Daily Mass Readings for July 08, 2026: Gospel — Mt 10, 1-7

¹ Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars. ² Their hearts are slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars. ³ Very soon they will say, “We have no king since we did not fear the Lord. But what can a king do for us anyway?” 7 :¹ whenever I want to heal Israel, the sin of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed. For they do what is wrong; thieves break into houses, and gangs rob people out in the streets. ² They do not realize that I remember all their wicked deeds. Their evil deeds have now surrounded them; their sinful deeds are always before me. ³ The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes; the princes make him glad with their lies. ⁴ They are all like bakers; they are like a smoldering oven; they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire until the kneaded dough is ready for baking. ⁵ At the celebration of their king, his princes become inflamed with wine; they conspire with evildoers. ⁶ They approach him, all the while plotting against him. Their hearts are like an oven; their anger smolders all night long, but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire. ⁷ All of them are blazing like an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them call on me! ⁸ Ephraim has mixed itself like flour among the nations; Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side. ⁹ Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, but he does not recognize it. His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it. 1 ⁰ The arrogance of Israel testifies against him, yet they refuse to return to the Lord their God. In spite of all this they refuse to seek him. 1 ¹ Ephraim has been like a dove, easily deceived and lacking discernment. They called to Egypt for help; they turned to Assyria for protection. 1 ² I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying; I will bring them down like birds in the sky; I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together. 1 ³ Woe to them! For they have fled from me! Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me! I want to deliver them, but they have lied to me. 1 ⁴ They do not pray to me, but howl in distress on their beds; they slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from me. 1 ⁵ Although I trained and strengthened them, they plot evil against me! 1 ⁶ They turn to Baal; they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. 8 :¹ Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the Lord! For they have broken their covenant with me and have rebelled against my law. ² Israel cries out to me, “My God, we acknowledge you!” ³ But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him. ⁴ They enthroned kings without my consent. They appointed princes without my approval. They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! ⁵ O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol. My anger burns against them! They will not survive much longer without being punished, even though they are Israelites! ⁶ That idol was made by a workman—it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits. ⁷ They sow the wind, and so they will reap the whirlwind! The stalk does not have any standing grain; it will not produce any flour. Even if it were to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it all up. ⁸ Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery. ⁹ They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. 1 ⁰ Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king. 1 ¹ Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning. 1 ² I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown to them. 1 ³ They offer up sacrificial gifts to me and eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. Soon he will remember their wrongdoing; he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt. 1 ⁴ Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces, and Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will send fire on their cities; it will consume their royal citadels. 1 2 :¹ Ephraim continually feeds on the wind; he chases the east wind all day; he multiplies lies and violence. They make treaties with Assyria and send olive oil as tribute to Egypt. ² The Lord also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. ³ In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled with God. ⁴ He struggled with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God at Bethel, and there he spoke with him! ⁵ As for the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is the name by which he is remembered! ⁶ But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice and by waiting for your God to return to you. ⁷ The businessmen love to cheat; they use dishonest scales. ⁸ Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich! I have become wealthy! In all that I have done to gain my wealth, no one can accuse me of any offense that is actually sinful.” ⁹ “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old. 1 ⁰ I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; I spoke in parables through the prophets.” 1 ¹ Is there idolatry in Gilead? Certainly its inhabitants will come to nothing! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field! 1 ² Jacob fled to the country of Aram, then Israel worked to acquire a wife; he tended sheep to pay for her. 1 ³ The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive. 1 ⁴ But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed; his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown.