Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 19 (24) in Year A
For the Sunday during 11 through 17 September

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)

      Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
     Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
     The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
     Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
     But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
—Exodus 14:19-31, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate One)

When Israel came out of Egypt,
     the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
Judah became God’s sanctuary,
     Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled,
     the Jordan turned back;
the mountains skipped like rams,
     the hills like lambs.
Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
     O Jordan, that you turned back,
you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
     you hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
     at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turned the rock into a pool,
     the hard rock into springs of water.
—Psalm 114, NIV

—OR—

I will sing to the LORD,
     for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
     he has hurled into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song;
     he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
     my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a warrior;
     the LORD is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
     he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
     are drowned in the Red Sea.
The deep waters have covered them;
     they sank to the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD,
     was majestic in power.
Your right hand, O LORD,
     shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty
     you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
     it consumed them like stubble.
By the blast of your nostrils
     the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood firm like a wall;
     the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy boasted,
     ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
     I will divide the spoils;
     I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
     and my hand will destroy them.’
But you blew with your breath,
     and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
     in the mighty waters.
“Who among the gods is like you, O LORD?
Who is like you—
     majestic in holiness,
     awesome in glory,
     working wonders?”
     Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”
—Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21, NIV

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Old Testament (Alternate Two)

      When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
     His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
     But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
—Genesis 50:15-21, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate Two)

[Praise the LORD, O my soul;
     all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
     and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
     and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
     and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
     so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works righteousness
     and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
     his deeds to the people of Israel]
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
     slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
     nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
     or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
     so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
     so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
     so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
—Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13, NIV

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Epistle

      Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
     One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
     For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
—Romans 14:1-12, NIV

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Gospel

      Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”
     Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
     “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
     “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
     “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
     “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
     “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
     “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
     “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
—Matthew 18:21-35, NIV

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