Brothers and sisters: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

The Lord said to Samuel: “Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way.

What can I do with you, Ephraim?/ What can I do with you, Judah?/ Your piety is like a morning cloud,/ like the dew that early passes away./ For this reason I smote them through the prophets,/ I slew them by the words of my mouth;/ For it is love that I desire, not ­sacrifice,/ and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

I will heal their defection, says the Lord,/ I will love them freely;/ for my wrath is turned away from them./ I will be like the dew for Israel:/ he shall blossom like the lily;/ He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,/ and put forth his shoots./ His splendor shall be like the olive tree/ and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar./ Again they shall dwell in his shade/ and raise grain;/ They shall blossom like the vine,/ and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Thus says the Lord: This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people.

Moses spoke to the people and said: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

The word of the Lord.

Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the Lord had brought victory to Aram.

Brothers and sisters: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?