Today's Readings: July 11

A Maskil of Asaph.

[1] O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
[2] Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
[3] Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!


[4] Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
[5] They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.
[6] And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
[7] They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
[8] They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.


[9] We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
[10] How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
[11] Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!


[12] Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
[13] You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
[14] You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
[15] You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
[16] Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
[17] You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.


[18] Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
[19] Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.


[20] Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
[21] Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.


[22] Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
[23] Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

[1] Thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon,
against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,
[2] and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
and they shall winnow her,
and they shall empty her land,
when they come against her from every side
on the day of trouble.
[3] Let not the archer bend his bow,
and let him not stand up in his armor.
Spare not her young men;
devote to destruction all her army.
[4] They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and wounded in her streets.
[5] For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the LORD of hosts,
but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt
against the Holy One of Israel.


[6] “Flee from the midst of Babylon;
let every one save his life!
Be not cut off in her punishment,
for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance,
the repayment he is rendering her.
[7] Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine;
therefore the nations went mad.
[8] Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
wail for her!
Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed.
[9] We would have healed Babylon,
but she was not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go
each to his own country,
for her judgment has reached up to heaven
and has been lifted up even to the skies.
[10] The LORD has brought about our vindication;
come, let us declare in Zion
the work of the LORD our God.


[11] “Sharpen the arrows!
Take up the shields!


The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

[12] “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
make the watch strong;
set up watchmen;
prepare the ambushes;
for the LORD has both planned and done
what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
[13] O you who dwell by many waters,
rich in treasures,
your end has come;
the thread of your life is cut.
[14] The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:
Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,
and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.


[15] “It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
[16] When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
[17] Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
[18] They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
[19] Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the LORD of hosts is his name.


[20] “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
with you I break nations in pieces;
with you I destroy kingdoms;
[21] with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
[22] with you I break in pieces man and woman;
with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;
with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
[23] with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.


[24] “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD.

[25] “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
declares the LORD,
which destroys the whole earth;
I will stretch out my hand against you,
and roll you down from the crags,
and make you a burnt mountain.
[26] No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste,
declares the LORD.


[27] “Set up a standard on the earth;
blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
summon against her the kingdoms,
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like bristling locusts.
[28] Prepare the nations for war against her,
the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
and every land under their dominion.
[29] The land trembles and writhes in pain,
for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand,
to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
[30] The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
they remain in their strongholds;
their strength has failed;
they have become women;
her dwellings are on fire;
her bars are broken.
[31] One runner runs to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to tell the king of Babylon
that his city is taken on every side;
[32] the fords have been seized,
the marshes are burned with fire,
and the soldiers are in panic.
[33] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while
and the time of her harvest will come.”


[34] “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me;
he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster;
he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
he has rinsed me out.
[35] The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
let the inhabitant of Zion say.
“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
let Jerusalem say.
[36] Therefore thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I will plead your cause
and take vengeance for you.
I will dry up her sea
and make her fountain dry,
[37] and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
the haunt of jackals,
a horror and a hissing,
without inhabitant.


[38] “They shall roar together like lions;
they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
[39] While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
then sleep a perpetual sleep
and not wake, declares the LORD.
[40] I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams and male goats.


[41] “How Babylon is taken,
the praise of the whole earth seized!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
[42] The sea has come up on Babylon;
she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
[43] Her cities have become a horror,
a land of drought and a desert,
a land in which no one dwells,
and through which no son of man passes.
[44] And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer flow to him;
the wall of Babylon has fallen.


[45] “Go out of the midst of her, my people!
Let every one save his life
from the fierce anger of the LORD!
[46] Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
at the report heard in the land,
when a report comes in one year
and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
and ruler is against ruler.


[47] “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
[48] Then the heavens and the earth,
and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the LORD.
[49] Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.


[50] “You who have escaped from the sword,
go, do not stand still!
Remember the LORD from far away,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
[51] ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
dishonor has covered our face,
for foreigners have come
into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’


[52] “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,
when I will execute judgment upon her images,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
[53] Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
declares the LORD.


[54] “A voice! A cry from Babylon!
The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
[55] For the LORD is laying Babylon waste
and stilling her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like many waters;
the noise of their voice is raised,
[56] for a destroyer has come upon her,
upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
their bows are broken in pieces,
for the LORD is a God of recompense;
he will surely repay.
[57] I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.


[58] “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
The peoples labor for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”


[59] The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. [60] Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. [61] And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, [62] and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ [63] When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, [64] and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

[1] Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
[2] for I give you good precepts;
do not forsake my teaching.
[3] When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
[4] he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live.
[5] Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
[6] Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
[7] The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
[8] Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
[9] She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”


[10] Hear, my son, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
[11] I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
[12] When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
[13] Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
[14] Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
[15] Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
[16] For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
[17] For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
[18] But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
[19] The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.


[20] My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
[21] Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
[22] For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.
[23] Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
[24] Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
[25] Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
[26] Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
[27] Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

[1] Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? [2] For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. [3] Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

[4] Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. [5] For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. [6] But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

[7] What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” [8] But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. [9] I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. [10] The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. [11] For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. [12] So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

[13] Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. [14] For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15] For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18] For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

[21] So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22] For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23] but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.