Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Yodh.
73
Your hands have made me and established me;
Give me understanding and a teachable heart, that I may learn Your commandments.
74
May those who [reverently] fear You see me and be glad,
Because I wait for Your word.
75
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are fair,
And that in faithfulness You have disciplined me.(A)
76
O may Your lovingkindness and graciousness comfort me,
According to Your word (promise) to Your servant.
77
Let Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For Your law is my delight.
78
Let the arrogant be ashamed and humiliated, for they sabotage me with a lie;
But I will meditate on Your precepts.
79
May those who fear You [with submissive wonder] turn to me,
Even those who have known Your testimonies.
80
May my heart be blameless in Your statutes,
So that I will not be ashamed.
10
To whom shall I (Jeremiah) speak and give warning
That they may hear?
Behold, their ears are [a]closed [absolutely deaf to God]
And they cannot listen.
Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reprimand and an object of scorn to them;
They have no delight in it.(A)
11
But I am full of the wrath (judgment) of the Lord;
I am tired of restraining it.
“[I will] pour it out on the children in the street
And on the young men gathered together;
For both the husband and wife shall be taken,
The aged and the very old [though full of days they are not exempt from judgment].
12
“Their houses shall be turned over to others,
Their fields and their wives together;
For I will stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.
13
“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is greedy for [unfair] gain;
And from the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals deceitfully.
14
“They have treated superficially the [bloody] broken wound of My people,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
When there is no peace.
15
“Were they ashamed because they had committed disgusting and vile things?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
They did not even know how to blush [at their idolatry].
Therefore they will fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them
They will be overthrown,” says the Lord.
16
Thus says the Lord,
“Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is; then walk in it,
And you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’(B)
17
“I have set watchmen (prophets) over you,
Saying, ‘Listen and pay attention to the [warning] sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18
“Therefore hear, O [Gentile] nations,
And see, O congregation, what [vengeful act] is to be done to them.
19
“Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,
The fruit of their schemes,
Because they have not listened and paid attention to My words,
And as for My law, they have rejected it also.
21 Now after these events, Paul determined in the Spirit that he would travel through [a]Macedonia and Achaia (most of the Greek mainland), and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome [and preach the good news of salvation].” 22 And after sending two of his assistants, Timothy and [b]Erastus, to Macedonia [ahead of him], he stayed on in [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor] for a while.
23 About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way (Jesus, Christianity). 24 Now a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of [the goddess] Artemis (Diana), was bringing no small profit to the craftsmen. 25 These [craftsmen] he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you are well aware that we make a good living from this business. 26 You see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but almost all over [the province of] Asia, this Paul has persuaded [people to believe his teaching] and has misled a large number of people, claiming that gods made by [human] hands are not really gods at all. 27 Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will be discredited, but also that the [magnificent] [c]temple of the great goddess [d]Artemis will be discredited, and that she whom all Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned and lose her glorious magnificence.”
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