Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 14 (19) in Year A
For the Sunday during 7 through 13 August

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.

Alternate One:
Old Testament
Psalm

Alternate Two:
Old Testament
Psalm

Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading

Old Testament (Alternate One)

     Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
     This is the account of Jacob.
     Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
     Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
     Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
     “Very well,” he replied.
     So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
     When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
     He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
     “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
     So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
     “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
     When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
     So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
     As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
     Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
     So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
—Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Psalm (Alternate One)

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
     make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
     tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
     let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Look to the LORD and his strength;
     seek his face always.
Remember the wonders he has done,
     his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
O descendants of Abraham his servant,
     O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.
He called down famine on the land
     and destroyed all their supplies of food;
and he sent a man before them—
     Joseph, sold as a slave.
They bruised his feet with shackles,
     his neck was put in irons,
till what he foretold came to pass,
     till the word of the LORD proved him true.
The king sent and released him,
     the ruler of peoples set him free.
He made him master of his household,
     ruler over all he possessed,
to instruct his princes as he pleased
     and teach his elders wisdom.
Praise the LORD.
—Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Old Testament (Alternate Two)

There he went into a cave and spent the night.
     And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
     He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
     The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
     Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
     Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
     He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
     The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”
—1 Kings 19:9-18, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Psalm (Alternate Two)

I will listen to what God the LORD will say;
     he promises peace to his people, his saints—
     but let them not return to folly.
Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
     that his glory may dwell in our land.
Love and faithfulness meet together;
     righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
     and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The LORD will indeed give what is good,
     and our land will yield its harvest.
Righteousness goes before him
     and prepares the way for his steps.
—Psalm 85:8-13, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Epistle

Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
—Romans 10:5-15, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Gospel

     Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
     During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
     But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
     “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
     “Come,” he said.
     Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
     Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
     And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
—Matthew 14:22-33, NIV

Go to the top of this page