Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song for old age
71 Lord, I have come to you to keep me safe.
Never let me become ashamed.
2 You always do what is right,
so please rescue me!
Listen to me, and come to save me!
3 Be a rock where I can hide.
Be a strong place where I can be safe.
You are my high rock and my strong, safe place.
4 My God, save me from the power of wicked people,
so that those cruel people cannot catch me.
5 My Lord, I trust you to help me.
I have trusted in you, Lord,
since I was young.
6 Since I was born,
you have been there to help me.
You have taken care of me
since my mother gave birth to me.
So I will always praise you!
Jeremiah warns the people of Jerusalem
6 You descendants of Benjamin,
you must run away to be safe!
Escape from Jerusalem!
Make a noise with a trumpet in Tekoa!
Light a fire to warn people in Beth-Hakkerem!
A great army is coming from the north.
It will come to destroy everything!
2 Jerusalem is a beautiful city,
like a daughter that I love.
She cannot protect herself,
and I will destroy her.
3 Kings will come to attack the city.
They will bring their armies,
like shepherds with their sheep.
They will make their camps all around the city.
Each of them will take their own piece of land.
4 They will say to their soldiers,
‘Get ready to attack the city!
We will attack at noon!’
But if the day is almost finished, they will say,
‘It is already evening and it will soon be dark.
5 So we should attack them in the night.
We will destroy all their strong buildings!’
6 This will happen because Lord Almighty has said,
‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem.
Use them to build towers to the top of the city's walls.
I must punish Jerusalem.
It is full of cruel people.
7 They never stop doing wicked things,
like water that pours out from a spring.
It is full of the noise of violence and fights.
Everywhere I see people who have disease and wounds.
8 Listen to me as I warn you, Jerusalem.
If not, I will turn away from you.
I will destroy you completely.
Nobody will live on your land any more.’
9 The Lord Almighty said this:
‘I will let the enemy take all the people from Israel,
like a farmer who picks all the grapes from his vine.
So check the vines carefully,
to see if there are some grapes that you can save.’
10 I replied,
‘If I speak to people and I warn them,
nobody will listen to me.
They have shut their ears so that they cannot hear.
They hate the Lord's message.
They do not want to hear it.
11 I am as angry with them as you are, Lord.
I can no longer control my anger.’
The Lord replied,
‘Tell everyone how angry you are!
Tell the children who play in the streets,
Tell the young men who meet together.
Include all the men and their wives,
as well as the old people, and those who are near to death.
12 I will give their houses to other people to live in.
Other people will take their fields and their wives.
Yes, I will punish the people who live in this land.’
That is what the Lord says.
13 ‘They all cheat other people to get what they want.
Important people and ordinary people do that.
Prophets and priests do that.
They love to deceive people.
14 They tell my people that their wounds are not bad.
They say to them,
“No problem! You will have peace!”
But there will be no peace for my people.
15 They are not ashamed of the disgusting things that they do.
They do not even know what shame is.
They have forgotten how to be ashamed.
So they will fall to the ground,
as other people have fallen.
When I decide to punish them,
that will be the end of them.’
That is what the Lord says.
16 The Lord said to his people,
‘Stand at the place where the roads cross,
and look carefully.
Ask where the ways of your ancestors are.[a]
Find the good way, and go along that way.
Then you will live in peace.’
But the people said, ‘No, we will not go that way. ’
17 The Lord said,
‘I sent my prophets to warn you of danger.
They said, “Listen for the noise of the trumpet!
That will tell you when danger is near.”
But you said, “We do not want to listen.”
18 So listen to me, all you nations.
Look carefully!
See what will happen to my people.
19 Hear me, all people on the earth.
I will cause great trouble for my people.
I will punish them as a result of their wrong thoughts.
They have not listened to my messages.
They have turned against my law.
3 So think carefully about how Jesus lived on earth. Bad people did very bad things against him, but he continued to be strong. Think about him, and then you will not become weak as Christians. You will not stop trusting God.
4 You have been fighting against sin in your lives. But you have not yet had to fight like that until someone killed you. 5 God speaks to you as his children. Do not ever forget these words in the Bible that will make you strong:[a]
‘My son, when the Lord shows you what is right,
do not easily forget it.
Do not be upset when he punishes you.
6 The Lord does that to everyone that he loves.
He punishes everyone that he accepts as a son.’
7 When you have troubles in your life, you must be patient and strong. Remember that God is teaching you what is right because you are his children. There has never been any son whose father did not punish him. 8 God teaches all his children not to do wrong things. So if he does not punish you, it shows that you are not really his children. Instead, you are like children who do not really belong to him. 9 Also, we have all had human fathers who punished us. As a result, we respected them. So think about our Father that our spirits belong to. We must surely obey him, and then he will give us true life.
10 Our human fathers punished us for a few years. They did this in a way that they thought was good. But God punishes us in a way that will really help us. As a result, we can become completely good, like he is. 11 Punishment never makes us happy at the time when we receive it. No, the pain makes us sad. But later we know that the punishment has taught us good things. It helps us to live in a right way that gives us peace in our minds.
12 So be strong as servants of God! If your hands feel weak, lift them up! If your knees are not strong, stand up straight! 13 Walk straight in front of you, step by step! Your example will help other Christians to serve God well. People who cannot walk well will not become worse and fall down. Instead, their legs will become strong again.[b]
We must not refuse to do what God says
14 Do everything that you can to live in peace with other people. Make yourself separate from bad things. Nobody will see the Lord unless their life is good and clean. 15 Remember that God is very kind. Nobody should refuse to let God help them. Make sure that nobody among you causes trouble so that people turn against God. A person who is angry against God is like poison. He spoils many other people's lives so that God does not accept them.
16 Make sure that nobody among you has sex in a wrong way. Be careful that nobody is careless about God's rules, like Esau was long ago.[c] He gave away everything that he would have received as his father's first son. He gave it all away so that he could get only one meal. 17 As you know, after that, he still wanted to receive those good things from his father. He wanted his father to ask God to bless him. But his father refused to do that. Esau cried very much when he asked his father to give him those good things. But there was no way that Esau could change what he had done.
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