Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Sadhe
137 You are righteous, Lord,
and just are your judgments.(A)
138 You have given your testimonies in righteousness
and in surpassing faithfulness.
139 I am consumed with rage,
because my foes forget your words.
140 Your servant loves your promise;
it has been proved by fire.
141 Though belittled and despised,
I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your justice is forever right,
your law true.
143 Though distress and anguish come upon me,
your commandments are my delight.
144 Your testimonies are forever righteous;
give me understanding that I may live.
14 [a]The days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days, at that time, I will make a just shoot spring up for David; he shall do what is right and just in the land.(A) 16 In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; this is the name they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.” 17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a successor on the throne of the house of Israel,(B) 18 nor shall the priests of Levi ever be lacking before me, to sacrifice burnt offerings, to burn cereal offerings, and to make sacrifices.(C)
19 This word of the Lord also came to Jeremiah: 20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with day(D) and my covenant with night so that day and night no longer appear in their proper time, 21 only then can my covenant with my servant David be broken, so that he will not have a descendant to act as king upon his throne, and my covenant with the priests of Levi who minister to me. 22 Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be counted, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.
23 This word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 Have you not noticed what these people are saying: “The Lord has rejected the two tribes he had chosen”? They hold my people in contempt as if it were no longer a nation in their eyes.(E) 25 (F)Thus says the Lord: If I have no covenant with day and night, if I did not establish statutes for heaven and earth, 26 then I will also reject the descendants of Jacob and of David my servant, no longer selecting from his descendants rulers for the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yes, I will restore their fortunes and show them mercy.
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting. 1 [a]Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, with all the holy ones throughout Achaia:(A) 2 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving. 3 (B)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,[b] 4 who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.(C) 5 For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ[c] does our encouragement also overflow. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement.[d]
8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction that came to us in the province of Asia;[e] we were utterly weighed down beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.(D) 9 Indeed, we had accepted within ourselves the sentence of death,[f] that we might trust not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.(E) 10 He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope [that] he will also rescue us again,(F) 11 as you help us with prayer, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift granted us through the prayers of many.(G)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.