Sunday, May 30, 2021

 Jeremiah 6:1–15

¹"Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction. ²I will destroy the Daughter of Zion, so beautiful and delicate. ³Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion."

⁴"Prepare for battle against her! Arise, let us attack at noon! But, alas, the daylight is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long. ⁵So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!"

⁶This is what the LORD Almighty says:

"Cut down the trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression. ⁷As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; her sickness and wounds are ever before me. ⁸Take warning, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it."

⁹This is what the LORD Almighty says:

"Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes."

¹⁰To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. ¹¹But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in.

"Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. ¹²Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land," declares the LORD. ¹³"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. ¹⁴They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace. ¹⁵Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the LORD.

 

 

Psalm 119:153–160

¹⁵³Look upon my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law. ¹⁵⁴Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise. ¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. ¹⁵⁶Your compassion is great, O LORD; preserve my life according to your laws. ¹⁵⁷Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. ¹⁵⁸I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey your word. ¹⁵⁹See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love. ¹⁶⁰All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.

 

 

Acts 3:11–26

¹¹While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. ¹²When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. ¹⁶By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

¹⁷"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. ¹⁸But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. ¹⁹Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. ²¹He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. ²²For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. ²³Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'

²⁴"Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. ²⁵And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.' ²⁶When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."