The Call of Jeremiah

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(D)I do not know how to speak, ^(E)for I am only a youth.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

^9 (I)Then the Lord put out his hand and ^(J)touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

³¹ But ^(A)earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(B)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(C)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (D)If I give away all I have, and ^(E)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (F)Love is patient and ^(G)kind; love ^(H)does not envy or boast; it ^(I)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(J)does not insist on its own way; it ^(K)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(L)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(M)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (N)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(O)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(P)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(Q)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For ^(R)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(S)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(T)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Demon

^31 (A)And he ^(B)went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And ^(C)he was teaching them ^(D)on the Sabbath, ³² and ^(E)they were astonished at his teaching, ^(F)for his word possessed authority. ³³ And ^(G)in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Ha!^{[a] (H)}What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? ^(I)I know who you are—^(J)the Holy One of God.” ³⁵ But Jesus ^(K)rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ³⁶ And ^(L)they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? ^(M)For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷ And ^(N)reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Jesus Heals Many

^38 (O)And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now ^(P)Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. ³⁹ And he stood over her and ^(Q)rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

⁴⁰ Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and ^(R)he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ^41 (S)And demons also came out of many, ^(T)crying, “You are ^(U)the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and ^(V)would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was ^(W)the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Synagogues

^42 (X)And when it was day, he departed and went ^(Y)into a desolate place. And ^(Z)the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³ but he said to them, ^(AA)“I must ^(AB)preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ And he was preaching ^(AC)in the synagogues of Judea.^[b]