Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Kaph
81 My soul is exhausted awaiting Your rescue
yet I keep hoping in Your word.
82 My eyes are strained as I look for what You promised,
saying, “When will You come to comfort me?”
83 Even though I have shriveled up like a wineskin left in the smoke,
I still remember what You require.
84 How long must Your servant wait?
When will You carry out justice and punish those who persecute me?
85 Those proud souls do not live according to Your commands,
and they have dug pits to entrap me.
86 Indeed, all Your commands are trustworthy,
but my enemies have harassed me with their lies; help me!
87 They have nearly ended my life on earth,
but as for me, I never abandoned Your statutes.
88 According to Your unfailing love, spare my life
so that I can live according to the decrees of Your mouth.
This horrible vision of judgment is tempered with words of God’s gracious restoration. Though the sentence against faithless Judah is harsh, it will not be the end of her.
(to the people) 14 Look, days are coming when people will remember how I restored you. They will no longer say, “As the Eternal lives who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.” 15 Instead, they will say, “As the Eternal lives, who brought the people of Israel out of the lands of the north and the countries where He had exiled them.” For I will bring them back to their promised land, the land I gave to your ancestors.
16 But first, I will send for many fishermen who will catch them. After this, I will summon many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and every hill, in every crack and crevice of this land. 17 My eyes are fixed on all they are doing. Nothing is hidden from Me; their sins are exposed before My eyes. 18 For their wickedness and sin—polluting My land with the lifeless husks of their disgusting idols, taking what is Mine and filling it with these abominable things—I will repay them doubly.
Jeremiah: 19 O Eternal One, You are my strength,
my fortress, my sanctuary in times of trouble.
The day will come when the nations will come from all over the world and admit,
“Our ancestors were fools! They inherited and clung to empty lies,
Worthless gods that gained them nothing good.
20 Can people make their own gods?
No, because a man-made idol is not a god.”
21 Eternal One: Behold, I will teach these people.
This time, they will learn of My power and strength.
I will teach them, and they will know and fully understand that I am the Eternal.
7 After these events, it was time for Jesus to move on. He began a long walk through the Galilean countryside. He was purposefully avoiding Judea because of the violent threats made against Him by the Jews there who wanted to kill Him. 2 It was fall, the time of year when the Jews celebrated the Festival of Booths.
On this holiday, everyone camps in temporary quarters, called booths, to remember that God was with their ancestors when they wandered for 40 years without a home.
Brothers of Jesus (to Jesus): 3 Let’s get out of here and go south to Judea so You can show Your disciples there what You are capable of doing. 4 No one who seeks the public eye is content to work in secret. If You want to perform these signs, then step forward on the world’s stage; don’t hide up here in the hills, Jesus.
5 Jesus’ own brothers were speaking contemptuously; they did not yet believe in Him, just as the people in His hometown did not see Him as anything more than Joseph’s son.
Jesus: 6 My time has not yet arrived; but for you My brothers, by all means, it is always the right time. 7 You have nothing to worry about because the world doesn’t hate you, but it despises Me because I am always exposing the dark evil in its works. 8 Go on to the feast without Me; I am not going right now because My time is not yet at hand.
9 This conversation came to an abrupt end, and Jesus stayed in Galilee
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.