Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the first reading and psalm

• Genesis 25:20 (26): Age (in years) is measured as “turtles” in Aekyom (Papua New Guinea) because they return once a year to lay eggs.
• Genesis 25:21: "Barren" is translated in Upper Guinea Crioulo (Senegal) as "God hadn’t given a bambaran [=the cloth a woman uses to carry an infant on her back]” because this was a polite way of expressing it.
• Genesis 25:24: Translation for "give birth" in “go to the forest” in Mairasi (Papua New Guinea), reflecting the traditional place of childbirth for Mairasi women.
• Genesis 25:25: "Esau" means "covered with hair” in Hebrew, in Finnish and American Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “hairy forearm.”
• Genesis 25:26: "Jacob" has very different translations in Spanish, Finnish, German, and Hungarian Sign Languages, each emphasizing the most important facet of Jacob for each of these communities.
• Genesis 25:27: "Jacob was a quiet man" is translated in Kankanaey (Philippines) as "Jacob however, he was a thoughtful/reflective person."
• Genesis 25:31: "Birthright” is translated in Guhu-Samane (PNG) as “the right of the first child of the vine.”
• Genesis 25:33: "Swear” is translated in Quetzaltepec Mixe (Mexico) as “promise me using the name of God.”

Psalm 119:105-112 Translation by Brenda Boerger who maintains the poetic quality and the acrostic:
105 Omniscient Overseer, your word is my light, | Opening my eyes to obstacles on the road.
106 Oaths I’ve made, I’ll carry out, | Obligated to obey your objectives.
107 Oppressed, I often groan in pain; | Operate and make me whole, as you vowed.
108 Open your ears to my oblation, | Outlining your orders for me.
109 Often my life is exposed to danger — | Opportunity to make your teachings my own!
110 Opponents hollowed a hole for me, | Only I haven’t overlooked your ordinances.
111 Once and for all, I’ll honor your directions, | Overjoyed when observing them.
112 On and on, I’ll go by your operator’s handbook, | Over and over, till I’m old and gone.

Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the second reading

• Romans 8:2: Complete verse in Tenango Otomi (Mexico): “Now the Holy Spirit has the power to give us the new life because we are walkers with Jesus Christ. Now we are taken out of the power of sin which was ruling us, now we are saved from the punishment we were going to.”
• Romans 8:2 (et al.): "Holy Spirit" is translated in Cheyenne as "Sacred Shadow" -- for dozens of other translations see Holy Spirit.
• Romans 8:3 (et al.): "Flesh" is translated as “like other men” (Highland Totonac / Mexico), “character that is inclined to evil things” (Chichewa / Malawi), or in a number of other ways. See the text record for detailed information or in simplified graphic format.
• Romans 8:6: "Peace" is translated as “a song in the body” (Baoulé / Côte d'Ivoire), “smooth interior” (Bariai / Papua New Guinea) and in a variety of other ways languages. See the text record for detailed information or as a graphic.
• Romans 8:9: Complete verse in Tenango Otomi (Mexico): “But concerning us who have separated from the evil, it is the Holy Spirit who shows us the road of how we should live. Because Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to talk with all those who believe in Him. The people who do not walk with the Holy Spirit are the people who do not believe in Christ.”
• Romans 8:10: "Sin" is translated in Loma (Guinea) as “leaving the road.”
• Romans 8:11: Complete verse in Bariai (Papua New Guinea): “God lifted back Jesus from his death. And so if God’s Straight Spirit is living in your interiors, then he’s going to lift you back from your death also, similarly as he lifted back Christ from his death. He’s going to do like this by the Straight Spirit’s power who is living in your interiors.”

Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the Gospel

• Matthew 13:2: Artwork depicting Jesus teaching from a boat: Japanese stencil print by Sadao Watanabe (1965) and classical Chinese painting by Xu Jihua.
• Matthew 13:2: "Boat" is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz (Mexico) as “that with which we can walk on water” along with various other translations of landlocked cultures.
• Matthew 13:3: "Sow" has to be translated in Teutila Cuicatec (Mexico) as “sow wheat.” Otherwise it would be assumed that it was chili pepper (the only crop that is broadcasted when sown) which is not eaten by birds.
• Matthew 13:3: "Parable" is translated as “picture with words” in Piro (USA). See many other translations, including a graphical overview.
• Matthew 13:3: "The Parable of the Sower" as an artwork by contemporary Kazakh artist Nelly Bube.
• Matthew 13:4: "Fall by the wayside" is an English idiom that was coined in 1560 via the Geneva Bible
• Matthew 13:9: "If you have ears, hear!” can't be directly translated in sign languages. Costa Rican Sign Language has “If you want to understand, understand!” or Mexican Sign Language has "This story that you’ve just seen me (tell), you need to try and work it out.”
• Matthew 13:19: "Kingdom” can have various shades of meanings in the New Testament. One German translation translates it here as "God's finalized creation in the future" (as opposed to "presence of God’s rule" and "God’s new world" elsewhere).
• Matthew 13:21: "A person who endures only for a while” is translated in Kekchí (Guatemala) as “they are like passers by" and by a German translation as "a person of the blink of an eye.”
• Matthew 13:21: Complete verse in Yakan (Philippines): “And what was broadcasted in the good soil is a figure of the people who hear the message of God and believe it. In the figure of plants, the message of God which they heard produces fruit in their livers. Some have very much fruit, some have much and others have enough/just right.'”