Psalm 71^(A)

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth^(A) in the territory of Benjamin. ² The word of the Lord came^(B) to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah^(C) son of Amon king of Judah, ³ and through the reign of Jehoiakim^(D) son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah^(E) son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.^(F)

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”^(A)

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

¹² The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching^[a](B) to see that my word is fulfilled.”

¹³ The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?”^(C)

“I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”

¹⁴ The Lord said to me, “From the north^(D) disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. ¹⁵ I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord.

¹⁷ “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say^(L) to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified^(M) by them, or I will terrify you before them. ¹⁸ Today I have made you^(N) a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. ¹⁹ They will fight against you but will not overcome^(O) you, for I am with you^(P) and will rescue^(Q) you,” declares the Lord.

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(A)

6 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.^{(B) 2} Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”^(C)

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(D) 4} He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.^(E) And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man^(F) is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Psalm 103

Of David.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath.^(A) Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶ People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath^(B) to the people of Judah. ¹⁷ I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city?^(C) Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”^(D)

¹⁹ When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath,^(E) I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember^(F) me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.