Scripture Readings
The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
For Year A
Scripture readings are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV® ©1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.
Old Testament
Psalm
Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading
Old Testament
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
[you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am
I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.]
—Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), NIV
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to the top of this pagePsalm
Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.
His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous
man.
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.
He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.
[The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.]
—Psalm 112:1-9 (10), NIV
Epistle
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come
with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about
God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ
and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with
a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on
men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among
the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who
are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has
been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the
rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—but God has
revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things
of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit
within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit
of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from
God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. [This is what we speak,
not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing
spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept
the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual
man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s
judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.]
—1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16), NIV
Gospel
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the
salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good
for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill
cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead
they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the
same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law
or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell
you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not
the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything
is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the
kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 5:13-20, NIV
