Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer of an Old Man

71 I have a safe place in you, O Lord. Let me never be ashamed. ² Because You are right and good, take me out of trouble. Turn Your ear to me and save me. ³ Be a rock to me where I live, where I may always come and where I will be safe. For You are my rock and my safe place. ⁴ O my God, take me from the hand of the sinful, from the hand of the wrong-doer and the man without pity. ⁵ For You are my hope, O Lord God. You are my trust since I was young. ⁶ You have kept me safe from birth. It was You Who watched over me from the day I was born. My praise is always of You.

The Call of Jeremiah

1 These are the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the religious leaders at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. ² The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his rule. ³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem were taken away.

¹¹ And the Word of the Lord came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching to see that My Word is completed.”

¹³ The Word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, with its face turned away from the north.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north trouble will come upon all the people of the land. ¹⁵ For, see, I am calling all the families of the nations of the north,” says the Lord. “And they will come. Then every one will set up his throne at the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls around it, and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ And I will tell how they are to be punished for all their sin. For they have turned away from Me and have given gifts to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷ Now get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I tell you. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make trouble for you in front of them. ¹⁸ Today I have made you as a strong city ready for war, as a pillar of iron and as walls of brass against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, the rulers, its religious leaders, and the people of the land. ¹⁹ And they will fight against you. But they will not have power over you, for I am with you to take you out of trouble,” says the Lord.

Jesus Teaches about the Day of Rest ^(A)

6 On the next Day of Rest Jesus was walking through the grain-fields. His followers picked grain. They rubbed it in their hands and ate it. ² Some of the proud religious law-keepers said to them, “Why are you doing what the Law says should not be done on the Day of Rest?” ³ Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry? ⁴ He went into the house of God and ate the special bread used in the religious worship. He gave some to those who were with him also. The Law says only the religious leaders may eat that bread. ⁵ The Son of Man is Lord of the Day of Rest also.”