A Call for Repentance Then Yahweh said to me, “Apostate Israel has proved herself more upright than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, apostate Israel,’ ?declares? Yahweh. ‘I will not cause my ?anger? to fall on you. For I am loyal,’ ?declares? Yahweh. ‘I will not be angry ?forever?. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ ?declares? Yahweh.”…
+ DAILY PRAYER +
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 49:1-3, 7-10
Psa 49:1 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
Psa 49:2 both low and high, rich and poor together!
Psa 49:3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
Psa 49:7 Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
Psa 49:8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
Psa 49:9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
Psa 49:10 For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.
Reading for Friday March 13th Jeremiah 3:11-4:4
A Call for Repentance
11 Then Yahweh said to me, “Apostate Israel has proved herself more upright than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
‘Return, apostate Israel,’ ?declares? Yahweh.
‘I will not cause my ?anger? to fall on you.
For I am loyal,’ ?declares? Yahweh.
‘I will not be angry ?forever?.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled,
and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree,
and you have not obeyed my voice,’ ?declares? Yahweh.”
14 “Return, apostate children,” ?declares? Yahweh. “For ?I am your master?, and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. 16 And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days,” ?declares? Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And ?it will not come to mind?, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.
19 Then I thought, ‘How I would set you among the children,
and I would give you a land of desire,
an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.’
And I thought, ‘You would call me, “My father,”
and you would not turn back from ?behind? me.’
20 However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover,
so you have dealt treacherously with me,
O house of Israel,” ?declares? Yahweh.
21 “A voice is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
22 Return, O apostate children,
I will heal your backsliding.
‘Look, we come to you,
for you are Yahweh our God.
23 Surely, an illusion comes from the hills,
the turmoil on the mountains.
Surely, in Yahweh our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 But the shameful thing has devoured
the labor of our ancestors from our youth,
their flocks, and their cattle,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,
and let our disgrace cover us.
For against Yahweh our God we have sinned,
we and our ancestors,
from our youth and until this day.
and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’
4 If you return, O Israel,” ?declares? Yahweh,
“you return to me.
And if you remove your abominations from my ?presence?,
and you do not wander,
2 and you swear, ‘?As Yahweh lives?,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then nations will be blessed by him,
and in him they will boast.”
3 For thus says Yahweh
to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“Break up for yourselves prepared virgin soil,
and you must not sow among thornbushes.
4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh,
and remove the foreskins of your hearts,
men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and burns,
and there is no one who extinguishes it,
because of the evil of your deeds.”
Lord’s Prayer
Daily Prayer
O God, the helper of all who call on You, have mercy on us and give us eyes of faith to see Your Son that we may follow Him on the way that leads to eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Concluding Prayer
Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to direct and rule us to do Your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
