Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Lament for Disobedient Judah
27 “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth[a] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. 29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow[b](A) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,(B) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.’(C)
30 “For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their abhorrent things(D) in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.(E) 31 They have built the high places of Topheth[c](F) in Ben Hinnom Valley[d](G) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,(H) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.
32 “Therefore, look, the days are coming”(I)—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.(J) Topheth will become a cemetery,[e] because there will be no other burial place. 33 The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.(K) 34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,(L) for the land will become a desolate waste.(M)
The Cost of Following Jesus
18 When Jesus saw a large crowd[a](A) around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe approached him and said,(B) “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man(C) has no place to lay his head.”
21 “Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
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