Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²⁷ The Lord says: The time will come when I will greatly increase the population and multiply the number of cattle here in Israel. ²⁸ In the past I painstakingly destroyed the nation, but now I will carefully build it up. ²⁹ The people shall no longer quote this proverb—“Children pay for their fathers’ sins.”^{[a] 30} For everyone shall die for his own sins—the person eating sour grapes is the one whose teeth are set on edge.

³¹ The day will come, says the Lord, when I will make a new contract with the people of Israel and Judah. ³² It won’t be like the one I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a contract they broke, forcing me to reject them,^[b] says the Lord. ³³ But this is the new contract I will make with them: I will inscribe my laws upon their hearts,^[c] so that they shall want to honor me; then they shall truly be my people and I will be their God. ³⁴ At that time it will no longer be necessary to admonish one another to know the Lord. For everyone, both great and small, shall really know me then, says the Lord, and I will forgive and forget their sins.

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love them. I think about them all day long. ⁹⁸ They make me wiser than my enemies because they are my constant guide. ⁹⁹ Yes, wiser than my teachers, for I am ever thinking of your rules. ¹⁰⁰ They make me even wiser than the aged.

¹⁰¹ I have refused to walk the paths of evil, for I will remain obedient to your Word. ^102-103 No, I haven’t turned away from what you taught me; your words are sweeter than honey. ¹⁰⁴ And since only your rules can give me wisdom and understanding, no wonder I hate every false teaching.

¹⁴ But you must keep on believing the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know that you can trust those of us who have taught you. ¹⁵ You know how, when you were a small child, you were taught the holy Scriptures; and it is these that make you wise to accept God’s salvation by trusting in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ The whole Bible^[a] was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. ¹⁷ It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.

4 And so I solemnly urge you before God and before Christ Jesus—who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom— ² to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not. Correct and rebuke your people when they need it, encourage them to do right, and all the time be feeding them patiently with God’s Word.

³ For there is going to come a time when people won’t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear. ⁴ They won’t listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas.

⁵ Stand steady, and don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Bring others to Christ. Leave nothing undone that you ought to do.

18 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must keep praying until the answer comes.

² “There was a city judge,” he said, “a very godless man who had great contempt for everyone. ³ A widow of that city came to him frequently to appeal for justice against a man who had harmed her. ^4-5 The judge ignored her for a while, but eventually she got on his nerves.

“‘I fear neither God nor man,’ he said to himself, ‘but this woman bothers me. I’m going to see that she gets justice, for she is wearing me out with her constant coming!’”

⁶ Then the Lord said, “If even an evil judge can be worn down like that, ⁷ don’t you think that God will surely give justice to his people who plead with him day and night? ⁸ Yes! He will answer them quickly! But the question is: When I, the Messiah,^[a] return, how many will I find who have faith and are praying?”