Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 71
God’s Help in Old Age
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you;
let me never be disgraced.(A)
2 In your justice, rescue and deliver me;
listen closely to me and save me.(B)
3 Be a rock of refuge for me,
where I can always go.
Give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and fortress.(C)
4 Deliver me, my God, from the power of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and oppressive.(D)
5 For you are my hope, Lord God,
my confidence from my youth.(E)
6 I have leaned on you from birth;
you took me from my mother’s womb.(F)
My praise is always about you.(G)
20 What use to me is frankincense from Sheba(A)
or sweet cane(B) from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please me.(C)
21 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;
fathers and sons together will stumble over them;(D)
friends and neighbors will also perish.
A Cruel Nation from the North
22 This is what the Lord says:
Look,(E) an army is coming from a northern land;(F)
a great nation will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(G)
23 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.(H)
Their voice roars like the sea,(I)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Zion.
24 We have heard about it,
and our hands have become weak.
Distress has seized us—
pain, like a woman in labor.(J)
25 Don’t go out to the fields;
don’t walk on the road.
For the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side.(K)
26 My dear[a] people, dress yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the dust.(L)
Mourn as you would for an only son,(M)
a bitter lament,
for suddenly the destroyer(N) will come on us.(O)
Jeremiah Appointed as an Examiner
27 I have appointed you to be an assayer among my people—
a refiner[b]—
so you may know and assay their way of life.(P)
28 All are stubborn rebels
spreading slander.(Q)
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt.(R)
29 The bellows blow,
blasting the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain;
the evil ones are not separated out.
30 They are called rejected silver,
for the Lord has rejected them.(S)
A Short Ministry in Thessalonica
17 After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,(A) where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,(B) 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”(C) 4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.(D)
Riot in the City
5 But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly.(E) 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7 and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees,(F) saying that there is another king—Jesus.”(G) 8 The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. 9 After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.
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