◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Lamentations 1:1-6 (Jerusalem empty and destroyed); Lamentations 3:19-26 (Great is your faithfulness); or Psalm 137 (Weeping by the rivers of Babylon); 2 Timothy 1:1-14 (Guard the treasure entrusted to you); Luke 17:5-10 (Faith the size of a mustard seed) (New Catholic Bible)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Lamentations 1:1-6

Chapter 1

Jerusalem Deserted and Forsaken^[a]

¹How deserted now is the city
    that was formerly overflowing with people!
Once she was the greatest of the nations;
    now she is like a widow.
Once she was a princess among the provinces;
    now she is subjected to forced labor.
²She weeps bitterly throughout the night,
    with tears running down her cheeks.
Not a single one of those who loved her
    remains to offer her comfort.
All of her friends^[b] have betrayed her
    and have become her enemies.
³After enduring intense suffering and endless servitude,
    Judah has gone into exile.
She lives among the nations
    but finds no resting place.
In the midst of her distress
    her persecutors have overtaken her.
⁴The roads to Zion mourn,
    for no pilgrims now come to her festivals.
All of her gateways are deserted;
    her priests groan,
her young maidens are grief-stricken
    and their fate is bitter.
⁵Her foes have become her masters,
    and her enemies prosper,
for the Lord has made her suffer
    for her endless transgressions.
Her children are no longer there,
    having been taken captive by their oppressor.
⁶Every vestige of splendor
    has departed from the daughter of Zion.^[c]
Her princes have become like stags
    that can find no pasture;
with their strength exhausted
    they flee before their pursuers.

Lamentations 3:19-26

¹⁹The realization of my poverty and homelessness
    is wormwood and gall to me.
²⁰My soul continually reflects on this
    and is left downcast within me.
²¹However, I will call this to mind
    as the reason for my hope:
²²^[a]The love of the Lord is never exhausted,
    nor do his deeds of mercy ever come to an end.
²³They are renewed every morning;
    his faithfulness never ceases.
²⁴The Lord is my portion, I say to myself;
    therefore, I will place my hope in him.
²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul that seeks him.
²⁶It is good to wait in silence
    for the salvation of the Lord.

Psalm 137

Psalm 137^[a]

The Exiles’ Remembrance of Zion

¹By the rivers^[b] of Babylon
    we sat down and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
²^[c]There on the poplars
    we hung up our harps.
³For it was there that our captors
    asked us to sing them a song,
and, tormenting us, demanded a joyful song:
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
⁴But how could we sing songs of the Lord
    while living in a foreign land?^[d]
⁵^[e]If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    may my right hand fail me.
⁶May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not regard Jerusalem
    as the greatest of my joys.
⁷^[f]Remember, O Lord, the cruelty of the Edomites
    on the day when Jerusalem fell,^[g]
how they shouted, “Tear it down!
    Tear it down to its very foundations!”
⁸O Daughter^[h] of Babylon, you destroyer,
    happy will he be who repays you
    for the suffering you inflicted upon us!
⁹Happy will he be who seizes your babies
    and smashes them against a rock!^[i]

Footnotes

Psalm 137:1 Let us imagine the setting in which this psalm was sung for the first time. Some Levites, after returning from the Exile, have gathered for a penitential liturgy. They are unable to suppress the memory of the humiliations they suffered on the banks of the Euphrates, where, to heighten their sadness, they were compelled not to sing the songs they loved, since it would have been a profanation to make these known in a foreign land for the amusement of idolaters. Now their cry of attachment to Jerusalem becomes vehement and their song leads to an outburst of vengeful anger that, though in keeping with the custom of the time, seems to us cruel beyond description (see notes on Pss 5:11; 35).
Events now in the distant past become symbols; the psalm speaks of Edom, but the singers think of all the forces united to destroy the People of God and the righteous; the psalm mentions Babylon, but this suggests the most hateful wickedness. This same wickedness the Book of Revelation will later image forth in the monstrous figure of “Babylon the Great,” mother of blasphemers (see Rev 17:5).
We can pray this psalm as citizens of heaven (see Phil 3:20) living in exile on earth (see 2 Cor 5:6f). Strangers to a world that does not acknowledge us as its own, we are hated and persecuted by it for this reason (see Jn 15:18f; 17:14-18). We are cognizant that our exile deprives us of our true home and our Father and dooms us to divers physical and moral miseries including death, and we “groan inwardly as we wait for . . . the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:23).
Psalm 137:1 Rivers: the Euphrates and Tigris, as well as the numerous irrigation-canals that branched off from them (see Ezr 8:21; Ezek 1:1; 3:15). Sat: the posture of mourning (see Job 2:8, 13; Lam 2:10); it could also refer to the idea of being settled in accord with the word of the prophet Jeremiah who urged the exiles to work for a living, to multiply, and to seek the peace and prosperity of the land (see Jer 29:4-9). Wept: see Isa 24:8; Jer 25:10; Lam 3:48; 5:14.
Psalm 137:2 The exiles were tauntingly requested to sing the songs of Zion on their harps. The taunts were tantamount to the question “Where is your God?” (Pss 42:4, 11; 79:10; 115:2), and might have concerned the “songs of Zion” that celebrated the Lord’s majesty and protection (see Pss 46; 48; 76; 84; 87; 122).
Psalm 137:4 The exiles could not bring themselves to sing any of the holy songs while they rested on foreign, unclean soil; that would be a profanation (see Hos 9:3; Am 7:17).
Psalm 137:5 The exiles could not forget Jerusalem and what it symbolized: covenant, temple, God’s presence and kingship, atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation. They vowed to wait for the redemption promised by God.
Psalm 137:7 See notes on Pss 5:11; 35.
Psalm 137:7 On the day when Jerusalem fell: literally, “the day of Jerusalem” or “that day at Jerusalem.” The “day” in question is either the ninth day of the fourth month (June–July 587 B.C.) when the Babylonians broke through the walls of Jerusalem (see Jer 39:2; 52:7) or the tenth day of the fifth month (July–August 587 B.C.) when the temple was set afire (see Jer 52:12; Zec 7:5; 8:19). The Edomites collaborated with the besiegers and did everything they could to disgrace Judah and keep the people from escaping (see Lam 4:21f; Ezek 25:12; 35:12; Ob 11), and their name became a symbol of Israel’s enemies, as well as an object of the Lord’s judgments (see Isa 63:1-4; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 25:8, 12-14; 35; Ob 1-21).
Psalm 137:8 Daughter: a personification of Babylon, on whom the Lord had passed judgment (see Isa 13; 21:1-10; 47; Jer 50–51; Hab 2:4-20).
Psalm 137:9 Happy will he be who seizes . . . : in accord with the ruthless practice of ancient warfare, this scene was often played out during the sacking of a city after its fall (see 2 Ki 8:12; 15:16; Isa 13:16, 18; Hos 10:14; 14:1; Am 1:13; Nah 3:10). A beatitude is here transformed into a terrible curse.

