Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations gather together?
Why do their people devise useless plots?
2 Kings take their stands.
Rulers make plans together
against Yahweh and against his Mashiach[a] by saying,
3 “Let’s break apart their chains
and shake off their ropes.”
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs.
Adonay makes fun of them.
5 Then he speaks to them in his anger.
In his burning anger he terrifies them by saying,
6 “I have installed my own king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will announce Yahweh’s decree.
He said to me:
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.
8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance
and the ends of the earth as your own possession.
9 You will break them with an iron scepter.
You will smash them to pieces like pottery.”
10 Now, you kings, act wisely.
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, or he will become angry
and you will die on your way
because his anger will burst into flames.
Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in him.
Pashhur Imprisons Jeremiah
20 Now the priest, Immer’s son Pashhur, the chief officer of Yahweh’s temple, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Pashhur struck the prophet Jeremiah and put him in prison at Upper Benjamin Gate that was in Yahweh’s temple.
3 The next day when Pashhur took Jeremiah out of prison, Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh doesn’t call you Pashhur, but he calls you Terror Everywhere. 4 This is what Yahweh says: I’m going to make you terrify yourself and all your friends. Their enemies’ swords will kill them, and you will see it with your own eyes. I will hand all of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take the people away as captives to Babylon or kill them with swords. 5 I will hand all the riches of this city over to their enemies. This will include all its produce, all its valuables, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will loot them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all those who live in your house will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and you will die there. You will be buried there together with all your friends to whom you prophesied these lies.”
Jeremiah Prays to the Lord
7 O Yahweh, you have deceived me, and I was deceived.
You overpowered me and won.
I’ve been made fun of all day long.
Everyone mocks me.
8 Each time I speak, I have to cry out and shout,
“Violence and destruction!”
The word of Yahweh has made me the object of insults
and contempt all day long.
9 I think to myself, “I can forget Yahweh
and no longer speak his name.”
But his word is inside me like a burning fire shut up in my bones.
I wear myself out holding it in, but I can’t do it any longer.
10 I have heard many people whispering,
“Terror is everywhere!
Report him! Let’s report him!”
All my closest friends are waiting to see me stumble.
They say, “Maybe he will be tricked.
Then we can overpower him and take revenge on him.”
11 But Yahweh is on my side like a terrifying warrior.
That is why those who persecute me will stumble. They can’t win.
They will be very ashamed that they can’t succeed.
Their eternal shame will not be forgotten.
12 But Yahweh Tsebaoth examines the righteous.
He sees their motives and thoughts.
I want to see you take revenge on them,
because I’ve brought my case to you.
13 Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh!
He has rescued the lives of needy people
from the power of wicked people.
14 Cursed is the day that I was born,
the day that my mother gave birth to me.
May it not be blessed.
15 Cursed is the man who made my father very happy with the news
that he had just become the father of a baby boy.
16 May that man be like the cities
that Yahweh destroyed without pity.
May he hear a cry of alarm in the morning
and a battle cry at noon.
17 If only he had killed me while I was in the womb.
Then my mother would have been my grave,
and she would have always been pregnant.
18 Why did I come out of the womb?
All I’ve seen is trouble and grief.
I will finish my days in shame.
Eternal Life in the Kingdom(A)
18 An official asked Yeshua, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 Yeshua said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God. 20 You know the commandments: Never commit adultery. Never murder. Never steal. Never give false testimony. Honor your father and your mother.”
21 The official replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was a boy.”
22 When Yeshua heard this, he said to him, “You still need one thing. Sell everything you have. Distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then follow me!”
23 When the official heard this, he became sad, because he was very rich. 24 Yeshua watched him and said, “How hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard him asked, “Who, then, can be saved?”
27 Yeshua said, “The things that are impossible for people to do are possible for God to do.”
28 Then Peter said, “We’ve left everything to follow you.”
29 Yeshua said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Anyone who gave up his home, wife, brothers, parents, or children because of the kingdom of God 30 will certainly receive many times as much in this life and will receive eternal life in the world to come.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.