Thursday, June 24, 2021

 Jeremiah 23:1–22

¹"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. ²Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD. ³"I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.

⁵"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

⁷"So then, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' ⁸but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land."

⁹Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words. ¹⁰The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The [ prophets] follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. ¹¹"Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the LORD. ¹²"Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished," declares the LORD.

¹³"Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. ¹⁴And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah."

¹⁵Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets:

"I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land."

¹⁶This is what the LORD Almighty says:

"Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. ¹⁷They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.' ¹⁸But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? ¹⁹See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. ²⁰The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. ²¹I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. ²²But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

 

 

Psalm 144

¹Of David. Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. ²He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. ³O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? ⁴Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow. ⁵Part your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. ⁶Send forth lightning and scatter [the enemies]; shoot your arrows and rout them. ⁷Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners ⁸whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. ⁹I will sing a new song to you, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, ¹⁰to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword. ¹¹Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. ¹²Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. ¹³Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; ¹⁴our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets. ¹⁵Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.

 

 

Acts 13:42–47

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

" 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' "