Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
14 But once she has nothing, I’ll be able to get through to her.
I’ll entice her and lead her out into the wilderness where we can be alone,
and I’ll speak right to her heart and try to win her back.
15 And then I’ll give her back her vineyards;
I’ll turn the valley of Achor, that “Valley of Trouble,”[a]
into a gateway of hope.
This is where Achan was judged for keeping forbidden spoils of war when Israel first entered into the land after the exodus.
In the wilderness of exile she’ll learn to respond to Me
the way she did when she was young, when I brought her out of Egypt.
16 And I swear when that day comes, she’ll call Me “my husband” and never address Me again as “my master” as she did those other gods. 17 She’ll never invoke the name of any other master again.
Everyone will forget that gods by that name ever existed. 18 When that day comes, this is what I’ll do for My people: I’ll make a covenant for them with the wild animals and flying birds and crawling insects, and they’ll agree never to devour her crops again. I’ll smash all the bows and swords and weapons that could be used to invade their land, and they’ll live in security.
(to His reclaimed bride) 19 I’m going to marry you, and this time it’ll be forever in righteousness and justice. Our covenant will reflect a loyal love and great mercy; 20 our marriage will be honest and truthful, and you’ll understand who I really am—the Eternal One.
Psalm 103
A song of David.
1 O my soul, come, praise the Eternal
with all that is in me—body, emotions, mind, and will—every part of who I am—
praise His holy name.
2 O my soul, come, praise the Eternal;
sing a song from a grateful heart;
sing and never forget all the good He has done.
3 Despite all your many offenses, He forgives and releases you.
More than any doctor, He heals your diseases.
4 He reaches deep into the pit to deliver you from death.
He crowns you with unfailing love and compassion like a king.
5 When your soul is famished and withering,
He fills you with good and beautiful things, satisfying you as long as you live.
He makes you strong like an eagle, restoring your youth.
6 When people are crushed, wronged, enslaved, raped, murdered,
the Eternal is just;
He makes the wrongs right.
7 He showed Moses His ways;
He allowed His people Israel to see His wonders and acts of power.
8 The Eternal is compassionate and merciful.
When we cross all the lines, He is patient with us.
When we struggle against Him, He lovingly stays with us—changing, convicting, prodding;
9 He will not constantly criticize,
nor will He hold a grudge forever.
10 Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve.
In His mercy, He tempers justice with peace.
11 Measure how high heaven is above the earth;
God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him.
12 You see, God takes all our crimes—our seemingly inexhaustible sins—and removes them.
As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us.
13 An earthly father expresses love for his children;
it is no different with our heavenly Father;
The Eternal shows His love for those who revere Him.
22 Give praise to the Eternal, all that He has made
in all corners of His creation.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal!
3 Are we back to page one? Do we need to gather some recommendations to prove our validity to you? Or do we need to take your letter of commendation to others to gain credibility? 2 You are our letter, every word burned onto our[a] hearts to be read by everyone. 3 You are the living letter of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, nurtured by us and inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God—a letter too passionate to be chiseled onto stone tablets, but emblazoned upon the human heart.
4 This is the kind of confidence we have in and through the Anointed toward our God. 5 Don’t be mistaken; in and of ourselves we know we have little to offer, but any competence or value we have comes from God. 6 Now God has equipped us to be capable servants of the new covenant, not by authority of the written law which only brings death, but by the Spirit who brings life.
To some who believe wholeheartedly in God’s laws, Jesus is a troublemaker, a mere man who has a bad habit of making statements that take away from the honor due to the one true God. The “scribes” who make these kinds of accusations against Jesus are usually connected to the Pharisees (a Jewish sect popular with the people, mostly middle class, and religiously strict when it comes to following God’s laws) or the Sadducees (a smaller Jewish sect made up of priests and aristocrats from Jerusalem). While the two groups often clash with each other politically and theologically, they do find common ground—and sometimes even work together—in opposing Jesus.
13 Another time Jesus was out walking alongside the Sea of Galilee teaching the gathering crowd as He went. 14 He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the booth where he collected taxes.
Jesus (calling out to him): Follow Me.
Levi left the booth and went along with Him.
Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, like His invitations to all the disciples, involves a lot more than joining the caravan; Jesus’ invitation is for sinners to change their ways of life. Jesus makes it clear, despite the criticisms of some observers, that this invitation is indeed open to all—especially to the sinners who need it most. Jesus grants to those who choose Him not just companionship and forgiveness but the ability to truly receive a new identity and live a new life.
15 At Levi’s house, many tax collectors and other sinners—Jews who did not keep the strict purity laws of the Jewish holy texts—were dining with Jesus and His disciples. Jesus had attracted such a large following that all kinds of people surrounded Him. 16 When the Pharisees’ scribes saw who shared the table with Jesus, they were quick to criticize:
Scribes (to His disciples): If your master is such a righteous person, then why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners, the worst among us?
17 Jesus heard them.
Jesus (to the scribes): People who have their health don’t need to see a doctor. Only those who are sick do. I’m not here to call those already in good standing with God; I’m here to call sinners to turn back to Him.[a]
18 The disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees made a practice of fasting.
Some Jews fast twice a week and pray three times daily, but Jesus has a different set of practices for His followers. Some of the pious are disturbed by this.
Some People (to Jesus): Why is it that John’s followers and the Pharisees’ followers fast, but Your disciples are eating and drinking like it was any other day?
Jesus: 19 Guests at the wedding can’t fast when the bridegroom is with them. It would be wrong to do anything but feast. 20 When the bridegroom is snatched away from them, then the time will come to fast and mourn.
21 These are new things I’m teaching, and they can’t be reconciled with old habits. Nobody would ever use a piece of new cloth to patch an old garment because when the patch shrinks, it pulls away and makes the tear even worse. 22 And nobody puts new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.