Jeremiah 3:19-4:4

English Standard Version

¹⁹“‘I said,
    How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
    a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would ^(A)call me, My Father,
    and would not turn from following me.
²⁰^(B)Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
    so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’”

²¹A voice on the ^(C)bare heights is heard,
    ^(D)the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons
because they have perverted their way;
    they have forgotten the Lord their God.
²²^(E)“Return, O faithless sons;
    ^(F)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
²³Truly ^(G)the hills are a delusion,
    the orgies^[a] on the mountains.
^(H)Truly in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴“But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵^(I)Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For ^(J)we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

4 “If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
    ^(K)to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
    ^(L)and do not waver,
²^(M)and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
    in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then ^(N)nations shall bless themselves in him,
    ^(O)and in him shall they glory.”

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^(P)“Break up your fallow ground,
    and ^(Q)sow not among thorns.
⁴^(R)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
^(S)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
    and burn with none to quench it,
    ^(T)because of the evil of your deeds.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 3:23 Hebrew commotion

1 Corinthians 7:17-24

English Standard Version

Live as You Are Called

¹⁷Only let each person lead the life^[a] ^(A)that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. ^(B)This is my rule in ^(C)all the churches. ¹⁸Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? ^(D)Let him not seek circumcision. ¹⁹^(E)For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but ^(F)keeping the commandments of God. ²⁰^(G)Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. ²¹Were you a bondservant^[b] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) ²²For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is ^(H)a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is ^(I)a bondservant of Christ. ²³^(J)You were bought with a price; ^(K)do not become bondservants of men. ²⁴So, brothers,^[c] ^(L)in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 7:17 Or each person walk in the way
1 Corinthians 7:21 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; also verses 22 (twice), 23
1 Corinthians 7:24 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 29

Mark 1:14-20

English Standard Version

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹⁴^(A)Now after John was arrested, Jesus ^(B)came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, ^(C)“The time is fulfilled, and ^(D)the kingdom of God is at hand;^[a] ^(E)repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁶^(F)Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become ^(G)fishers of men.”^[b] ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.