)rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding [a]in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone [b]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to (C)the tradition of men, according to the (D)basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For (E)in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead [c]bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the (F)head of all [d]principality and power.
Not Legalism but Christ
11 In Him you were also (G)circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by (H)putting off the body [e]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 (I)buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through (J)faith in the working of God, (K)who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 (L)having wiped out the [f]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 (M)Having disarmed (N)principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one (A)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [a]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 (B)which are a shadow of things to come, but the [b]substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has [c]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to (C)the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, (D)grows with the increase that is from God.
The Model Prayer(A)
11 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
(B)Our[a] Father [b]in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
[c]Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And (C)forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
[d]But deliver us from the evil one.”
A Friend Comes at Midnight
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, (D)though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking(E)
9 (F)“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; (G)seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 (H)If a son asks for [e]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give (I)good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.