Today’s Readings: Mon 8 Apr 2024

Jeremiah 31–32

31:1“At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

2Thus says the LORD:“The people who survived the swordfound grace in the wilderness;when Israel sought for rest,3the LORD appeared to him from far away.I have loved you with an everlasting love;therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.4Again I will build you, and you shall be built,O virgin Israel!Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourinesand shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.5Again you shall plant vineyardson the mountains of Samaria;the planters shall plantand shall enjoy the fruit.6For there shall be a day when watchmen will callin the hill country of Ephraim:‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,to the LORD our God.’” 7For thus says the LORD:“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;proclaim, give praise, and say,‘O LORD, save your people,the remnant of Israel.’8Behold, I will bring them from the north countryand gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,among them the blind and the lame,the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;a great company, they shall return here.9With weeping they shall come,and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,I will make them walk by brooks of water,in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,for I am a father to Israel,and Ephraim is my firstborn. 10“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,and declare it in the coastlands far away;say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’11For the LORD has ransomed Jacoband has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,over the grain, the wine, and the oil,and over the young of the flock and the herd;their life shall be like a watered garden,and they shall languish no more.13Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,and the young men and the old shall be merry.I will turn their mourning into joy;I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.14I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,declares the LORD.” 15Thus says the LORD:“A voice is heard in Ramah,lamentation and bitter weeping.Rachel is weeping for her children;she refuses to be comforted for her children,because they are no more.” 16Thus says the LORD:“Keep your voice from weeping,and your eyes from tears,for there is a reward for your work,declares the LORD,and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.17There is hope for your future,declares the LORD,and your children shall come back to their own country.18I have heard Ephraim grieving,‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,like an untrained calf;bring me back that I may be restored,for you are the LORD my God.19For after I had turned away, I relented,and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh;I was ashamed, and I was confounded,because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’20Is Ephraim my dear son?Is he my darling child?For as often as I speak against him,I do remember him still.Therefore my heart yearns for him;I will surely have mercy on him,declares the LORD. 21“Set up road markers for yourself;make yourself guideposts;consider well the highway,the road by which you went.Return, O virgin Israel,return to these your cities.22How long will you waver,O faithless daughter?For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth:a woman encircles a man.”

23Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes:

“‘The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness,O holy hill!’

24And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

26At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

27“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD. 29In those days they shall no longer say:

“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

35Thus says the LORD,who gives the sun for light by dayand the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is his name:36“If this fixed order departsfrom before me, declares the LORD,then shall the offspring of Israel ceasefrom being a nation before me forever.” 37Thus says the LORD:“If the heavens above can be measured,and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,then I will cast off all the offspring of Israelfor all that they have done,declares the LORD.”

38“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

32:1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; 4Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

6Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: 7Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

9“And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. 11Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. 12And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. 13I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, 14‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. 15For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

16“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: 17‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. 18You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, 19great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. 21You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. 22And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. 24Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. 25Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

26The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? 28Therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. 29The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the LORD. 31This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight 32because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. 34They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

36“Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

42“For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. 43Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD.”

Mark 1:29–34

29And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Psalm 72:12–20

12For he delivers the needy when he calls,the poor and him who has no helper.13He has pity on the weak and the needy,and saves the lives of the needy.14From oppression and violence he redeems their life,and precious is their blood in his sight. 15Long may he live;may gold of Sheba be given to him!May prayer be made for him continually,and blessings invoked for him all the day!16May there be abundance of grain in the land;on the tops of the mountains may it wave;may its fruit be like Lebanon;and may people blossom in the citieslike the grass of the field!17May his name endure forever,his fame continue as long as the sun!May people be blessed in him,all nations call him blessed! 18Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,who alone does wondrous things.19Blessed be his glorious name forever;may the whole earth be filled with his glory!Amen and Amen! 20The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Proverbs 9:7–9

7Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.8Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;reprove a wise man, and he will love you.9Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.