FIRST
READING: Amos 2: 6
- 10, 13 - 16
6
Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for
four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the
righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes--
7
they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in
to the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned;
8
they lay themselves down beside every altar upon garments taken in
pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those
who have been fined.
9
"Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like
the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks; I
destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath.
10
Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty
years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
13
"Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of
sheaves presses down.
14
Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain
his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life;
15
he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot
shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his
life;
16
and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked
in that day," says the LORD.
PSALM:
Psalms 50: 16 - 23
16
But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my
statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17
For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18
If you see a thief, you are a friend of his; and you keep company
with adulterers.
19
"You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames
deceit.
20
You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's
son.
21
These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I
was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge
before you.
22
"Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I rend, and there be
none to deliver!
23
He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who
orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"
GOSPEL:
Matthew 8: 18 - 22
18
Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over
to the other side.
19
And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow
you wherever you go."
20
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air
have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
21
Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and
bury my father."
22
But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury
their own dead."
