Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Justice for the Oppressed
Psalm 35
1 A psalm of David.
Adonai, oppose those who oppose me.
Fight those who fight me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to my help.
3 Draw out also a spear and battle-axe.
Stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be ashamed and disgraced.
May they be turned back and humiliated
—those who plot evil against me.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of Adonai driving them off.
6 May their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of Adonai pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me,
and without cause they dug a pit for my soul.
8 Let ruin come upon him by surprise.
Let the net he hid entangle himself
—into that same pit let him fall.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in Adonai
and delight in His salvation.
10 All my bones will say:
“Adonai, who is like You,
rescuing the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor and needy from one who robs him?”
After Seventy Years, a Future Hope
29 Now these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders remaining in exile, as well as to the kohanim, the prophets and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried off captive from Jerusalem to Babylon 2 (after Jeconiah the king, the queen-mother, the officers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths, had to leave Jerusalem). The letter was sent 3 by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 4 thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, to all those in captivity, whom I removed as captives into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 “Build houses and live in them; also plant gardens and eat their fruit; 6 take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 Also seek the shalom of the city where I took you as captives in exile, and pray to Adonai for it—for in its shalom will you have shalom.”
8 For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets who are among you or your diviners beguile you, and pay no attention to the dreams which you make them keep dreaming. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My Name; I have not sent them.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
10 For thus says Adonai: “After 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will visit you, and fulfill My good word toward you—to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have in mind for you,” declares Adonai, “plans for shalom and not calamity—to give you a future and a hope.
12 “Then you will call on Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me,[a] when you will search for Me with all your heart. 14 Then I will be found by you,” says Adonai, “and I will return you from exile, and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” says Adonai, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you as captives into exile.”
Power Over Demons
5 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 As soon as Yeshua got out of the boat, a man from the graveyard[a] with an unclean spirit met Him. 3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain. 4 For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been ripped apart by him and the shackles broken. No one was strong enough to tame him. 5 And through it all, night and day, at the graveyard and in the mountains, he kept screaming and gashing himself with stones.
6 When he saw Yeshua from a distance, he ran and bowed down before Him. 7 Crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What’s between You and me, Yeshua, Ben El Elyon? I’m warning you, in the name of God, do not torment me!”
8 For Yeshua had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 Then Yeshua began questioning him, “What is your name?”
And he answered, “My name is Legion,[b] for we are many.” 10 He kept begging Him not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 The unclean spirits urged Him, saying, “Send us to the pigs, so we may enter them.” 13 So Yeshua gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. And the herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the cliff and were drowned in the sea.
14 The herdsmen ran away and told the town and countryside, and they came to see what had happened. 15 Now they came to Yeshua and saw the madman who had had the legion. He was sitting there, dressed in clothes and in his right mind. The people were scared.
16 Those who had seen it described in detail what had happened to the man plagued by a demon, and they also told about the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Yeshua to leave their country. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been infested with demons kept begging to remain with Him. 19 Yeshua did not let him, but He told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much Adonai has done for you, how He showed you mercy.”
20 So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis[c] how much Yeshua had done for him. And all were amazed.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.