SUNDAY BETWEEN 28 AUGUST
AND 3 SEPTEMBER YEAR B
PROPER 17
TRACK 1
FIRST READING Song of Solomon 2.8-13
A reading from the book of the Song of Solomon.
8 The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon
the mountains, bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look,
there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking
through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me: 'Arise, my love,
my fair one, and come away;
11 for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing
has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are
in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair
one, and come away.'
PSALM 45.1-2, 7-10
RR Grace flows from your lips, because God has blessed you
for ever.
1 My heart is stirring with a noble song; let me recite
what I have fashioned for the king; my tongue shall be the pen
of a skilled writer.
2 You are the fairest of men; grace flows from your lips,
because God has blessed you for ever. RR
7 Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever, a sceptre
of righteousness is the sceptre of your kingdom; you love righteousness
and hate iniquity;
8 Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the
oil of gladness above your fellows. RR
9 All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and
cassia, and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you
glad.
10 Kings' daughters stand among the ladies of the court;
on your right is the queen, adorned with the gold of Ophir. RR
Or TRACK 2
FIRST READING Deuteronomy 4.1-2, 6-9
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
Moses spoke to the people; he said:
1 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances
that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter
and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors,
is giving you.
2 You must neither add anything to what I command you
nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the
LORD your God with which I am charging you.
6 You must observe them diligently, for this will show
your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear
all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise
and discerning people!'
7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it
as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?
8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances
as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither
to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them
slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known
to your children and your children's children.
PSALM Psalm 15
RR Those who do what is right will dwell in the presence of
the Lord.
1 Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? who may abide
upon your holy hill?
2 Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from his heart. RR
3 There is no guile upon his tongue; he does no evil
to his friend; he does not heap contempt upon his neighbour.
4 In his sight the wicked are rejected, but he honours
those who fear the Lord. RR
5 He has sworn to do no wrong and does not take back
his word.
6 He does not give his money in hope of gain, nor does
he take a bribe against the innocent.
7 Whoever does these things shall never be overthrown.
RR
SECOND READING James 1.17-27
A reading from the letter of James.
17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift,
is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom
there is no variation or shadow due to change.
18 In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by
the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits
of his creatures.
19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone
be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.
21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank
growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted
word that has the power to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who
deceive themselves.
23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they
are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately
forget what they were like.
25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of
liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers
who act - they will be blessèd in their doing.
26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle
their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the
Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress,
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
GOSPEL Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
1 When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had
come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating
with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless
they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition
of the elders;
4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless
they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they
observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)
5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, 'Why do
your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders,
but eat with defiled hands?'
6 Jesus said to them, 'Isaiah prophesied rightly about
you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honours me
with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts
as doctrines."
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human
tradition.'
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, 'Listen
to me, all of you, and understand:
15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in
can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.
21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil
intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,
22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness,
envy, slander, pride, folly.
23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile
a person.'
