Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Sorrowful City[a]
1 How lonely she lies,
the city that thronged with people!
Like a widow she has become,
this great one among nations!
The princess among provinces
has become a vassal.
2 Bitterly she cries in the night,
as tears stream down[b] her cheeks.
No one consoles her
of all her friends.
All her neighbors have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into exile
to escape affliction and servitude.
She that sat among the nations,
has found no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her
amid narrow passes.
4 The roads that lead to Zion are in mourning,
because no one travels to the festivals.
All her gates are desolate;
her priests are moaning.
Her young women[c] are grieving,[d]
and she is bitter.
5 Her adversaries dominate her,
her enemies prosper.
For the Lord has made her suffer
because of her many transgressions.
Her children have gone away,
taken into captivity in the presence of the enemy.
6 Fled from cherished[e] Zion
are all that were her splendor.
Her princes have become like deer
that cannot find their feeding grounds.
They flee with strength exhausted
from their pursuers.
19 Remember my affliction and homelessness—
wormwood and gall!
20 My mind keeps reflecting on it,
and I become depressed.[a]
21 This is what comes to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s gracious love we are not consumed,
since his compassions never end.
23 They are new every morning—
great is your faithfulness!
24 “The Lord is all I have,”[b] says my soul,
“Therefore I will trust in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the person who searches for him.
26 It is good to hope and wait patiently
for the Lord’s salvation.
Remembering Jerusalem
137 There we sat down and cried—
by the rivers of Babylon—
as we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung our harps,
3 for it was there that our captors
asked us for songs
and our torturers demanded joy from us,
“Sing us one of the songs about Zion!”
4 How are we to sing the song of the Lord
on foreign soil?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand cease to function.[a]
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t consider Jerusalem
to be more important than my highest joy.
7 Remember the day of Jerusalem’s fall,[b] Lord,
because of[c] the Edomites,
who kept saying, “Tear it down!
Tear it right down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter of Babylon! You devastator!
How blessed will be the one who pays you back
for what you have done to us.
9 How blessed will be the one who seizes your young children
and pulverizes them against the cliff!
Greetings
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus by God’s will in keeping with the promise of life that is in the Messiah[c] Jesus.
2 To: Timothy, my dear child.
May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Messiah[d] Jesus our Lord be yours!
Paul’s Advice for Timothy
3 I constantly thank my God—whom I serve[e] with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 recalling your tears and longing to see you so that I can be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first existed in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that this faith[f] also exists in you. 6 For this reason, I am reminding you to fan into flames the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but one of power, love, and self-discipline.[g] 8 Therefore, never be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Instead, by God’s power, join me in suffering for the sake of the gospel.
9 He saved us
and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our own accomplishments,
but according to his own purpose and the grace
that was given to us in the Messiah[h] Jesus
before time began.[i]
10 Now, however, that grace[j] has been revealed
through the coming of our Savior the Messiah[k] Jesus,
who has destroyed death
and through the gospel has brought life
and release from death into full view.
11 For the sake of this gospel[l] I was appointed to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gentiles.[m] 12 That is why I suffer as I do. However, I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I’m convinced that he is able to protect what he has entrusted to me[n] until the day that he comes.[o] 13 Hold on to the pattern of healthy teachings that you have heard from me, along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah[p] Jesus. 14 With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, protect the good treasure that has been entrusted to you.
Faith and Obedience
5 Then the apostles told the Lord, “Give us more faith!”
6 The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of[a] a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!
7 “Suppose a man among you has a servant plowing or watching sheep. Would he say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and have something to eat’? 8 Of course not. Instead, he would say to him, ‘Get dinner ready for me, and put on your apron and wait on me until I eat and drink. Then you can eat and drink.’ 9 He doesn’t praise the servant for doing what was commanded, does he? 10 That’s the way it is with you. When you have done everything you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless servants. We have done only what we ought to have done.’”
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