Scripture Readings
The Season After Pentecost
Proper 16 (21) in Year C
For the Sunday during 21 through 27 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)
The word of the LORD came to
me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you
apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to
the nations.”
“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I
do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the LORD said to me, “Do not
say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you
to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
Then the LORD reached out his hand
and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words
in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and
to plant.”
—Jeremiah 1:4-10, NIV
Go
to the top of this pagePsalm (Alternate One)
In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
turn your ear to me and save me.
Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of evil and cruel
men.
For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.
From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s
womb.
I will ever praise you.
—Psalm 71:1-6, NIV
Old Testament (Alternate Two)
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious
talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like
the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never
fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on
my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or
speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on
the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance
of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
—Isaiah 58:9b-14, NIV
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.
—Psalm 103:1-8, NIV
Epistle
You have not come to a mountain
that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness,
gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking
words that those who heard it begged that no further word be
spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded:
“If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”
The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling
with fear.”
But you have come to Mount Zion,
to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have
come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of
righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant,
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not refuse
him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him
who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away
from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook
the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not
only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate
the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so
that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving
a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship
God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming
fire.”
—Hebrews 12:18-29, NIV
Gospel
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching
in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been
crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and
could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called
her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your
infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she
straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed
on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There
are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not
on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites!
Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from
the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this
woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen
long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents
were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful
things he was doing.
—Luke 13:10-17, NIV
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