Proper 5

Hosea 5:15-6:6

15   I will return again to my place,
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
    and in their distress earnestly seek me.

6:1   “Come, let us return to the LORD;
    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2   After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
3   Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
    his going out is sure as the dawn;
  he will come to us as the showers,
    as the spring rains that water the earth.”
4   What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
  Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes early away.
5   Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6   For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Psalm 50

1 The LORD, even the most mighty God, has spoken*
  and called the world, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.

2 Out of Zion, perfect in her beauty,*
  has God shone forth in glory.

3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence;*
  there shall go before him a consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him.

4 He shall call to the heavens above,*
  and to the earth beneath, that he may judge his people:

5 “Gather my faithful together unto me,*
  those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness,*
  for God himself is Judge.

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;*
  I myself will testify against you, O Israel, for I am God, even your God.

8 I will not rebuke you because of your sacrifices, or for your burnt offerings,*
  because they are always before me.

9 I will take no bull calf out of your house,*
  nor he-goat out of your folds.

10 For all the beasts of the forest are mine,*
  and so are the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11 I know all the birds of the air,*
  and the wild beasts of the field are in my sight.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,*
  for the whole world is mine, and all that is therein.

13 Do you think that I will eat the flesh of bulls*
  and drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*
  and pay your vows unto the Most High,

15 And call upon me in the time of trouble;*
  so will I hear you, and you shall praise me.”

16 But to the ungodly God says:*
  “Why do you recite my laws, and take my covenant in your mouth,

17 Though you hate to be disciplined,*
  and have cast my words behind you?

18 When you saw a thief, you agreed with him,*
  and you have taken part with adulterers.

19 You have let your mouth speak wickedness,*
  and with your tongue you have set forth deceit.

20 You sat and spoke against your brother;*
  yes, and have slandered your own mother’s son.

21 These things you have done, and I held my tongue,*
  and you thought wickedly that I am such a one as yourself.

22 But I will reprove you,*
  and set before you the things that you have done.

23 O consider this, you who forget God,*
  lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.

24 Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me,*
  and to him who orders his way aright will I show the salvation of God.”

Romans 4:13-18

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

Matthew 9:9-13

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”