Jer. 6:1–15

6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem!

Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!

Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!

For disaster lurks out of the north;

it will bring great destruction.

2I will destroy Daughter Zion,

who is as delicate and defenseless as a young maiden.

3Kings will attack her with their armies.

They will encamp in siege all around her.

Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.

4They will say, ‘Prepare to do battle against it!

Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’

But later they will say, ‘Woe to us!

For the day is almost over,

and the shadows of evening are getting long.

5So come on, let’s go ahead and attack it by night

and destroy all its fortified buildings.’

6All this is because the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said:

‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem

and build up a siege ramp against its walls.

This is the city that is to be punished.

Nothing but oppression happens in it.

7As a well continually pours out fresh water,

so it continually pours out wicked deeds.

Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it.

All I see are sick and wounded people.’

8So take warning, Jerusalem,

or I will abandon you in disgust

and make you desolate,

a place where no one can live.”

9This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies said to me:

“Those who remain in Israel will be

like the grapes thoroughly gleaned from a vine.

So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester

passing your hand over the branches one last time.”

10I answered,

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them?

Their ears are so closed

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, the Lord’s message is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all.

11I am as full of anger as you are, Lord.

I am tired of trying to hold it in.”

The Lord answered,

“Vent it, then, on the children who play in the street

and on the young men who are gathered together.

Husbands and wives are to be included,

as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

12Their houses will be turned over to others

as will their fields and their wives.

For I will unleash my power

against those who live in this land,”

says the Lord.

13“That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all of them practice deceit.

14They offer only superficial help

for the harm my people have suffered.

They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’

But everything is not all right!

15Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things?

No, they are not at all ashamed.

They do not even know how to blush!

So they will die, just like others have died.

They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,”

says the Lord.

Ps. 119:153–160

119:153 ר (Resh)

See my pain and rescue me.

For I do not forget your law.

154Fight for me and defend me.

Revive me with your word.

155The wicked have no chance for deliverance,

for they do not seek your statutes.

156Your compassion is great, O Lord.

Revive me, as you typically do.

157The enemies who chase me are numerous.

Yet I do not turn aside from your rules.

158I take note of the treacherous and despise them,

because they do not keep your instructions.

159See how I love your precepts.

O Lord, revive me with your loyal love.

160Your instructions are totally reliable;

all your just regulations endure.

Acts 3:11–26

3:11 While the man was hanging on to Peter and John, all the people, completely astounded, ran together to them in the covered walkway called Solomon’s Portico. 12When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or piety? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate after he had decided to release him. 14But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! 16And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man—whom you see and know—strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. 17And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too. 18But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets—that his Christ would suffer—he has fulfilled in this way. 19Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, 20so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus. 21This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets. 22Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. 23Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’ 24And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days. 25You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ 26God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.”