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Psalm 80

Prayer for Israel’s Restoration

To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
²   before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us!

³ Restore us, O God;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁴ O Lord God of hosts,
   how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears,
   and given them tears to drink in full measure.
⁶ You make us the scorn^* of our neighbours;
   our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷ Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it;
   it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches;
¹¹ it sent out its branches to the sea,
   and its shoots to the River.
¹² Why then have you broken down its walls,
   so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³ The boar from the forest ravages it,
   and all that move in the field feed on it.

¹⁴ Turn again, O God of hosts;
   look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
¹⁵   the stock that your right hand planted.^*
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;^*
   may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
¹⁷ But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
   the one whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will never turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

³⁵The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. ³⁶For seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire; on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the Lord’s offerings by fire; it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.

37 These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord offerings by fire—burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, sacrifices and drink-offerings, each on its proper day— ³⁸apart from the sabbaths of the Lord, and apart from your gifts, and apart from all your votive offerings, and apart from all your freewill-offerings, which you give to the Lord.

39 Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the Lord, lasting seven days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic^* trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹You shall keep it as a festival to the Lord seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute for ever throughout your generations. ⁴²You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, ⁴³so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

44 Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed festivals of the Lord.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s^* will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. ¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled^* you^* to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.^*

The Parable of the Sower

13That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹Let anyone with ears^* listen!’

The Purpose of the Parables

10 Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ ¹¹He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets^* of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ¹³The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” ¹⁴With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
   and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.”
¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.