Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote.

Tell the music leader, ‘Use harps when you sing this song.’

David prays for health^[a]

Officers put Jeremiah into a deep hole

38 Some of Jerusalem's officers heard the things that Jeremiah had been telling the people. They were Mattan's son Shephatiah, Pashhur's son Gedaliah, Shelemiah's son Jehucal and Malkijah's son Pashhur. ² They had heard him say this: ‘The Lord says, “Any people who stay in this city will die. War or famine or disease will kill them. But those people who leave the city will not die. If they put themselves under the power of Babylon's soldiers, they will live.”  ³ The Lord also says, “I will put this city under the power of the King of Babylon's army. They will take it for themselves.” ’

⁴ When the officers heard that, they said to the king, ‘You must punish this man with death. He is making our soldiers who remain in the city afraid. The things that he says are making all the people in the city very afraid. He does not want to help our people. He wants to destroy them.’

⁵ King Zedekiah said to them, ‘You can do to Jeremiah whatever you want to do. I cannot stop you.’

⁶ So the officers took hold of Jeremiah. They put him in a deep hole in the palace yard where the guards were. Prince Malkijah had made the hole to store water. There was no water in the hole, but only mud. They tied ropes around Jeremiah and they slowly dropped him into the hole. Jeremiah fell deep into the mud.

A foreign man rescues Jeremiah from the hole

⁷ There was an officer who served the king in his palace. His name was Ebed-Melech. He came from the country of Ethiopia. He heard the news that some officers had put Jeremiah into the deep hole in the palace yard. At that time the king was sitting as judge at the Benjamin Gate of the city. ⁸ So Ebed-Melech quickly left the palace. He went to speak to the king. He said to him, ⁹ ‘My master, the king, those men have done very wicked things to the prophet Jeremiah. They have put him in a deep hole. He will soon die there because there is no food in the city.’

¹⁰ Then the king gave this command to Ebed-Melech. He said, ‘Take 30 men with you from here. Go and lift Jeremiah out of the deep hole before he dies.’

¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him. He went to a room in the palace where they stored valuable things. He took some old clothes and pieces of cloth from there. He tied them to the end of some ropes. Then he let them drop down into the deep hole where Jeremiah was. ¹² He said to Jeremiah, ‘Put these old cloths and clothes under your arms. Then tie the ropes over them so that they do not hurt you.’ Jeremiah did as Ebed-Melech told him. ¹³ Then they pulled Jeremiah up out of the deep hole. But Jeremiah still had to stay in the palace yard with the guards.

Jesus sends out his 12 apostles

⁵ Jesus sent out these 12 disciples. Before they left, he said to them, ‘Do not go to any place where the people are Gentiles. And do not go to towns where only Samaritans live.^{[a] 6} Instead, you must go to the people of Israel. They are like lost sheep with nobody to take care of them. ⁷ While you travel, you must tell people about the kingdom of heaven. You must tell them that it has now become near. ⁸ Make sick people well again. Cause dead people to become alive again. If people have a bad disease of the skin, make them well again. Send bad spirits out of people to leave them. God has been very kind to you, so you should be kind to other people. When you help people, do not ask them for money. ⁹ Do not take any money in your purses. ¹⁰ Do not take a bag with you, or extra clothes. Do not take extra shoes or a stick. You are working to help people. So people should give you what you need to live.

¹¹ When you arrive in a town or a village, look for a good person there. Continue to stay in that person's house until you leave there. ¹² When you go into the house, say to the people there, “We pray that you will be well.” ¹³ If the people of that house accept you, then everyone in the house will be well. But if they do not accept you, then take back your kind words. ¹⁴ Sometimes you will go to some house or town and the people will not accept you there. They will not listen to your message. Then you should leave. Clean the dirt of that place off your feet. ¹⁵ I tell you this: One day God will punish people like that. God will punish them even more than the people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah long ago.’^[b]

¹⁶ Jesus then said to his disciples, ‘Listen well. I am sending you to people who will want to kill you. You will be like sheep among wild animals. You must watch carefully, like snakes do. But you must also be good and kind like doves.

¹⁷ Be careful! People will be against you. They will take you to stand in front of their leaders. They will punish you with whips in their meeting places. ¹⁸ They will take you to stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. You will tell all these important people and also the Gentiles the good news about me. ¹⁹ When they take you to stand in front of their leaders, do not be afraid. Do not worry about what you should say or how you should say it. At that time, God will give you the right words to speak. ²⁰ You will not be speaking your own words. The Holy Spirit of your Father God will give you his own words to say.

²¹ At that time, a man will let people kill his own brother. A father will let people kill his own child. Children will be against their parents. They will even ask people to kill their parents. ²² All people will hate you because you are my disciples. But God will save the person who remains strong until the end. ²³ If people in any town hurt you because of me, you should leave that town immediately. Go to another town. I tell you this: You will not have enough time to speak your message in all the towns of Israel. I, the Son of Man, will return before that can happen.