Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
18
Oh, that I (Jeremiah) could find comfort from my sorrow [for my grief is beyond healing],
My heart is sick and faint within me!
19
Behold, [hear the sound of] the cry of the daughter of my people from the distant land [of Babylon]:
“Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King within her?”
[But the Lord answers] “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with foreign idols?”
20
“The harvest is past, the summer has ended and the gathering of fruit is over,
But we are not saved,” [comes the voice of the people again].
21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I (Jeremiah) am broken;
I mourn, anxiety has gripped me.
22
Is there no balm in [a]Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the [spiritual] health of the daughter of my people been restored?
A Lament over Zion
9 Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
A Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.
A Psalm of Asaph.
79 O God, the nations have invaded [the land of Your people] Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your sacred temple;
They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2
They have given the dead bodies of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.
3
They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them.
4
We have become an object of taunting to our neighbors [because of our humiliation],
A derision and mockery to those who encircle us.
5
How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy [which cannot endure a divided allegiance] burn like fire?
6
Pour out Your wrath on the [Gentile] nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.(A)
7
For they have devoured Jacob
And made his pasture desolate.
8
O do not remember against us the sins and guilt of our forefathers.
Let Your compassion and mercy come quickly to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.
9
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
Rescue us, forgive us our sins for Your name’s sake.
A Call to Prayer
2 First of all, then, I urge that petitions (specific requests), prayers, intercessions (prayers for others) and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all people, 2 for [a]kings and all who are in [positions of] high authority, so that we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This [kind of praying] is good and acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who [b]wishes all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge and recognition of the [divine] truth. 5 For there is [only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom [a substitutionary sacrifice to atone] for all, the testimony given at the right and proper time. 7 And for this matter I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying [when I say this]—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The Unjust Steward (Manager)
16 Now Jesus was also saying to the disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager [of his estate], and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that this man was squandering his [master’s] possessions. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management [of my affairs], for you can no longer be [my] manager.’ 3 The manager [of the estate] said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig [for a living], and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people [who are my master’s debtors] will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one, and he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred [a]measures of [olive] oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write [b]fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred [c]measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his master commended the unjust manager [not for his misdeeds, but] because he had acted shrewdly [by preparing for his future unemployment]; for the sons of this age [the non-believers] are shrewder in relation to their own kind [that is, to the ways of the secular world] than are the sons of light [the believers]. 9 And I tell you [learn from this], make friends for yourselves [for eternity] by means of the [d]wealth of unrighteousness [that is, use material resources as a way to further the work of God], so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.
10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little thing is also dishonest in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of earthly wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that [earthly wealth] which belongs to another [whether God or man, and of which you are a trustee], who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand devotedly by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon [that is, your earthly possessions or anything else you trust in and rely on instead of God].”
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.