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Chapter 1

Salutation^[a]

Address. ¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, whose promise of life is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, ²to Timothy, my beloved child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thanksgiving and Prayer. ³I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clean conscience as did my ancestors—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴As I recall your tears,^[b] I long to see you again so that my joy may be complete. ⁵I also remember your sincere faith, a faith that first came to life in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced also dwells in you.^[c]

The Endurance of a Man of God^[d]

Revive the Gift of God. For this reason, I remind you to stir up the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.^[e] ⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but rather a spirit of power and of love and of wisdom. ⁸Therefore, you should never be ashamed of bearing witness to our Lord, nor of me because I am imprisoned for his sake. Rather, you should utilize the strength that comes from God to share in my hardships for the sake of the gospel.

⁹God saved us and called us to a life of holiness, not because of our works but according to his own purpose and the grace that has been bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.^[f] ¹⁰That grace has now been revealed by the appearance^[g] of our Savior Jesus Christ. He has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹for which I have been appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.^[h]

¹²Guard the Treasure Entrusted to Us. That is the reason why I am undergoing my present sufferings. However, I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have placed my trust, and I am confident that he is able to guard until that Day^[i] what he has entrusted to me. ¹³Follow the pattern of sound teaching that you heard from me, with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴With the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, guard the treasure that has been entrusted to us.

Footnotes

2 Timothy 1:1 Paul begins his Letter with a salutation that is similar to the one found in 1 Timothy, adding to it the words “whose promise of life is fulfilled in Christ Jesus.” He calls Timothy his “beloved child,” and the actual greeting is the same as that of 1 Timothy, showing that everything we have comes to us from God through Christ. As in most of his Letters (the exceptions are Gal, 1 Tim, and Tit), Paul then follows his salutation with a section thanking God for the recipients of the Letter. He focuses on his relationship with Timothy and his confidence in Timothy’s faith.
2 Timothy 1:4 Your tears: those shed by Timothy when Paul was leaving Ephesus (see 1 Tim 1:3).
2 Timothy 1:5 According to Acts 16:1, Timothy’s mother (Eunice) was a Jewish Christian while his father was a Greek and apparently an unbeliever. Here we learn that his grandmother (Lois) was also a Christian.
2 Timothy 1:6 Paul warns that self-interest and discouragement must not get the best of the apostle’s ardor and determination. Rather, he must rely upon the graces that were given him when he received the ministry and was gripped by the Spirit at his missionary sending forth (see 1 Tim 4:14). He must once again place himself at the service of the Gospel, which is the announcement of the coming of Christ and the salvation that he gives. There is no missionary life without spiritual renewal.
⁶
The last seven verses go on to give examples of men of God who have endured: Paul and Onesiphorus.
2 Timothy 1:6 Laying on of . . . hands: see note on 1 Tim 4:14.
2 Timothy 1:9 Paul insists that redemption from sin and the call to holiness are freely given to human beings in accord with God’s plan (see Eph 1:4).
2 Timothy 1:10 Appearance: the reference here is to the Incarnation.
2 Timothy 1:11 Teacher: most manuscripts read: “teacher of the nations,” which scholars regard as a gloss based on 1 Tim 2:7.
2 Timothy 1:12 That Day: the day of judgment and crowning. What he has entrusted to me: i.e., the deposit of faith (see 1 Tim 6:20). Another possible translation is: “what I have entrusted to him,” i.e., the fruits of his ministry.

Luke 17:5-10

Faith Knows How To Make Miracles.^[a] ⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” ⁶The Lord replied, “If you had faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Unprofitable Servants.^[b] ⁷“Which of you, when your servant returns from plowing or tending sheep in the fields, would say to him, ‘Come right away and sit down to eat’? ⁸Would you not rather say, ‘Prepare my dinner, put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink, and then afterward you yourself may eat and drink’? ⁹Would you be grateful to that servant for doing what he was commanded? ¹⁰So should it be with you. When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Chapter 1

Jerusalem Deserted and Forsaken[a]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 137[a]

The Exiles’ Remembrance of Zion

Footnotes

Chapter 1

Salutation[a]

The Endurance of a Man of God[d]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Jerusalem Deserted and Forsaken^[a]

Psalm 137^[a]

Salutation^[a]

The Endurance of a Man of God^[d]