Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
כ KAPH
81 (A)My soul faints for Your salvation,
But I hope in Your word.
82 My eyes fail from searching Your word,
Saying, “When will You comfort me?”
83 For (B)I have become like a wineskin in smoke,
Yet I do not forget Your statutes.
84 (C)How many are the days of Your servant?
(D)When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?
85 (E)The proud have dug pits for me,
Which is not according to Your law.
86 All Your commandments are faithful;
They persecute me (F)wrongfully;
Help me!
87 They almost made an end of me on earth,
But I did not forsake Your precepts.
88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness,
So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.
Jeremiah’s Lifestyle and Message
16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4 “They shall die (A)gruesome deaths; they shall not be (B)lamented nor shall they be (C)buried, but they shall be (D)like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their (E)corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5 For thus says the Lord: (F)“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; (G)neither shall men lament for them, (H)cut themselves, nor (I)make themselves bald for them. 7 Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to (J)drink for their father or their mother. 8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, (K)I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of [a]mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, (L)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them, (M)‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 12 And you have done (N)worse than your fathers, for behold, (O)each one [b]follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 13 (P)Therefore I will cast you out of this land (Q)into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
Be Patient and Persevering
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord [a]is at hand.
9 Do not [b]grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be [c]condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10 (A)My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and (B)patience. 11 Indeed (C)we count them blessed who (D)endure. You have heard of (E)the perseverance of Job and seen (F)the end intended by the Lord—that (G)the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all, my brethren, (H)do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into [d]judgment.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.