Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord,for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me,the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves,cracked cisterns that can hold no water. From Jeremiah 2:1-3,7-8,12-13, NRSV This sternly worded message to the people of Israel follows on from a poignant…
Read more
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me,‘Do not say, “I…
Read more
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession?He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in showing clemency.He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the…
Read more
‘O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery;and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. From Micah 6:1-4,6-8, NRSV The line “O my people, what have I done to you?”…
Read more
And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf…
Read more
Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds!…. Therefore, thus says the Lord:Now, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot remove your necks;and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. From Micah 2:1-5, NRSV The prophet Micah speaks of the downfall that…
Read more
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord: ‘Remember now, O Lord,…
Read more
Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead. From Isaiah 26:7-9,12,16-19, NRSV At the end of psalm which begins with some thoughts about how to live righteous lives and progresses through…
Read more
Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger— the club in their hands is my fury!Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him,to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.But this is not what he intends, nor does he have…
Read more
Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps…
Read more
