Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
This is the prayer of a man who is weak and in trouble. He tells the Lord that he is very sad.
A young man's prayer[a]
102 Lord, please hear my prayer!
Listen to me when I call to you for help.
2 Now that I am in trouble,
please do not turn away from me.
Listen carefully to me.
Now that I am calling to you for help,
please answer me quickly.
3 My life is quickly disappearing,
like smoke from a fire.
My bones hurt very much,
as if they were burning in an oven.[b]
4 I am very weak and upset,
like dry grass that will soon die.
I even forget to eat my food.
5 I cry aloud with pain,
so that I am just skin and bones.[c]
6 I am like a wild bird in the desert.
I am like an owl in the wilderness.
7 I am awake in the night,
like a bird that sits alone on the roof.
8 All day my enemies insult me.
They laugh at me
and they use my name as a curse.
9-10 Because you are so angry with me,
I eat ashes as my food.
My tears drop
into the water that I drink.
It seems that you have picked me up,
and then you have thrown me away.
11 My days are disappearing,
like a shadow in the evening.
Like dry grass,
I will soon die.
12 But you, Lord, rule for ever as king.
People will always remember you.
13 You will soon be kind to Zion again.
Now it is time to forgive her.
Yes, the time is now right for you to do that.
14 Her buildings have become broken stones and dust.
But your servants still love your city.
We are sad to see that it is broken down.
15 The nations will respect the Lord's name.
All the kings of the world
will praise your glory.
16 That will happen when the Lord builds Zion again
and he appears there in his glory.
17 He will answer the prayers
of poor people who have nothing.
He will not refuse to help them.
Jeremiah's vision of a cup of wine
15 The Lord, Israel's God, said to me, ‘Take this cup from me. It is full of wine that shows my great anger. Take it to the nations where I send you. Make them drink this wine of punishment. 16 When they drink it, they will walk like people who are drunk. They will seem to be crazy, because they know that I will send armies to attack them.’
17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand. In my vision, I took it to the nations where the Lord sent me. I made them drink the wine of his punishment. 18 I went to Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. I made the people of Judah, its kings and its officers drink from the cup. It was to destroy them all. Judah would become a terrible place. People would see that its people are very foolish. They would use their name as a curse. That is already happening today.
19 I also took the cup of punishment to these people:
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his officers, his servants and his people;
20 the foreign people who lived in Egypt;
all the kings of Uz;
all the kings of the Philistines (They were the kings of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the people who were still living in Ashdod);
21 the people of Edom, Moab and Ammon;
22 all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon;
the kings of the nations around the Mediterranean Sea;
23 the people of Dedan, Tema, and Buz;
the people who live in the desert and who cut their hair short;
24 all the kings of Arabia and the kings of the tribes who live in the desert;
25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media;
26 all the kings of the nations in the north, those who live near together and those who live far apart;
the people of all the other kingdoms everywhere on the earth.
Finally, the king of Babylon will have to drink the wine of the Lord's great anger.
27 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them that the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “Drink the wine from this cup until you become drunk. Drink so much that you are sick. Drink it until you fall down and cannot get up again, because you know that I will send armies to attack you.”
28 But people may refuse to take the cup from you. They may refuse to drink from it. Then you must tell them that the Lord Almighty says this: “You must drink this wine of my punishment! 29 I have already begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that is my special home. So do not think that I will leave you other nations alone! I will certainly punish you too. I will send war against everyone who lives on the earth. That is what the Lord Almighty says will happen!”
30 Now Jeremiah, prophesy this message against them:
“The Lord will shout from his high place above.
He will roar like a lion that is ready to attack his land.
He will make a noise like thunder from his holy home.
He will shout aloud like people who are stamping on grapes
to make wine.
He will shout against everyone who lives on the earth.
31 People everywhere will hear his message.
The Lord will accuse the nations of their sins,
and he will judge all the people on the earth.
He will send war to kill all the wicked people.”
That is what the Lord says.
32 The Lord Almighty also says this:
“Listen to me! Great trouble will come to every single nation.
War will come like a great storm
from the ends of the earth.”
Jesus sends out his 12 apostles
5 Jesus sent out these 12 disciples. Before they left, he said to them, ‘Do not go to any place where the people are Gentiles. And do not go to towns where only Samaritans live.[a] 6 Instead, you must go to the people of Israel. They are like lost sheep with nobody to take care of them. 7 While you travel, you must tell people about the kingdom of heaven. You must tell them that it has now become near. 8 Make sick people well again. Cause dead people to become alive again. If people have a bad disease of the skin, make them well again. Send bad spirits out of people to leave them. God has been very kind to you, so you should be kind to other people. When you help people, do not ask them for money. 9 Do not take any money in your purses. 10 Do not take a bag with you, or extra clothes. Do not take extra shoes or a stick. You are working to help people. So people should give you what you need to live.
11 When you arrive in a town or a village, look for a good person there. Continue to stay in that person's house until you leave there. 12 When you go into the house, say to the people there, “We pray that you will be well.” 13 If the people of that house accept you, then everyone in the house will be well. But if they do not accept you, then take back your kind words. 14 Sometimes you will go to some house or town and the people will not accept you there. They will not listen to your message. Then you should leave. Clean the dirt of that place off your feet. 15 I tell you this: One day God will punish people like that. God will punish them even more than the people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah long ago.’[b]
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