Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

Seek the LORD and live, or [the LORD] will break out against the house of Joseph like fire, and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.  Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood, and bring righteousness to the ground!    

They hate the one who reproves at the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.  Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.  For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins –  you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate.  Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time.  Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said.  Hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.      

Additional Texts

Give ear to my prayer, O God; do not hide yourself from my supplication.  Attend to me, and answer me; I am troubled in my complaint.  Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.  And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; truly, I would flee far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; I would hurry to find a shelter for myself from the raging wind and tempest."  Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech; for I see violence and strife in the city.  Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it; ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.  It is not enemies who taunt me – I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me – I could hide from them.  But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend, with whom I kept pleasant company; we walked in the house of God with the throng.  But I call upon God, and the LORD will save me.  Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and [God] will hear my voice.  [God] will redeem me unharmed from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.   God, who is enthroned from of old, will hear, and will humble them –because they do not change, and do not fear God.  My companion laid hands on a friend and violated a covenant with me with speech smoother than butter, but with a heart set on war; with words that were softer than oil, but in fact were drawn swords.  Cast your burden on the LORD, and [the LORD] will sustain you; [the LORD] will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 55:1-2, 5-14, 16-22

[Jesus] said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.  Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”  And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.  For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

Mark 4:21-25

Other Lectionary Texts

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

Psalms 22:1-15 & 90:12-17

Mark 10:17-31

Hebrews 4:12-16

Texts are from the NRSV.