Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Rescue from Enemies
Of David.[a]
35 Contend, O Yahweh, with my contenders;
fight those who fight me.
2 Grasp buckler and shield
and rise to my aid.
3 And draw the spear and javelin to meet those who pursue me.
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4 Let those who seek my life be shamed and humiliated.
Let those who plot calamity against me be repulsed and ashamed.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of Yahweh driving them.[b]
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of Yahweh pursuing them.
7 For without cause they secretly hide the pit with their net for me;
without cause they dug it for my life.
8 Let unforeseen ruin[c] come on him,
and his net that he hid, let it catch him.
Let him fall into it in ruin.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in Yahweh;
it will rejoice in his salvation.
10 All of my bones shall say, “O Yahweh, who is like you,
who delivers the poor from one stronger than he
and the poor and needy from the one who robs him?”
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon
29 And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the exiles,[a] and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2 after the going out of Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the artisans,[b] and the smiths[c] from Jerusalem, 3 by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to Babylon, saying,[d] 4 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles[e] whom I have deported from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 ‘Build houses and live in them,[f] and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take for your sons wives, and give your daughters to men that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and you must not be few. 7 And seek the prosperity of the city where I have deported you, and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh, for in its prosperity you will have prosperity.’
8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you, and you must not listen to your dreams that you are causing them to dream. 9 For they are prophesying falsely[g] to you in my name; I have not sent them,’ declares[h] Yahweh. 10 For thus says Yahweh, ‘As soon as the time has passed,[i] seventy years[j] for Babylon, I will attend to you, and I will fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I am planning concerning you,’ declares[k] Yahweh, ‘plans for prosperity and not for harm, to give to you a future and a hope. 12 Then when you call me, and you come and pray to me, then I will listen to you. 13 When you search for me, then you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart. 14 And I will let myself be found by you,’ declares[l] Yahweh, ‘and I will restore your fortunes,[m] and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have driven you,’ declares[n] Yahweh, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from which I deported you.’
A Demon-possessed Gerasene Healed
5 And they came to the other side of the sea,[a] to the region of the Gerasenes.[b] 2 And as[c] he was getting out of the boat, immediately from the tombs a man with an unclean spirit went to meet him, 3 who lived[d] among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him any longer, not even with a chain, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles had been shattered. And no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 And during every night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he[e] saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice he said, “What have I to do with you[f], Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God, do not torment me!” 8 (For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”) 9 And he was asking him “What is your name?”[g] And he said to him, “My name is Legion, because we are many.” 10 And he was imploring him many times that he would not send them out of the region. 11 Now a large herd of pigs was there at the hill feeding, 12 and they implored him, saying, “Send us to the pigs so that we may enter into them.” 13 And he permitted them. And the unclean spirits came out and[h] entered into the pigs, and the herd—about two thousand—rushed headlong down the steep slope into the sea and were drowned in the sea. 14 And their herdsmen fled and reported it[i] in the town and in the countryside, and they came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there clothed and in his right mind—the one who had had the legion—and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it[j] described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and about the pigs. 17 And they began to urge him to depart from their region. 18 And as[k] he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed began to implore[l] him that he could go with him. 19 And he did not permit him, but said to him, “Go to your home to your people and tell them all that the Lord has done for you, and that he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him, and they were all astonished.
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