Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Coming Disaster
11-12 When disaster comes, the Lord will tell you people of Jerusalem,
“I am sending a windstorm
from the desert—
not a welcome breeze.[a]
And it will sweep you away
as punishment for your sins.
22 I heard the Lord say,
“My people ignore me.
They are foolish children
who do not understand
that they will be punished.
All they know is how to sin.”
23 After this, I looked around.
The earth was barren,
with no form of life.
The sun, moon, and stars
had disappeared.
24 The mountains were shaking;
25 no people could be seen,
and all the birds
had flown away.
26 Farmland had become a desert,
and towns were in ruins.
The Lord's fierce anger
had done all of this.
The Death of Jerusalem
27-28 The Lord said:
I have made my decision,
and I won't change my mind.
This land will be destroyed,
although not completely.
The sky will turn dark,
and the earth will mourn.
(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
No One Can Ignore the Lord
1 (A) Only a fool would say,
“There is no God!”
People like that are worthless;
they are heartless and cruel
and never do right.
2 From heaven the Lord
looks down to see
if anyone is wise enough
to search for him.
3 But all of them are corrupt;
no one does right.
4 Won't you evil people learn?
You refuse to pray,
and you gobble up
the Lord's people.
5 But you will be frightened,
because God is on the side
of every good person.
6 You may spoil the plans
of the poor,
but the Lord protects them.
7 I long for someone from Zion
to come and save Israel!
Our Lord, when you bless
your people again,
Jacob's family will be glad,
and Israel will celebrate.
Being Thankful for God's Kindness
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me the strength for my work because he knew he could trust me. 13 (A) I used to say terrible and insulting things about him, and I was cruel. But Christ had mercy on me because I didn't know what I was doing, and I had not yet put my faith in him. 14 Christ Jesus our Lord treated me with undeserved grace and has greatly blessed my life with faith and love just like his own.
15 “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This saying is true, and it can be trusted. I was the worst sinner of all! 16 But since I was worse than anyone else, God had mercy on me and let me be an example of the endless patience of Christ Jesus. He did this so that others would put their faith in Christ and have eternal life. 17 I pray that honor and glory will always be given to the only God, who lives forever and is the invisible and eternal King! Amen.
One Sheep
(Matthew 18.12-14)
15 (A) Tax collectors[a] and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. 2 So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, “This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this story:
4 If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? 5 And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder 6 and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep.”
7 Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don't need to.”
One Coin
8 Jesus told the people another story:
What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won't she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? 9 Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, “Let's celebrate! I've found the coin I lost.”
10 Jesus said, “In the same way God's angels are happy when even one person turns to him.”
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.