Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer Not to Be Killed
A psalm of David.
143 Lord, hear my prayer;
listen to my cry for mercy.
Answer me
because you are loyal and good.
2 Don’t judge me, your servant,
because no one alive is right before you.
3 My enemies are chasing me;
they crushed me to the ground.
They made me live in darkness
like those long dead.
4 I am afraid;
my courage is gone.
5 I remember what happened long ago;
I consider everything you have done.
I think about all you have made.
6 I lift my hands to you in prayer.
As a dry land needs rain, I thirst for you. Selah
7 Lord, answer me quickly,
because I am getting weak.
Don’t turn away from me,
or I will be like those who are dead.
8 Tell me in the morning about your love,
because I trust you.
Show me what I should do,
because my prayers go up to you.
9 Lord, save me from my enemies;
I hide in you.
10 Teach me to do what you want,
because you are my God.
Let your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
11 Lord, let me live
so people will praise you.
In your goodness
save me from my troubles.
12 In your love defeat my enemies.
Destroy all those who trouble me,
because I am your servant.
Jeremiah Buys a Field
32 This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the tenth year Zedekiah was king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was surrounding Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was under arrest in the courtyard of the guard, which was at the palace of the king of Judah.
3 Zedekiah king of Judah had put Jeremiah in prison there. Zedekiah had asked, “Why have you prophesied the things you have?” (Jeremiah had said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I will soon hand the city of Jerusalem over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the Babylonian army, but he will surely be handed over to the king of Babylon. And he will speak to the king of Babylon face to face and see him with his own eyes. 5 The king will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I have punished him,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’”)
6 While Jeremiah was in prison, he said, “The Lord spoke this word to me: 7 Your cousin Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. Hanamel will say to you, ‘Jeremiah, you are my nearest relative, so buy my field near the town of Anathoth. It is your right and your duty to buy that field.’
8 “Then it happened just as the Lord had said. My cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said to me, ‘Buy for yourself my field near Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. It is your right and duty to buy it and own it.’ So I knew this was a message from the Lord.
9 “I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, weighing out seven ounces of silver for him.
36 “You are saying, ‘Because of war, hunger, and terrible diseases, the city will be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ But the Lord, the God of Israel, says about Jerusalem: 37 I forced the people of Israel and Judah to leave their land, because I was furious and very angry with them. But soon I will gather them from all the lands where I forced them to go, and I will bring them back to this place, where they may live in safety. 38 The people of Israel and Judah will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will make them truly want to be one people with one goal. They will truly want to worship me all their lives, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
40 “I will make an agreement with them that will last forever. I will never turn away from them; I will always do good to them. I will make them want to respect me so they will never turn away from me. 41 I will enjoy doing good to them. And with my whole being I will surely plant them in this land and make them grow.”
Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus
23 That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) 24 They said, “Teacher, Moses said if a married man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 25 Once there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died. Since he had no children, his brother married the widow. 26 Then the second brother also died. The same thing happened to the third brother and all the other brothers. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Since all seven men had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?”
29 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand, because you don’t know what the Scriptures say, and you don’t know about the power of God. 30 When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. 31 Surely you have read what God said to you about rising from the dead. 32 God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[a] God is the God of the living, not the dead.”
33 When the people heard this, they were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.