Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Song of Jerusalem’s Groaning
1 How lonely sits the city,
once so full of people!
She who was once great among the nations
has become like a widow.
The princess among the provinces
has become a forced laborer.
2 Bitterly she weeps in the night,
her tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers,
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her.
They have become her enemies!
3 Judah is gone into exile
under affliction and great servitude.
She dwells among the nations.
She finds no resting place.
All her pursuers have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn
for no one comes to her moadim.
All her gates are desolate.
Her kohanim groan,
her maidens[a] grieve—
she is in bitter anguish.
5 Her foes have become her masters.
Her enemies are at ease.
For Adonai has afflicted her,
because of her many transgressions.
Her children have gone away
as captives before the adversary.
6 All her splendor has departed,
from the daughter of Zion.
Her princes are like stags
that find no pasture.
They have fled without strength
before the pursuer.
19 Remember my affliction
my homelessness, bitterness and gall.
20 Whenever I remember,
my soul is downcast within me.
Our Hope—His Faithfulness
21 This I recall to my heart—
therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the mercies of Adonai
we will not be consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning!
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “Adonai is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 Adonai is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul that seeks Him.
26 It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of Adonai.
By the Rivers of Babylon
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon,
we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors demanded songs
and our tormentors asked for joy:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
4 How can we sing a song of Adonai in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I cease to remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, Adonai, the children of Edom,
what they said on the day Jerusalem fell:
“Strip her, strip her to her very foundation!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, the devastated one,
happy is the one who repays you
as you have paid us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your little ones
and dashes them upon the rock.
Greeting
1 Paul, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua through the will of God, according to the promise of life in Messiah Yeshua.
2 To Timothy my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and shalom from God the Father and Messiah Yeshua our Lord!
Stir up God’s Charisma in You
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my forefathers did, when I continually remember you in my prayers night and day. 4 I remember your tears, and I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I recall the genuine faithfulness within you, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure it is within you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift[a] of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and self-discipline.
Suffer with Me—for the Good News!
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the Good News according to the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling—not because of our deeds but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Messiah Yeshua before time began, 10 but now has been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Messiah Yeshua. Indeed, He nullified the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News.
11 For this Good News I was appointed a herald and an emissary and a teacher. 12 For this reason I also am suffering these things—but I am not ashamed, for I know in whom I have trusted and I am convinced He is able to safeguard what I have entrusted to Him until that Day.
13 Keep the standard of sound words you have heard from me, in the faithfulness and love that are in Messiah Yeshua. 14 Guard the good that has been entrusted to you, through the Ruach ha-Kodesh who dwells in us.
5 Then the emissaries said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6 Then the Lord said, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 But if you have a slave who is plowing or tending sheep, who among you will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come right in, and recline at table’? 8 But won’t he instead say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat! Dress yourself and wait on me while I eat and drink; and afterward, you may eat and drink’? 9 He doesn’t thank the slave because he did what he was commanded, does he? 10 So you too, when you’ve done everything you are commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves. We have done only what we were supposed to do.’”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.