Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me [Jeremiah], saying,

⁵ Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.^(A)

⁶ Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am only a youth.^(B)

⁷ But the Lord said to me, Say not, I am only a youth; for you shall go to all to whom I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

⁸ Be not afraid of them [their faces], for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

⁹ Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

¹⁰ See, I have this day appointed you to the oversight of the nations and of the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

Psalm 71

¹ In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and confidently take refuge; let me never be put to shame or confusion!

² Deliver me in Your righteousness and cause me to escape; bow down Your ear to me and save me!

³ Be to me a rock of refuge in which to dwell, and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually resort, which You have appointed to save me, for You are my Rock and my Fortress.

⁴ Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man.

⁵ For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth and the source of my confidence.

⁶ Upon You have I leaned and relied from birth; You are He Who took me from my mother’s womb and You have been my benefactor from that day. My praise is continually of You.

¹⁸ For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a [material] mountain that can be touched, [a mountain] that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm,

¹⁹ And to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them.^(A)

²⁰ For they could not bear the command that was given: If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.^(B)

²¹ In fact, so awful and terrifying was the [phenomenal] sight that Moses said, I am terrified (aghast and trembling with fear).^(C)

²² But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering,

²³ And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect,

²⁴ And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].^(D)

²⁵ So see to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking [to you now]. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them [here] on earth [revealing with heavenly warnings His will], how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes [us] from heaven?

²⁶ Then [at Mount Sinai] His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the [starry] heavens.^(E)

²⁷ Now this expression, Yet once more, indicates the final removal and transformation of all [that can be] shaken—that is, of that which has been created—in order that what cannot be shaken may remain and continue.^(F)

²⁸ Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;

²⁹ For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.^(G)

¹⁰ Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

¹¹ And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an ^[a]infirmity caused by a spirit (^[b]a demon of sickness). She was ^[c]bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to ^[d]look upward.

¹² And when Jesus saw her, He called [her to Him] and said to her, Woman, you are released from your infirmity!

¹³ Then He laid [His] hands on her, and instantly she was made straight, and she ^[e]recognized and thanked and praised God.

¹⁴ But the ^[f]leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.^(A)

¹⁵ But the Lord replied to him, saying, You playactors (hypocrites)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to water it?

¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

¹⁷ Even as He said this, all His opponents were put to shame, and all the people were rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.