Bible Society of South Africa

Season after Pentecost: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

First reading and Psalm

The Sin of Israel's Ancestors

4Listen to the LORD's message, you descendants of Jacob, you tribes of Israel. 5The LORD says:

“What accusation did your ancestors bring against me?

What made them turn away from me?

They worshipped worthless idols

and became worthless themselves.

6They did not care about me,

even though I rescued them from Egypt

and led them through the wilderness:

a land of deserts and sand dunes,

a dry and dangerous land

where no one lives

and no one will even travel.

7I brought them into a fertile land,

to enjoy its harvests and its other good things.

But instead they ruined my land;

they defiled the country I had given them.

8The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’

My own priests did not know me.

The rulers rebelled against me;

the prophets spoke in the name of Baal

and worshipped useless idols.

The LORD's Case against his People

9“And so I, the LORD, will state my case against my people again.

I will bring charges against their descendants.

10Go west to the island of Cyprus,

and send someone eastwards to the land of Kedar.

You will see that nothing like this has ever happened before.

11No other nation has ever changed its gods,

even though they were not real.

But my people have exchanged me,

the God who has brought them honour,

for gods that can do nothing for them.

12And so I command the sky to shake with horror,

to be amazed and astonished,

13for my people have committed two sins:

they have turned away from me,

the spring of fresh water,

and they have dug cisterns,

cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.

Jeremiah 2:4-13GNBOpen in Bible reader

A Song for a Festival

1Shout for joy to God our defender;

sing praise to the God of Jacob!

Psalms 81:1GNBOpen in Bible reader

10I am the LORD your God,

who brought you out of Egypt.

Open your mouth, and I will feed you.

11“But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not obey me.

12So I let them go their stubborn ways

and do whatever they wanted.

13How I wish my people would listen to me;

how I wish they would obey me!

14I would quickly defeat their enemies

and conquer all their foes.

15Those who hate me would bow in fear before me;

their punishment would last for ever.

16But I would feed you with the finest wheat

and satisfy you with wild honey.”

Psalms 81:10-16GNBOpen in Bible reader
Bible Society of South Africav.4.26.7
Find us on