Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Help
143 Hear my prayer, O Lord. Listen when I ask for help. Answer me because You are faithful and right. 2 Do not find Your servant guilty, for no man living is right and good in Your eyes. 3 For the one who hates me has made it hard for my soul. He has crushed my life to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, like those who have been dead for a long time. 4 So my spirit grows weak within me. My heart within me is afraid.
5 I remember the days long ago. I think about all You have done. I think about the work of Your hands. 6 I put out my hands to You. My soul is thirsty for You like a dry land.
7 Hurry to answer me, O Lord! My spirit is becoming weak! Do not hide Your face from me, or I will become like those who go down to the grave. 8 Let me hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for I trust in You. Teach me the way I should go for I lift up my soul to You. 9 O Lord, take me away from those who hate me. I run to You to be safe.
10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. Let Your good Spirit lead me on a straight path. 11 Give me new life, O Lord, because of Your name. Bring me out of trouble because You are right and good. 12 In Your loving-kindness cut off those who hate me. Destroy all those who make it hard for my soul, for I am Your servant.
Jeremiah Buys a Field
32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was around Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the man of God was shut up in the open space of the prison, in the house of the king of Judah. 3 For King Zedekiah of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you speak these things in the Lord’s name? You have said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will take it. 4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not get away from the Babylonians. For sure he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5 He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says the Lord. “If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not win.”’”
6 Jeremiah said, “The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, 7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your father’s brother Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my field at Anathoth. For because of your place in the family you have the right to buy it.”’ 8 Then Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother, came to me in the open space of the prison, as the Word of the Lord had said. And he said to me, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. For you have the right to own it. Because of your place in the family you have the right, so buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the Word of the Lord. 9 So I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother. And I weighed out seventeen pieces of silver for him.
A Promise for the Future
36 “So now this is what the Lord God of Israel says about this city of which you say, ‘It is given over to the king of Babylon because of the sword, hunger, and disease.’ 37 I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My strong anger. And I will bring them back to this place to live where they will be safe. 38 They will be My people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. 40 I will make an agreement with them that I will not turn away from them. I will do good to them, an agreement that will last forever. And I will help them fear Me in their hearts so they will not turn away from Me. 41 I will have joy in doing good to them. And I will be faithful to plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
They Ask about Being Raised from the Dead (A)
23 The same day some people from the religious group who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Jesus. They asked, 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man should die without having children, then his brother must marry his wife. He should have children for his brother.’ (B) 25 There were seven brothers with us. The first was married but died before he had any children. The second brother then married the first brother’s wife. 26 The second brother died and the same with the third and on to the seventh. 27 Then the woman died also. 28 When people are raised from the dead, whose wife will she be of the seven? They all had her for a wife.”
29 Jesus said to them, “You are wrong because you do not know the Holy Writings or the power of God. 30 After people are raised from the dead, they do not marry. They are like the angels in heaven. 31 Have you not read what God said to you about those who are raised from the dead? He said, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living!” (C) 33 When the people heard this, they were surprised and wondered about His teaching.
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