SUNDAY 4th OCTOBER 2026 Trinity 18

FIRST READING Isaiah 5.1–7

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

1 Let me sing for my beloved

my love-song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

he expected it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more was there to do for my vineyard

that I have not done in it?

When I expected it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6 I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,

and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting:

he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;

righteousness, but heard a cry!

PSALM Psalm 80.7–14

R For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel.

7 Restore us, O God of hosts;

show the light of your countenance

and we shall be saved.

8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt;

you cast out the nations and planted it.

9 You prepared the ground for it;

it took root and filled the land. R

10 The mountains were covered by its shadow

and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.

11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea

and its branches to the River. R

12 Why have you broken down its wall,

so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?

13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it,

and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.

14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven;

behold and tend this vine;

preserve what your right hand has planted. R

SECOND READING Philippians 3.4b–14

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians.

4 If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh,

I have more:

5 circumcised on the eighth day,

a member of the people of Israel,

of the tribe of Benjamin,

a Hebrew born of Hebrews;

as to the law, a Pharisee;

6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church;

as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

7 Yet whatever gains I had,

these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.

8 More than that, I regard everything as loss

because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things,

and I regard them as rubbish,

in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,

9 not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,

but one that comes through faith in Christ,

the righteousness from God based on faith.

10 I want to know Christ

and the power of his resurrection

and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,

11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this

or have already reached the goal;

but I press on to make it my own,

because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own;

but this one thing I do:

forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on towards the goal

for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

GOSPEL Matthew 21.33–46

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:

33 ‘Listen to another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,

put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it,

and built a watch-tower.

Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.

34 When the harvest time had come,

he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.

35 But the tenants seized his slaves

and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first;

and they treated them in the same way.

37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying,

“They will respect my son.”

38 But when the tenants saw the son,

they said to themselves,

“This is the heir;

come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.”

39 So they seized him,

threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes,

what will he do to those tenants?’

41 They said to him,

‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death,

and lease the vineyard to other tenants

who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’

42 Jesus said to them,

‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes”?

43 Therefore I tell you,

the kingdom of God will be taken away from you

and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.

44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;

and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,

they realized that he was speaking about them.

46 They wanted to arrest him,

but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

IF YOU have Harvest see below for a list of readings  for after Trinity  year A


HARVEST YEAR A

Revised Common Lectionary and Church of England provision.

FIRST READING (Alternative readings)

Either Deuteronomy 8.7–18

A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.

7 The LORD your God is bringing you into a good land,

a land with flowing streams,

with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills,

8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,

a land of olive trees and honey,

9 a land where you may eat bread without scarcity,

where you will lack nothing,

a land whose stones are iron

and from whose hills you may mine copper.

10 You shall eat your fill

and bless the LORD your God for the good land

that he has given you.

11 Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God,

by failing to keep his commandments,

his ordinances, and his statutes,

which I am commanding you today.

12 When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them,

13 and when your herds and flocks have multiplied,

and your silver and gold is multiplied,

and all that you have is multiplied,

14 then do not exalt yourself,

forgetting the LORD your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness,

an arid waste-land with poisonous snakes and scorpions.

He made water flow for you from flint rock,

16 and fed you in the wilderness with manna

that your ancestors did not know,

to humble you and to test you,

and in the end to do you good.

17 Do not say to yourself,

‘My power and the might of my own hand

have gained me this wealth.’

18 But remember the LORD your God,

for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,

so that he may confirm his covenant

that he swore to your ancestors,

as he is doing today.

Or Deuteronomy 28.1–14

1 If you will only obey the LORD your God,

by diligently observing all his commandments

that I am commanding you today,

the LORD your God will set you high

above all the nations of the earth;

2 all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you,

if you obey the LORD your God:

3 Blessed shall you be in the city,

and blessed shall you be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb,

the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock,

both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.

5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-bowl.

6 Blessed shall you be when you come in,

and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you

to be defeated before you;

they shall come out against you one way,

and flee before you seven ways.

8 The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns,

and in all that you undertake;

he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

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9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people,

as he has sworn to you,

if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God

and walk in his ways.

10 All the peoples of the earth shall see

that you are called by the name of the LORD,

and they shall be afraid of you.

11 The LORD will make you abound in prosperity,

in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock,

and in the fruit of your ground in the land

that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give you.

12 The LORD will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens,

to give the rain of your land in its season

and to bless all your undertakings.

You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

13 The LORD will make you the head, and not the tail;

you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom –

if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God,

which I am commanding you today,

by diligently observing them,

14 and if you do not turn aside

from any of the words that I am commanding you today,

either to the right or to the left,

following other gods to serve them.

PSALM Psalm 65

R You crown the year with goodness.

1 You are to be praised, O God, in Zion;

to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.

2 To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come,

because of their transgressions.

3 Our sins are stronger than we are,

but you will blot them out. R

4 Happy are they whom you choose

and draw to your courts to dwell there!

they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house,

by the holiness of your temple.

5 Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness,

O God of our salvation,

O Hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the seas that are far away. R

6 You make fast the mountains by your power;

they are girded about with might.

7 You still the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

and the clamour of the peoples. R

8 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth

will tremble at your marvellous signs;

you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.

9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly;

you make it very plenteous;

the river of God is full of water. R

10 You prepare the grain,

for so you provide for the earth.

11 You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges;

with heavy rain you soften the ground

and bless its increase.

12 You crown the year with your goodness,

and your paths overflow with plenty. R

13 May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing,

and the hills be clothed with joy.

14 May the meadows cover themselves with flocks

and the valleys cloak themselves with grain;

let them shout for joy and sing. R

SECOND READING 2 Corinthians 9.6–15

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.

6 The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind,

not reluctantly or under compulsion,

for God loves a cheerful giver.

8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance,

so that by always having enough of everything,

you may share abundantly in every good work.

9 As it is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

his righteousness endures for ever.’

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food

will supply and multiply your seed for sowing

and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity,

which will produce thanksgiving to God through us;

12 for the rendering of this ministry

not only supplies the needs of the saints

but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.

13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God

by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ

and by the generosity of your sharing with them

and with all others,

14 while they long for you

and pray for you

because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.

15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

GOSPEL (Alternative readings)

Either Luke 12.16–30

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

16 Jesus told the people a parable:

‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly.

17 And he thought to himself,

“What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?”

18 Then he said, “I will do this:

I will pull down my barns and build larger ones,

and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul,

‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;

relax, eat, drink, be merry.’”

20 But God said to him,

“You fool!

This very night your life is being demanded of you.

And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves

but are not rich towards God.’

22 He said to his disciples,

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

23 For life is more than food,

and the body more than clothing.

24 Consider the ravens:

they neither sow nor reap,

they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.

Of how much more value are you than the birds!

25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that,

why do you worry about the rest?

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

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28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

how much more will he clothe you – you of little faith!

29 And do not keep striving

for what you are to eat and what you are to drink,

and do not keep worrying.

30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things,

and your Father knows that you need them.’

Or Luke 17.11–19

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

11 On the way to Jerusalem

Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

12 As he entered a village,

ten lepers approached him.

Keeping their distance,

13 they called out, saying,

‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’

14 When he saw them, he said to them,

‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’

And as they went, they were made clean.

15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed,

turned back, praising God with a loud voice.

16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

And he was a Samaritan.

17 Then Jesus asked,

‘Were not ten made clean?

But the other nine, where are they?

18 Was none of them found to return

and give praise to God except this foreigner?’

19 Then he said to the Samaritan,

‘Get up and go on your way;

your faith has made you well.’