Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for old age

God speaks to Jeremiah

1 This book tells about Hilkiah's son, Jeremiah, and the words that he spoke. Jeremiah was a priest. He lived at Anathoth, a town in the land that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. ² The Lord first spoke to him when Amon's son Josiah had been king of Judah for 13 years.^{[a] 3} The Lord also spoke to him while Josiah's son, Jehoiakim, ruled Judah as king. He continued to speak to Jeremiah until Josiah's son Zedekiah had ruled Judah for 11 years. In the fifth month of that year, Judah's enemies took the people of Jerusalem away as their prisoners.

The Lord shows Jeremiah two visions

¹¹ The Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’

I replied, ‘I see the branch of an almond tree.’

¹² The Lord said, ‘Yes, that is correct. I am watching carefully to make sure that what I say will happen really happens.’^[a]

¹³ The Lord asked me again. ‘What do you see?’

I replied, ‘I see in the north a pot with boiling water in it. It will pour its water in this direction.’

The Lord said, ¹⁴ ‘Yes, trouble like boiling water will come from the north. It will destroy all the people who live in this land. ¹⁵ I will call all the nations that are in the north to come here. Their kings will come and they will sit on their thrones at the city gates of Jerusalem. Their armies will be all around the walls of Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. ¹⁶ I will punish my people for the wicked things that they have done. They have turned away from me. They have offered sacrifices to false gods. They have worshipped idols that they have made with their own hands.

¹⁷ You must be ready to move, Jeremiah! Go and say to the people whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of them. If you are afraid of them now, when you are among them, I will cause you to be very frightened! ¹⁸ I, the Lord, promise that I will make you as strong as a city with strong walls around it. You will be as strong as an iron pillar, or a wall that is made of bronze. You will speak a message against the whole nation of Judah. You will speak against its kings, its officers, its priests and all its people. ¹⁹ They will attack you. But they will not win against you, because I will be with you. I will keep you safe.

That is what the Lord says.’

Jesus teaches about the Jewish day of rest

6 On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples began to pick some of the wheat. They were rubbing it between their hands and eating the seeds.

² Some of the Pharisees were walking with them. They said, ‘You should not be doing that on our day of rest. It is against God's Law.’

³ Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. ⁴ He went into the temple. He took the special bread that was there. It is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that bread. But David ate some of it. He gave some of the bread to his men to eat as well.’

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man has authority over the Law about the day of rest.’^[a]