Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
14 I will also devastate her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said: ‘These are my payment
that my lovers have given to me.’
But I will turn them into a thicket
and beasts of the field will devour them.
15 Then I will punish her for the days of the Baalim[a]
to whom she would burn incense—
adorning herself with her rings and jewelry,
going after her lovers—
but Me she forgot.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
Compassion and Covenant Love
16 “So then, I Myself will entice her,
I will bring her into the wilderness
and speak to her heart.
17 I will give her back her vineyards from there
and make the valley of Achor a door of hope.
She will respond there—
as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of the land of Egypt.
18 In that day—it is a declaration of Adonai—
you will proclaim, ‘My husband,’
and never again call Me, ‘My Baal.’
19 Then I will remove the names of the Baalim out of her mouth,
no longer to be mentioned by their name.
20 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the flying creatures in the sky,
and the creeping things on the ground.
I will break into pieces the bow and sword
and warfare from the land,
and I will cause them to lie down securely.
As a Father Has Compassion
Psalm 103
1 Of David.
Bless Adonai, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless His holy Name.
2 Bless Adonai, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits:
3 He forgives all your iniquity.
He heals all your diseases.
4 He redeems your life from the Pit.
He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassions.
5 He satisfies your years with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like an eagle.
6 Adonai executes justice—
judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made His ways known to Moses,
His deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Adonai is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not treated us according to our sins,
or repaid us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His mercy for those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so Adonai has compassion on those who fear Him.
22 Bless Adonai, all His works everywhere in His dominion.
Bless Adonai, O my soul!
A New Covenant on Hearts of Flesh
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 It is clear that you are a letter from Messiah delivered by us—written not with ink but with the Ruach of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.[a]
4 Such is the confidence we have through Messiah toward God— 5 not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. 6 He also made us competent as servants of a new covenant[b]—not of the letter, but of the Ruach. For the letter kills, but the Ruach gives life.
Fellowship with Sinners
13 Again, Yeshua went out by the sea. The whole crowd kept coming to Him, and He continued to teach them. 14 As He was passing by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he got up and followed Him.
15 Now it happens that Yeshua was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Yeshua and His disciples. For there were many, and they were following Him. 16 When the Torah scholars of the Pharisees saw Him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they began to say to His disciples, “With tax collectors and sinners He eats?”
17 And when He heard this, Yeshua said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a doctor, but those who are sick do. I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinful.”
Feasting in His Presence
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. They came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Yeshua said to them, “The guests of the bridegroom cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the patch pulls away from the old, and a worse tear happens. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins; and the wine is lost, also the skins. But one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.