Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Cares for His People
139 O Lord, You have looked through me and have known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up. You understand my thoughts from far away. 3 You look over my path and my lying down. You know all my ways very well. 4 Even before I speak a word, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have closed me in from behind and in front. And You have laid Your hand upon me. 6 All You know is too great for me. It is too much for me to understand.
13 For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother. 14 I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be.
17 Your thoughts are of great worth to me, O God. How many there are! 18 If I could number them, there would be more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
God Will Bring Israel Back
14 “So the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.’ 15 But it will be said, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had sent them.’ For I will return them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.
The Punishment That Is Coming
16 “See, I am going to send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they will fish for them. After this I will send for many men who hunt. And they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes in the rocks. 17 For I see all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their sin is not hidden from My eyes. 18 And I will pay them back twice as much for their wrong-doing and their sin, because they have made My land unclean. They have filled My land with the bodies of their hated false gods and with sinful things offered to them.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer
19 O Lord, my strength and my strong-place, my safe place in the day of trouble, nations will come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have received nothing but lies, only things that have no worth and do not help them.” 20 Can man make his own gods? What man makes is not gods!
21 “So I am going to make them know. This time I will make them know My power and My strength. And they will know that My name is the Lord.”
Judah’s Sin and the Punishment
17 The sin of Judah is written down with pen of iron and with a sharp diamond. It is written on their hearts and on the horns of their altars. 2 Even their children remember their altars and their wooden female goddesses of Asherah by green trees and on the high hills. 3 O My mountain in the country, I will give your money and all your riches to those who fight against you. I will give your high places as the price of your sin through all your land. 4 And you yourself will let your land go that I gave you. I will make you serve those who hate you in a land which you do not know. For you have made My an-ger start a fire which will burn forever.
Paul’s Helpers Say Hello
7 Tychicus will tell you how I am getting along. He is a much-loved brother and faithful helper. Both of us are owned by the Lord. 8 This is the reason I have sent him to you. It is so you can know about us. He can also bring joy to your hearts. 9 Onesimus is going with Tychicus. He is one of your own people. He is faithful and we love him very much. They will tell you about everything here.
10 One of the men here in prison with me is Aristarchus. He says hello you. Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, says hello. (You have heard before that if he comes to you, you are to receive him and make him happy.) 11 Jesus Justus says hello also. These are the only Jewish workers helping me teach about the holy nation of God. What a help they have been to me!
12 Epaphras says hello. He is one of your people and a servant of Jesus Christ. As he prays for you, he asks God to help you to be strong and to make you perfect. He prays that you will know what God wants you to do in all things. 13 I can tell you for sure that he works hard for you and for the Christians in the cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the dear doctor, and Demas say hello. 15 Greet all the Christians in Laodicea. Greet Nympha and the Christians who gather for church in her house.
16 When this letter has been read to you, have it read in the church in Laodicea also. Be sure you read the letter that is coming from Laodicea. 17 Tell Archippus to be sure to finish the work the Lord called him to do.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.