Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

32 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai in the tenth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, which was the eighteenth year of N’vukhadretzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Bavel was besieging Yerushalayim; and Yirmeyahu the prophet was imprisoned in the guards’ quarters attached to the king of Y’hudah’s palace, ³ where Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah had imprisoned him after demanding, “How dare you prophesy that Adonai says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will capture it;

⁶ Yirmeyahu said, “This word of Adonai came to me: ⁷ ‘Hanam’el, the son of your uncle Shalum, will approach you and say, “Buy my field at ‘Anatot; you have next-of-kin’s right to redeem it; so buy it.”’” ⁸ As Adonai had said, my cousin Hanam’el came to me in the guards’ quarters and said, “Please buy my field at ‘Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin; because you will inherit it, and you have next-of-kin’s right to redeem it, so buy it for yourself.” Then I was certain that this was Adonai’s word.

⁹ So I bought the field at ‘Anatot which belonged to my cousin Hanam’el and weighed out the money for him, seven ounces of silver shekels. ¹⁰ I signed on the purchase contract, sealed it, called witnesses and weighed out the money for him on a balance scale. ¹¹ I took the purchase contract, both the sealed copy with the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy, ¹² and gave the purchase contract to Barukh the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, in the presence of my cousin Hanam’el, the witnesses who had signed the purchase contract and the people from Y’hudah sitting by the guards’ quarters. ¹³ In their presence I instructed Barukh as follows: ¹⁴ “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘Take these contracts, both the sealed and unsealed copies, and place them in a clay jar, so that they can be preserved for a long time.’ ¹⁵ For Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says that one day homes, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”

⁶ Now true religion does bring great riches, but only to those who are content with what they have. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it; ⁸ so if we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. ⁹ Furthermore, those whose goal is to be rich fall into temptation; they get trapped in many foolish and hurtful ambitions which plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pains.

¹¹ But you, as a man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, steadfastness, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses. ¹³ I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before the Messiah Yeshua, who in his witness to Pontius Pilate gave the same good testimony, ¹⁴ to obey your commission spotlessly and irreproachably until our Lord Yeshua the Messiah appears. ¹⁵ His appearing will be brought about in its own time by the blessed and sole Sovereign, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal, who dwells in unapproachable light that no human being has ever seen or can see — to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

¹⁷ As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Charge them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life.

¹⁹ “Once there was a rich man who used to dress in the most expensive clothing and spent his days in magnificent luxury. ²⁰ At his gate had been laid a beggar named El‘azar who was covered with sores. ²¹ He would have been glad to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table; but instead, even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²² In time the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Avraham’s side; the rich man also died and was buried.

²³ “In Sh’ol, where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Avraham far away with El‘azar at his side. ²⁴ He called out, ‘Father Avraham, take pity on me, and send El‘azar just to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, because I’m in agony in this fire!’ ²⁵ However, Avraham said, ‘Son, remember that when you were alive, you got the good things while he got the bad; but now he gets his consolation here, while you are the one in agony. ²⁶ Yet that isn’t all: between you and us a deep rift has been established, so that those who would like to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house, ²⁸ where I have five brothers, to warn them; so that they may be spared having to come to this place of torment too.’ ²⁹ But Avraham said, ‘They have Moshe and the Prophets; they should listen to them.’ ³⁰ However, he said, ‘No, father Avraham, they need more. If someone from the dead goes to them, they’ll repent!’ ³¹ But he replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moshe and the Prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!’”