Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A psalm by Asaph.
79 O God, the nations have invaded the land that belongs to you.
They have dishonored your holy temple.
They have left Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants
to the birds for food.
They have given the flesh of your godly ones
to the animals.
3 They have shed the blood of your people around Jerusalem
as though it were water.
There is no one to bury your people.
4 We have become a disgrace to our neighbors,
an object of ridicule and contempt to those around us.
5 How long, O Lord?
Will you remain angry forever?
Will your fury continue to burn like fire?
6 Pour your fury on the nations that do not know you,
on the kingdoms that have not called you.
7 They have devoured Jacob.
They have destroyed his home.
8 Do not hold the crimes of our ancestors against us.
Reach out to us soon with your compassion,
because we are helpless.
9 Help us, O God, our savior, for the glory of your name.
Rescue us, and forgive our sins for the honor of your name.
14 “This is what I, the Lord, say about all my evil neighbors who take the inheritance that I gave my people Israel: I am going to uproot those neighbors from their lands. I will also uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15 After I’ve uprooted them, I will have compassion on them again. I will return them to their inheritance and to their lands. 16 Suppose they learn carefully the ways of my people. Suppose they take an oath in my name, ‘As the Lord lives …’ as they taught my people to take an oath in ⌞the name of⌟ Baal. Then they will build homes among my people. 17 But suppose they don’t listen. Then I will uproot that nation and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah’s Linen Belt
13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Buy a linen belt. Put it around your waist. Don’t let it get wet.” 2 So I bought the belt, as the Lord had told me, and put it around my waist.
3 The Lord spoke his word to me again. He said, 4 “Take the belt that you bought, the one you’re wearing. Go to the Euphrates River, and bury it there in a crack in the rocks.” 5 So I went and buried it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had told me.
6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Go to the Euphrates, and get the belt from where I told you to bury it.” 7 So I went back to the Euphrates and dug it up. I got the belt from where I had buried it. Now the belt was ruined. It was good for nothing.
8 Then the Lord spoke his word to me. He said, 9 “This is what the Lord says: This is how I will destroy Judah’s arrogance and Jerusalem’s extreme arrogance. 10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They go their own stubborn ways and follow other gods in order to serve them and worship them. They are like this good-for-nothing belt. 11 As a belt clings to a person’s waist, so I have made the entire nation of Israel and the entire nation of Judah cling to me,” declares the Lord. “I did this so that they would be my people and bring fame, praise, and honor to me. However, they wouldn’t listen.
Everyone Is a Sinner
3 Is there any advantage, then, in being a Jew? Or is there any value in being circumcised? 2 There are all kinds of advantages. First of all, God entrusted them with his word.
3 What if some of them were unfaithful? Can their unfaithfulness cancel God’s faithfulness? 4 That would be unthinkable! God is honest, and everyone else is a liar, as Scripture says,
“So you hand down justice when you speak,
and you win your case in court.”
5 But if what we do wrong shows that God is fair, what should we say? Is God unfair when he vents his anger on us? (I’m arguing the way humans would.) 6 That’s unthinkable! Otherwise, how would God be able to judge the world? 7 If my lie increases the glory that God receives by showing that God is truthful, why am I still judged as a sinner? 8 Or can we say, “Let’s do evil so that good will come from it”? Some slander us and claim that this is what we say. They are condemned, and that’s what they deserve.
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