Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
18 I said,
‘I am very sad and upset.
I will never get better again.
19 Listen to my dear people!
They are calling out for help everywhere in the land.
They are saying, “Is the Lord still with us in Zion?
Is he still there to rule us as our King?” ’
The Lord replies,
‘They worship images of false gods.
and useless foreign idols.
That has made me very angry.’
20 The people say,
‘We have taken in all our crops from the fields.
The summer has finished.
And still nobody has rescued us.’
21 I am very upset
because my dear people have so much pain.
I weep and I cry, as if a friend had died.
22 Surely there is a medicine in Gilead.
There is a doctor there who can make my dear people better.
But my people are still ill.
Why are they not better?
9 ‘My head should be like a pool of water.
My eyes should be like a river of tears.
Then I would never stop crying
for my dear people who have died in war.
Asaph wrote this psalm.
God, help us![a]
79 God, foreign nations have attacked your own land.
They have spoiled your holy temple.[b]
They have destroyed the buildings in Jerusalem.
2 They have let birds come down
and eat the dead bodies of your people.
Your servants have become food for wild animals to eat.
3 The blood of your servants has poured out
all over the streets of Jerusalem.
There is nobody left there
to bury their bodies.
4 The nations that live near to us
do not respect us.
They laugh at us and they insult us.
5 Lord, how long will this continue?
Will you be angry with us for ever?
Will you always be angry,
like a fire that continues to burn?
6 Please punish those nations
that do not respect you.
Be angry with the kingdoms
that do not pray to you.
7 They have destroyed Jacob's descendants
and the land where they live.[c]
8 Our ancestors did bad things,
but do not say that we are guilty because of that.
Be kind and send help to us quickly.
We are in a lot of trouble!
9 God, help us! You are the one who can save us.
Rescue us,
so that people will respect your great name.
Forgive our sins,
so that people know you are good.
Christians should pray for all people
2 So then, this is what I want to ask you first. Please pray for all people. Ask God to supply what they need. Ask God to help them. Thank God for what he does for everyone. 2 Pray in that way for kings and for all rulers and people who have authority. Pray for God to help them, so that we may live our lives without trouble or danger. Then we can live in a good way that respects God and other people. 3 It is good that we should pray like that. It makes God, our Saviour, happy. 4 He wants to save all people. He wants everyone to know his message about what is true.
5 There is only one God. There is also only one person who brings God and people together. That person is Christ Jesus, who became a man himself. 6 He died as a sacrifice on behalf of all people, to pay the debt of their sins. He died at the proper time for God to show his purpose clearly. 7 God chose me as his apostle, to tell this same message to people. I am telling you what is true. I am not telling lies! Yes, he sent me to teach his true message to the Gentiles, so that they would believe in him.
A story about a man who thought carefully
16 Jesus told another story to his disciples: ‘A rich man had a servant who worked for him. The servant took care of the money and things that belonged to the man. Then some people told the rich man that his servant was wasting his master's things. 2 So the master sent someone to bring his servant to him. He said to his servant, “I am hearing bad stories about you. So write down everything that you have done with my money and my things. Then you must stop working for me.”
3 “I must think about what I can do,” the servant said to himself. “My master will not let me work for him any longer. I am not strong enough to dig in the ground. I would be ashamed to ask other people for money. 4 I must stop working for my master. But I know what I can do so that people will then accept me into their homes.”
5 Many people had a debt that they had not paid back to the master. So the servant told those people to come to him. He asked the first man, “How big is your debt to my master?” 6 The man replied, “I have to give him 100 barrels of oil.”[a] The servant said to him, “Here is the paper with your debt written down on it. Take the paper. Sit down now and write 50 barrels there.”[b]
7 He asked the next man, “How big is your debt to my master?” The man replied, “I have to give him 100 baskets of wheat.” The servant replied, “Here is the paper with your debt written down on it. Take the paper and write 80 baskets.” ’[c]
8 Jesus then said, ‘The servant in the story was not honest. But his master spoke well about what he had done. It would help the servant later in his life. People that do not obey God think carefully. They know how to do well with people who are like themselves. But people who live in God's light often think less carefully. 9 So I tell you this. People may get money in wrong ways. But you should use it to do good to those who need help. Then they will be your friends. You will die, one day. Then those people will be happy to see you in that place where people live for all time.
10 If you can trust a person with a very small thing, you can also trust him with bigger things. And if you cannot trust a person with a very small thing, you cannot trust him with big things. 11 So if people cannot trust you with money in this world, nobody will trust you with really valuable things. 12 And if people cannot trust you with other people's things, nobody will give you things for yourself.
13 A slave cannot work for two masters at the same time. Maybe he will hate one of the masters, but he will love the other one. Or he will work well for one master, but he will think bad things about the other one. God and money are like different masters. You cannot work for both of them.’
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