This translation is from the New American Bible. The bolded hyperlinks will take you to additional translations. The entire chapter is included to provide context.
Information about the meaning the original Hebrew or Greek of what seem to be key words is provided in blue. That information is provided beneath the specific reading the words are contained in.
Excerpts collected in yellow at the end of this post tell us something about God’s nature or our relationship to Him.
Excerpts collected in green at the end of this post tell us about something God wants us to do.
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.
It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.
And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom.
As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praise to your name, Most High,
To proclaim your kindness at dawn andyour faithfulness throughout the night.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
The just ones hall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be,
Declaring how just is the LORD, my rock, in whom there is no wrong.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
give thanks = יָדָה= yāḏâ
to throw, shoot, cast; to profess, confess; to use (i.e. hold out) the hand; to revere or worship (with extended hands); to bemoan (by wringing the hands); to show or point out; celebrate; laud
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
We are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.
Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.
courageous = θαρρέω = tharreō
Bold, Boldness, Boldly; confidence
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
to be of good courage; to be over-bold; confidence, pluck up; fear not about; venture; to be risked; believe confidently
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower.
All who come to him will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”
He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
kingdom = βασιλεία = basileia
sovereignty, royal power, dominion; reign; royal power, kingship, dominion, rule; not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
Dominion; reign;kingly office; being ruled by a king
spoke, speak = λαλέω = laleō
Say; tell; utter; to talk; preach; to use words in order to declare one's mind and disclose one's thoughts
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
talk, chat; talk of
What these readings tell us about God/His ways:
I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain
It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.
Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.
I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom.
it is good to give thanks to you
It is good to give thanks to the LORD
Most High,
it is good to give thanks to you
The just one shall flourish
They that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
it is good to give thanks to you
They shall bear fruit even in old age
vigorous and sturdy shall they be
my rock
in whom there is no wrong
Lord, it is good to give thanks to you
while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil
Christ is the sower.
All who come to him will live forever
he knows not how
Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it
to his own disciples he explained everything in private
What these readings tell us to do:
it is good to give thanks to you
It is good to give thanks to the LORD
sing praise to your name
proclaim your kindness at dawn and your faithfulness throughout the night
Lord, it is good to give thanks to you
just
planted in the house of the LORD
it is good to give thanks to you
Declaring how just is the LORD
always courageous
walk by faith, not by sight
we are courageous
aspire to please him
come to him
scatter seed
he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come
