Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Davidic Song
Longing for God
143 Lord, hear my prayer;
pay attention to my request, because you are faithful;
answer me in your righteousness.
2 Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
for no living person is righteous in your sight.
3 For those who oppose me are pursuing my life,
crushing me to the ground,
making me sit in darkness
like those who died long ago.
4 As a result, my spirit is desolate within me,
and my mind within me is appalled.
5 I remember the former times,
meditating on everything you have done.
I think about the work[a] of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands toward you,
longing for you like a parched land.
7 Answer me quickly, Lord;
my spirit is failing.
Do not hide your face from me;
otherwise, I will become like those who descend to the Pit.[b]
8 In the morning let me hear of your gracious love,
for in you I trust.
Cause me to know the way I should take,
because I have set my hope on you.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, Lord.
I have taken refuge in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11 For the sake of your name, Lord,
preserve my life.
Because you are righteous,
bring me out of trouble.
12 Because of your gracious love,
you will cut off my enemies.
You will destroy all who oppose me,
for I am your servant.
Jeremiah Purchases a Field
32 This is[a] the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of[b] Zedekiah, king of Judah. It was the eighteenth year of the reign of[c] Nebuchadnezzar. 2 The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard at the palace of the king of Judah 3 where Zedekiah had confined him. Zedekiah had said,[d] “Why did you prophesy and say these things? You said,[e] ‘This is what the Lord says: “I’m about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4 Zedekiah, king of Judah, won’t escape from[f] the Chaldeans, for he has surely been given over to the king of Babylon. He will speak to him face to face and look at him eye to eye. 5 The king of Babylon[g] will take Zedekiah to Babylon and there he will stay until I judge him,” declares the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you won’t succeed.”’”
6 Jeremiah replied, “This message from the Lord came to me: 7 ‘Look, Hanamel, your cousin,[h] is coming to you and will say, “Buy my field in Anathoth for yourself, because the right of redemption to buy it belongs to you.”’
8 “Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the Lord had said, and he told me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin because you have the right to possess it, and the right to redeem it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.’ So I knew that this was a message from the Lord.
9 “Then I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out the silver for him—seventeen shekels[i] of silver.
A Promise of Restoration
36 “Now therefore,” says the Lord God of Israel, “concerning this city about which you are saying, ‘It is being given into the control of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and plague,’ 37 I’m about to gather my people[a] from all the lands where I’ve driven them in my anger, wrath, and great indignation. I’ll bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They’ll be my people, and I’ll be their God. 39 I’ll give them one heart and one lifestyle[b] so they’ll fear me always for their own good and for the good of[c] their descendants after them. 40 I’ll make an everlasting covenant with them that I won’t turn away from doing good for them.[d] I’ll put the fear of me in their hearts so they won’t turn away from me. 41 I’ll rejoice over them to do good for them, and I’ll faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.’
A Question about the Resurrection(A)
23 That same day some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus[a] and asked him, 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.’[b] 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother. 26 The same thing happened with the second brother, and then the third, and finally with the rest of the brothers.[c] 27 Finally, the woman died, too. 28 Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married[d] her?”
29 Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power, 30 because in the resurrection, people[e] neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels[f] in heaven. 31 As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God when he said, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?[g] He[h] is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.
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