Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
מ (Mem)
97 O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
98 Your commandments[a] make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
100 I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
101 I stay away[b] from every evil path,
so that I might keep your instructions.[c]
102 I do not turn aside from your regulations,
for you teach me.
103 Your words are sweeter
in my mouth than honey![d]
104 Your precepts give me discernment.
Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.[e]
Jeremiah Is Put on Trial as a False Prophet[a]
26 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah[b] at the beginning of the reign[c] of Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah. 2 The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple.[d] Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word. 3 Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do.[e] If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them[f] as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing.[g] 4 Tell them that the Lord says,[h] ‘You must obey me; you must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws.[i] 5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again.[j] But you have not paid any attention to them. 6 If you do not obey me,[k] then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh.[l] And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say these things in the Lord’s temple. 8 Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people when all at once some[m] of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die![n] 9 How dare you claim the Lord’s authority to prophesy such things! How dare you claim his authority to prophesy that this temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will become an uninhabited ruin!”[o] Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the Lord’s temple.
10 However, some of the officials[p] of Judah heard about what was happening[q] and they rushed up to the Lord’s temple from the royal palace. They set up court[r] at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple.[s] 11 Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said,[t] “This man should be condemned to die[u] because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so[v] with your own ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah made his defense before all the officials and all the people.[w] “The Lord sent me to prophesy everything you have heard me say against this temple and against this city. 13 But correct the way you have been living and do what is right.[x] Obey the Lord your God. If you do, the Lord will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would.[y] 14 As to my case, I am in your power.[z] Do to me what you deem fair and proper. 15 But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the Lord has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!”[aa]
22 So Paul stood[a] before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious[b] in all respects.[c] 23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship,[d] I even found an altar with this inscription:[e] ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it,[f] this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it,[g] who is[h] Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,[i] 25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything,[j] because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.[k] 26 From one man[l] he made every nation of the human race[m] to inhabit the entire earth,[n] determining their set times[o] and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,[p] 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around[q] for him and find him,[r] though he is[s] not far from each one of us. 28 For in him we live and move about[t] and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’[u] 29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity[v] is like gold or silver or stone, an image[w] made by human[x] skill[y] and imagination.[z] 30 Therefore, although God has overlooked[aa] such times of ignorance,[ab] he now commands all people[ac] everywhere to repent,[ad] 31 because he has set[ae] a day on which he is going to judge the world[af] in righteousness, by a man whom he designated,[ag] having provided proof to everyone by raising[ah] him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard about[ai] the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff,[aj] but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul left the Areopagus.[ak] 34 But some people[al] joined him[am] and believed. Among them[an] were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus,[ao] a woman[ap] named Damaris, and others with them.
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