Scripture Readings
The Season After Pentecost
Proper 11 (16) in Year A
For the Sunday during 17 through 23 July
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.
The Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Alternate One:
Old Testament
Psalm
Alternate Two:
Old Testament
Psalm
Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading
Old Testament (Alternate One)
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had
set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down
to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with
its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending
on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God
of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants
the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of
the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north
and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your
offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will
bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I
have promised you.”
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely
the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said,
“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is
the gate of heaven.”
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he
had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of
it. He called that place Bethel
—Genesis 28:10-19a, NIV
Go
to the top of this pagePsalm (Alternate One)
O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
—Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24, NIV
—OR—
For neither is there any god besides you, whose care is for all people,
to whom you should prove that you have not judged unjustly;
For your strength is the source of righteousness,
and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare all.
For you show your strength when people doubt the completeness of your power,
and you rebuke any insolence among those who know it.
Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness,
and with great forbearance you govern us;
for you have power to act whenever you choose.
Through such works you have taught your people
that the righteous must be kind,
and you have filled your children with good hope,
because you give repentance for sins.
—Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16-19, NRSV
Old Testament (Alternate Two)
This is what the LORD says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let him foretell what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.
—Isaiah 44:6-8, NIV
Psalm (Alternate Two)
Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
The arrogant are attacking me, O God;
a band of ruthless men seeks my life—
men without regard for you.
But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Turn to me and have mercy on me;
grant your strength to your servant
and save the son of your maidservant.
Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
—Psalm 86:11-17, NIV
Epistle
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but
it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according
to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave
again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,
Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory.
I consider that our present sufferings are not
worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits
in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was
subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who
subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage
to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning
as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but
we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope
we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he
already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
—Romans 8:12-25, NIV
Gospel
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom
of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone
was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir,
didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go
and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling
the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until
the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds
and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into
my barn.’”
Then he left the crowd and went into the house.
His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in
the field.”
He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is
the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons
of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows
them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are
angels.
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire,
so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels,
and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who
do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom
of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
—Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, NIV
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