Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Prayer of a Man in Trouble

102 Hear my prayer, O Lord! Let my cry for help come to You. ² Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble. Turn Your ear to me. Hurry to answer me in the day when I call. ³ For my days go up in smoke. And my bones are burned as with fire. ⁴ My heart is crushed and dried like grass. And I forget to eat my food. ⁵ I am nothing but skin and bones because of my loud cries. ⁶ I am like a pelican in the desert. I am like an owl of the waste places. ⁷ I lie awake. And I feel like a bird alone on the roof.

⁸ Those who hate me have made it hard for me all day long. Those who are angry with me curse my name. ⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread and have mixed my drink with tears, ¹⁰ because of Your great anger. For You have lifted me up and thrown me away. ¹¹ My days are like the evening shadow. I dried up like grass.

¹² But You and Your name, O Lord, will always be forever and to all people for all time. ¹³ You will rise up and have loving-pity on Zion. For it is time to show favor to her. The set time has come. ¹⁴ For Your servants respect her stones and show pity for her dust. ¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord. All the kings of the earth will fear Your shining-greatness. ¹⁶ For the Lord has built up Zion. He will come in His shining-greatness. ¹⁷ He will answer the prayer of those in need. He will not turn from their prayer.

The Letter to Shemaiah

²⁴ And say to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the religious leader, and to all the religious leaders. You said to Zephaniah, ²⁶ “The Lord has made you the religious leader over the house of the Lord instead of Jehoiada. You are to take every crazy man who says he speaks in God’s name and put him in chains with iron around his neck. ²⁷ So why have you not spoken sharp words to Jeremiah of Anathoth who is speaking to you in God’s name? ²⁸ For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying, ‘You will be held there for a long time. So build houses and live in them. And plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”’”

²⁹ Zephaniah the religious leader read this letter to Jeremiah the man of God. ³⁰ Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ³¹ “Send word to all My people held in Babylon, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has spoken to you in My name, but I did not send him. He has made you trust in a lie.’ ³² So the Lord says, ‘I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his children after him. He will not have anyone living among these people. And he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,’ says the Lord, ‘because he has spoken against Me.’”

Things God Gives the Christian to Fight With

¹⁰ This is the last thing I want to say: Be strong with the Lord’s strength. ¹¹ Put on the things God gives you to fight with. Then you will not fall into the traps of the devil. ¹² Our fight is not with people. It is against the leaders and the powers and the spirits of darkness in this world. It is against the demon world that works in the heavens. ¹³ Because of this, put on all the things God gives you to fight with. Then you will be able to stand in that sinful day. When it is all over, you will still be standing. ¹⁴ So stand up and do not be moved. Wear a belt of truth around your body. Wear a piece of iron over your chest which is being right with God. ¹⁵ Wear shoes on your feet which are the Good News of peace. ¹⁶ Most important of all, you need a covering of faith in front of you. This is to put out the fire-arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ The covering for your head is that you have been saved from the punishment of sin. Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

How and What to Pray For

¹⁸ You must pray at all times as the Holy Spirit leads you to pray. Pray for the things that are needed. You must watch and keep on praying. Remember to pray for all Christians. ¹⁹ Pray for me also. Pray that I might open my mouth without fear. Pray that I will use the right words to preach that which is hard to understand in the Good News. ²⁰ This is the reason I was sent out. But now I am in chains for preaching the Good News. I want to keep on speaking for Christ without fear the way I should.