Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Jerusalem’s Sorrows

1 How empty is the city that was once full of people! She was once great among the nations. But now she has become like a woman whose husband has died. She who was once a queen among the cities has become a servant made to work. ² She cries hard in the night, with tears on her face. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have not been faithful to her. They have turned against her. ³ Judah has been taken away to a strange land where she suffers much and is made to work hard as a servant. She lives among the nations, but has no rest. All those who went after her have taken her in her trouble. ⁴ The roads of Zion are filled with sorrow, because no one comes to the special suppers. All her gates are laid waste. Her religious leaders are crying in sorrow. Her pure young women are troubled, and she herself is in bitter suffering. ⁵ Those who hate her have power over her, and all goes well for them. For the Lord has made her suffer for her many sins. Her children have been taken away in front of those who hate her. ⁶ The people of Zion have lost all her great power. Her princes are like deer that find no field where they can eat. They are weak as they run away from those who are after them.

¹⁹ Remember my trouble and my traveling from place to place, the wormwood and bitter feelings. ²⁰ I remember it always, and my soul bows down within me. ²¹ But this I remember, and so I have hope. ²² It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends. ²³ It is new every morning. He is so very faithful. ²⁴ “The Lord is my share.” says my soul, “so I have hope in Him.” ²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the one who looks for Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should be quiet and wait for the saving power of the Lord.

Israel in a Strange Land

137 We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion. ² There upon the trees we put our harps. ³ For those who held us there made us sing. And those who made it hard for us asked for joy. They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

⁴ How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget what it is able to do. ⁶ May my tongue hold to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not honor Jerusalem above my highest joy.

⁷ O Lord, remember what the sons of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Knock it down,” they said, “Knock it down to the ground.” ⁸ O daughter of Babylon, you who will be destroyed, how honored will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! ⁹ How honored will be the one who catches your children and throws them against the rock!

1 This letter is from Paul, a missionary of Jesus Christ. God has sent me to tell that He has promised life that lasts forever through Christ Jesus. ² I am writing to you, Timothy. You are my much-loved son. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you His loving-favor and loving-kindness and peace.

Timothy’s Special Gift

³ I thank God for you. I pray for you night and day. I am working for God the way my early fathers worked. My heart says I am free from sin. ⁴ When I remember your tears, it makes me want to see you. That would fill me with joy. ⁵ I remember your true faith. It is the same faith your grandmother Lois had and your mother Eunice had. I am sure you have that same faith also.

⁶ For this reason, I ask you to keep using the gift God gave you. It came to you when I laid my hands on you and prayed that God would use you. ⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of fear. He gave us a spirit of power and of love and of a good mind. ⁸ Do not be ashamed to tell others about what our Lord said, or of me here in prison. I am here because of Jesus Christ. Be ready to suffer for preaching the Good News and God will give you the strength you need. ⁹ He is the One Who saved us from the punishment of sin. He is the One Who chose us to do His work. It is not because of anything we have done. But it was His plan from the beginning that He would give us His loving-favor through Christ Jesus. ¹⁰ We know about it now because of the coming of Jesus Christ, the One Who saves. He put a stop to the power of death and brought life that never dies which is seen through the Good News. ¹¹ I have been chosen to be a missionary and a preacher and a teacher of this Good News. ¹² For this reason, I am suffering. But I am not ashamed. I know the One in Whom I have put my trust. I am sure He is able to keep safe that which I have trusted to Him until the day He comes again. ¹³ Keep all the things I taught you. They were given to you in the faith and love of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ Keep safe that which He has trusted you with by the Holy Spirit Who lives in us.

⁵ The followers said to the Lord, “Give us more faith.” ⁶ The Lord said, “If your faith was as a mustard seed, you could say to this tree, ‘Be pulled out of the ground and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Jesus Teaches about Being Faithful

⁷ “What if you owned a servant who was working in the field or taking care of sheep? Would you say to him when he came in from his work, ‘Come and sit down to eat?’ ⁸ No, instead you would say, ‘Get my supper ready. Dress yourself and care for me until I am through eating and drinking. Then you can eat and drink.’ ⁹ Does the servant get thanks for doing what he was told to do? I am sure he does not. ¹⁰ It is the same with you also. When you do everything you have been told to do, you must say, ‘We are not any special servants. We have done only what we should have done.’”