Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
ז (Zayin)
49 Remember your promise to your servant,
through which you have given me hope.
50 In my distress my comfort is this:
that your promise gives me life.
51 Though the arrogant scorn me completely,
I have not turned away from your Torah.
52 Adonai, I keep in mind your age-old rulings;
in them I take comfort.
53 Fury seizes me when I think of the wicked,
because they abandon your Torah.
54 Your laws have become my songs
wherever I make my home.
55 I remember your name, Adonai, at night;
and I observe your Torah.
56 This [comfort] has come to me,
because I observe your precepts.
36 “Therefore, thus says Adonai the God of Isra’el concerning this city, of which you say that it is handed over to the king of Bavel by sword, famine and plague: 37 ‘I will gather them out of all the countries where I drove them in my anger, fury and great wrath; and I will bring them back to this place and have them live here in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and singleness of purpose, so that they will fear me forever — this will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not leave me. 41 I will take joy in them, so as to do them good. I will plant them in this land truly, with my whole heart and being.’ 42 For here is what Adonai says: ‘Just as I have brought this complete disaster on this people, so likewise I will bring on them all the good I have promised them. 43 Fields will be bought in this land, even though you say about it that it is desolate, devoid of human beings or animals, and given over to the Kasdim. 44 Yes, people will buy fields for money, sign the purchase contracts, seal them and call witnesses, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim, in the cities of Y’hudah, in the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh’felah and in the cities of the Negev. For I will cause their exiles to return,’ says Adonai.”
5 Next, a word for the rich: weep and wail over the hardships coming upon you! 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothes have become moth-eaten; 3 your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat up your flesh like fire! This is the acharit-hayamim, and you have been storing up wealth! 4 Listen! The wages you have fraudulently withheld from the workers who mowed your fields are calling out against you, and the outcries of those who harvested have reached the ears of Adonai-Tzva’ot. 5 You have led a life of luxury and self-indulgence here on earth — in a time of slaughter, you have gone on eating to your heart’s content. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the innocent; they have not withstood you.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.