First Reading

Reading from the second Book of Kings

2 Kings 17, 5-8. 13-15. 18

In those days, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded the country, came to Samaria and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of Media.

This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord, their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and had worshiped other gods, following the customs of the nations that the Lord had destroyed upon their arrival and which their own kings had introduced.

The Lord had warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and seers, saying: “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, according to the law I gave your ancestors and which I revealed to you through my servants, the prophets.” But they did not listen and hardened their hearts as their ancestors had done, who refused to obey the Lord, their God. They despised his decrees, the covenant he made with their ancestors, and the warnings he gave them.

The Lord became very angry with Israel and cast them out of his presence, and only the tribe of Judah remained.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 7, 1-5

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not judge, or you will be judged; for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”