Scripture Readings
The Season After Pentecost
Proper 20 (25) in Year A
For the Sunday during 18 through 24 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)
In the desert the whole community grumbled
against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died
by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the
food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this
entire assembly to death.”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down
bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough
for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my
instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that
is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites,
“In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt,
and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your
grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Moses
also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat
in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard
your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but
against the LORD.”
Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite
community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite
community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD
appearing in the cloud.
The LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling
of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning
you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and
in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone,
thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites
saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it
was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has
given you to eat.
—Exodus 16:2-15, NIV
Go
to the top of this pagePsalm (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 brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,
and from among their tribes no one faltered.
Egypt was glad when they left,
because dread of Israel had fallen on them.
He spread out a cloud as a covering,
and a fire to give light at night.
They asked, and he brought them quail
and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
like a river it flowed in the desert.
For he remembered his holy promise
given to his servant Abraham.
He brought out his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—
that they might keep his precepts
and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD.
—Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45, NIV
Old Testament (Alternate Two)
When God saw what they did and how they turned
from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction
he had threatened.
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.
He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home?
That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious
and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents
from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me
to die than to live.”
But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be
angry?”
Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of
the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see
what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it
grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah
was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm,
which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a
scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint.
He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to
be angry about the vine?”
“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”
But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about
this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight
and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people
who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should
I not be concerned about that great city?”
—Jonah 3:10-4:11, NIV
Psalm (Alternate Two)
I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They will celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
—Psalm 145:1-8, NIV
Epistle
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is
gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for
me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire
to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary
for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain,
and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,
so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow
on account of me.
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner
worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear
about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending
as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by
those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but
that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf
of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are
going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
—Philippians 1:21-30, NIV
Gospel
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed
to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“About the third hour he went out and saw others
standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work
in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the
ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found
still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here
all day long doing nothing?’
“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said
to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the
last ones hired and going on to the first.’
“The workers who were hired about the eleventh
hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first,
they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men
who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them
equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not
being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and
go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I
have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because
I am generous?’
“So the last will be first, and the first will
be last.”
—Matthew 20:1-16, NIV
Starting Page > Lectionary > After Pentecost > Top of this Page
