Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Jeremiah Mourns for His People
18 My sorrow is beyond healing;
my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen! The cry of the daughter of my people
from a far country:
“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her king in her?”
“Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images,
with foreign vanities?”
20 “The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people am I broken;
I mourn; dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health
of the daughter of my people recovered?
Failures of Judah
9 Oh, that my head were waters
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Psalm 79
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 The dead bodies of Your servants
they have given to the birds of the sky for food
and the flesh of Your faithful to the animals of the land.
3 Their blood they have poured out like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath
upon the nations who do not know You,
and upon the kingdoms
who have not called upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 Do not choose to remember our former iniquities;
let Your tender mercies come swiftly to us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us, and purge away our sins,
for Your name’s sake.
Instructions Concerning Prayer
2 Therefore I exhort first of all that you make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone, 2 for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, 3 for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all. This was the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth in Christ and do not lie), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The Parable of the Dishonest Steward
16 He told His disciples: “There was a rich man who had a steward who was accused to the man of wasting his resources. 2 So he called him and said, ‘How is it that I hear this about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you may no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, for my master is taking away the stewardship from me? I cannot dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what to do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, others may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called each of his master’s debtors, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “He said, ‘Eight hundred gallons[a] of oil.’
“He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write four hundred.’
7 “Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“He said, ‘One thousand bushels[b] of wheat.’
“He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eight hundred.’
8 “The master commended the dishonest steward, because he had acted prudently. For the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light. 9 I say to you, make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when you fall short, they may receive you into eternal dwellings.
10 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. And he who is dishonest in the least is dishonest also in much. 11 So if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who will give you that which is your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.