Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 22 (27) in Year A
For the Sunday during 2 through 8 October

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)

     And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
     “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
     “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
     When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
     Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
—Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Psalm (Alternate One)

The heavens declare the glory of God;
     the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
     night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
     where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
     their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
     which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
     like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
     and makes its circuit to the other;
     nothing is hidden from its heat.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
     reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
     making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
     giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
     giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
     enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
     and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
     than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
     than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned;
     in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors?
     Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
     may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
     innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
     be pleasing in your sight,
     O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
—Psalm 19, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Old Testament (Alternate Two)

I will sing for the one I love
     a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
     on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
     and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
     and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
     but it yielded only bad fruit.
Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
     judge between me and my vineyard.
What more could have been done for my vineyard
     than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
     why did it yield only bad?
Now I will tell you
     what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
     and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
     and it will be trampled.
I will make it a wasteland,
     neither pruned nor cultivated,
     and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
     not to rain on it."
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
     is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
     are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
     for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
—Isaiah 5:1-7, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Psalm (Alternate Two)

Restore us, O God Almighty;
     make your face shine upon us,
     that we may be saved.
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
     you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it,
     and it took root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
     the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its boughs to the Sea,
     its shoots as far as the River.
Why have you broken down its walls
     so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
Boars from the forest ravage it
     and the creatures of the field feed on it.
Return to us, O God Almighty!
     Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
     the root your right hand has planted,
     the son you have raised up for yourself.
—Psalm 80:7-15, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Epistle

      If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
     But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
     Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 3:4b-14, NIV

Go to the top of this page

Gospel

      “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
     “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
     “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
     “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
     “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
     Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
     “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
     When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
—Matthew 21:33-46, NIV

Go to the top of this page