Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
97 How I love your ·teachings [instructions; laws]!
I ·think about [ponder; meditate on] them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
because they are mine forever.
99 I am ·wiser [more insightful] than all my teachers,
because I ·think about [ponder; meditate on] your ·rules [decrees; testimonies].
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
because I ·follow [protect] your ·orders [precepts].
101 I have ·avoided [L kept my feet from] every evil way
so I could ·obey [keep; guard] your word.
102 I haven’t ·walked [turned] away from your ·laws [judgments],
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 ·Your promises are sweet to me [L How sweet your words slip/slide down my palate],
sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 Your ·orders [precepts] give me understanding,
so I hate lying ways.
Jeremiah’s Lesson at the Temple
26 This message came from the Lord ·soon after Jehoiakim son of Josiah became [L at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim] king of Judah [C ruled 605–597 bc]. 2 This is what the Lord said: “Jeremiah, stand in the courtyard of the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord. ·Give this message [L Say] to all the people of the towns of Judah who are coming to ·worship [bow down] at the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord. Tell them everything I tell you to say; don’t leave out a word. 3 Maybe they will listen and ·stop [return/repent from] their evil ways. If they will, I will ·change my mind [relent] about bringing on them the ·disaster [evil; trouble] that I am planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord says: You must ·obey [listen to] me and follow my ·teachings [instructions; laws] that I gave you. 5 You must listen to what my servants the prophets [25:4] say to you. I have sent them to you again and again, but you did not ·listen [obey]. 6 If you don’t obey me, I will ·destroy my Temple in Jerusalem as I destroyed my Holy Tent at [L make this house like] Shiloh [7:12–14; 1 Sam. 4:1–22; Ps. 78:60–64]. When I do, ·people all over the world will curse Jerusalem [L I will make this city a curse].’”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord. 8 When Jeremiah finished speaking ·everything [L all the words] the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, prophets, and all the people ·grabbed [seized] Jeremiah. They said, “You must die! 9 ·How dare [L Why do…?] you prophesy in the name of the Lord that this ·Temple [L house] will be like the one at Shiloh [C destroyed]! ·How dare [L Why do…?] you say that this city [C Jerusalem] will become a ·desert [ruin] without anyone to live in it!” And all the people ·crowded [assembled] around Jeremiah in the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord.
10 Now when the officers of Judah heard ·about what was happening [L these things/words], they came out of the king’s ·palace [L house] and went up to the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate. 11 Then the priests and prophets said to the officers and all the other people, “·Jeremiah [L This man] ·should be killed [L deserves the death sentence]. He prophesied against this city [C Jerusalem], and you heard him ·yourselves [L with your ears].”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke these words to all the officers of Judah and all the other people: “The Lord sent me to ·say [L prophesy] ·everything [L all these words] you have heard about this ·Temple [L house] and this city. 13 Now ·change [improve; mend] your ·lives and start doing good [L ways and your deeds] and ·obey [L listen to the voice of] the Lord your God. Then he will ·change his mind and not bring on you [relent of] the ·disaster [evil; trouble] he has told you about. 14 As for me, I am in your ·power [L hand]. Do to me what you think is good and right in your eyes. 15 But be sure of one thing. If you kill me, you will be ·guilty of killing an innocent person [L placing innocent blood on yourselves; Ex. 23:7; Deut. 19:10, 13]. ·You will make this city and everyone who lives in it guilty, too [L …and on this city and everyone who lives in it]! The Lord truly sent me to ·you to give you this message [L speak this word in your ears].”
22 Then Paul stood ·before the meeting [L in the midst] of the Areopagus and said, “·People of Athens [L Men, Athenians], I can see you are very religious in ·all things [every way]. 23 [L For; Because] As I was going through your city, I ·saw [observed closely] the objects you worship. I found an altar that had these words written on it: to ·a god who is not known [T an unknown god]. ·You worship a god that you don’t know, and this is the God I am telling you about [L What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you]! 24 The God who made the whole world and everything in it [Deut. 4:39; Ps. 146:6] is the Lord of the ·sky and the land [or heaven and earth]. He does not live in ·temples [shrines] built by human hands. 25 This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to ·people [L all; everyone; Gen. 1:29; 2:7]. He ·does not need any help from them [L is not served by human hands]; he has everything he needs. 26 ·God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people [L From one, God made every nation of people] ·who live everywhere in the world [or in order to inhabit the whole earth]. God ·decided exactly [determined; or allotted] ·when [or their appointed time in history; or the seasons of their year] and ·where they must live [or the boundaries of their lands]. 27 God wanted them to ·look for [seek] him and perhaps ·search all around for [grope for; reach out to; feel their way towards] him and find him, though he is not far from any of us: 28 ‘[L For] ·By his power [or In him] we live and move and ·exist [have our being; C a quotation from the Cretan philosopher Epimenides, from about 600 bc].’ [L As] Some of your own poets have said: ‘For we are his ·children [offspring; C a quotation from Aratus, a Stoic philosopher from Cilicia, who lived about 315–240 bc].’ 29 Since we are God’s ·children [offspring], you must not think that ·God [the deity; or the divine nature] is like ·something [an image/likeness] ·that people imagine or make [L made by human skill and imagination] from gold, silver, or rock. 30 ·In the past, people did not understand God, and he ignored this [or God overlooked such times of ignorance]. But now, God ·tells [commands] all people in the world to ·change their hearts and lives [repent]. 31 [L Because] God has ·set [fixed; established] a day that he will judge all the world with ·fairness [righteousness], by the man he ·chose [appointed] long ago. And God has ·proved [or given assurance of] this to everyone by raising that man from the dead!”
32 When the people heard about ·Jesus being raised [L the resurrection] from the dead, some of them ·laughed [mocked; scoffed]. But others said, “We will hear more about this from you ·later [L again].” 33 So Paul went away from them. 34 But some of the ·people [L men] ·believed Paul [became believers] and joined him. Among those who believed was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and some others.
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