Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Prophet Mourns for the People
18 I would comfort myself in sorrow;
My heart is faint in me.
19 Listen! The voice,
The cry of the daughter of my people
From (A)a far country:
“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her King in her?”
“Why have they provoked Me to anger
With their carved images—
With foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past,
The summer is ended,
And we are not saved!”
21 (B)For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am (C)mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no (D)balm in Gilead,
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery
For the health of the daughter of my people?
Disobedience Brings God’s Judgment
9 Oh, (E)that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
A Dirge and a Prayer for Israel, Destroyed by Enemies
A Psalm of Asaph.
79 O God, the [a]nations have come into (A)Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
(B)They have laid Jerusalem [b]in heaps.
2 (C)The dead bodies of Your servants
They have given as food for the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3 Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our (D)neighbors,
A scorn and derision to those who are around us.
Pray for All Men
2 Therefore I [a]exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 (A)for kings and (B)all who are in [b]authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and [c]reverence. 3 For this is (C)good and acceptable in the sight (D)of God our Savior, 4 (E)who desires all men to be saved (F)and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 (G)For there is one God and (H)one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 (I)who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 (J)for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth [d]in Christ and not lying—(K)a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The Parable of the Unjust Steward
16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was [a]wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an (A)account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred [b]measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred [c]measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than (B)the sons of light.
9 “And I say to you, (C)make friends for yourselves by unrighteous [d]mammon, that when [e]you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 (D)He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your (E)own?
13 (F)“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.