The Parable of the Persistent Widow. 1^* Then he told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.^a He said, 2“There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 3And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ 4For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, 5^{* b} because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” 6The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 7Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? 8I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Now then, stand ready to witness the great marvel the LORD is about to accomplish before your eyes. Are we not in the harvest time for wheat? Yet I will call upon the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Thus you will see and understand how great an evil it is in the eyes of the LORD that you have asked for a king.” Samuel called upon the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day.

Then all the people feared the LORD and Samuel. They said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for us, your servants, that we may not die for having added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.” “Do not fear,” Samuel answered them. “You have indeed committed all this evil! Yet do not turn from the LORD, but serve him with your whole heart. Do not turn aside to gods who are nothing, who cannot act and deliver. They are nothing. For the sake o

1^* Comfort, give comfort to my people,

says your God.

2Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her

that her service^* has ended,

that her guilt is expiated,

That she has received from the hand of the LORD

double for all her sins.^a

3A voice proclaims:^*

In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD!

Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!^b

4Every valley shall be lifted up,

every mountain and hill made low;

The rugged land shall be a plain,

the rough country, a broad valley.

5Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

6A voice says, “Proclaim!”

I answer, “What shall I proclaim?”

“All flesh is grass,

and all their loyalty like the flower of the field.^c

7The grass withers, the flower wilts,

when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.”

“Yes, the people is grass!

8The grass withers, the flower wilts,

but the word of our God stands forever.”

9Go up onto a high mountain,

Zion, herald of good news!^*

Cry out at the top of your voice,

Jerusalem, herald of good news!

Cry out, do not fear!

Say to the cities of Judah:

Here is your God!

10Here comes with power

the Lord GOD,

who rules by his strong arm;

Here is his reward with him,

his recompense before him.

11Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;

in his arms he gathers the lambs,

Carrying them in his bosom,

leading the ewes with care.^d

1^* Let mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.^a 3Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.^b 4Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.^c 5Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never forsake you or abandon you.”^d 6Thus we may say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper,

[and] I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?”^e

Jesus and His Family. 31^m His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. 32A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers^* [and your sisters] are outside asking for you.” 33But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and [my] brothers?” 34And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 35[For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

M^, How beautiful you are, my friend,

how beautiful you are!

Your eyes are doves

behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down Mount Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn,

that come up from the washing,

All of them big with twins,

none of them barren.

Like a scarlet strand, your lips,

and your mouth—lovely!

Like pomegranate halves, your cheeks

behind your veil.

In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel, son of Remaliah, went up to attack Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it. When word came to the house of David that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of the king and heart of the people trembled, as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.

Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field, and say to him: Take care you remain calm and do not fear; do not let your courage fail before these two stumps of smoldering brands, the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans and of the son of Remaliah— because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you. They say, “Let us go up against Judah, tear it apart, make it our own by force, and appoint the son of Tabeel king there.”

Freedom from Sin; Life in God. 1^* What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not!^a 2How can we who died to sin yet live in it?^b 3Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?^c 4We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.^d

5For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.^e 6We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.^f 7For a dead person has been absolved from sin. 8If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.^g 9We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.^h 10As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.ⁱ 11Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.^j