Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
40 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.(A)
41 He handed them over to the nations;
those who hated them ruled them.(B)
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their power.(C)
43 He rescued them many times,
but they continued to rebel deliberately
and were beaten down by their sin.(D)
44 When He heard their cry,
He took note of their distress,(E)
45 remembered His covenant with them,
and relented according to the riches
of His faithful love.(F)
46 He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.(G)
47 Save us, Yahweh our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to Your holy name
and rejoice in Your praise.(H)
12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this?(A) Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned My instruction(B) that I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it. 14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts(C) and followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them.”(D) 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood(E) and give them poisonous water to drink.(F) 16 I will scatter them among the nations(G) that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn;(H)
send for the skillful women.
18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids soaked with weeping.
19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,(I)
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to[a] the word of His mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
21 for Death(J) has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22 Speak as follows:
This is what the Lord says:
Human corpses will fall
like manure on the surface of the field,
like newly cut grain(K) after the reaper
with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23 This is what the Lord says:
The wise man must not boast in his wisdom;
the strong man must not boast in his strength;
the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.
24 But the one who boasts should boast in this,
that he understands and knows Me(L)—
that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 “The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:(M) 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples.[b] All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”(N)
Peter and John Arrested
4 Now as they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,(A) 2 because they were provoked that they were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead, using Jesus as the example.[a](B) 3 So they seized them and put them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.
Peter and John Face the Jewish Leadership
5 The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family.[b](C) 7 After they had Peter and John stand before them, they asked the question: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”
8 Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders:[c](D) 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man—by what means he was healed— 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you healthy.(E) 11 This Jesus is
12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.”(G)
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