READINGS: LENT THURSDAY VI
(no invitatory or hymn)
PSALMS and BACK
קָמוּ־בִי עֵדֵי־שֶׁקֶר — וִיפֵחַ חָמָס
Even Years: Jeremiah 20:2-18 2 וַיַּכֶּה
פַשְׁחוּר
אֵת
יִרְמְיָהוּ
הַנָּבִיא
וַיִּתֵּן
אֹתוֹ
עַל־הַמַּהְפֶּכֶת
אֲשֶׁר
בְּשַׁעַר
בִּנְיָמִן
הָעֶלְיוֹן
אֲשֶׁר
בְּבֵית
יְהוָה׃
| 2 Pashhur struck the prophet Jeremiah and then put him in the stocks, in the Upper Benjamin Gate leading into the Temple of Yahweh. 3 Next day, Pashhur had Jeremiah taken out of the stocks; Jeremiah then said to him, 'Not Pashhur but Terror-on-every-Side is Yahweh's name for you. 4 For Yahweh says this, "I am going to hand you over to terror, you and all your friends; they will fall by the sword of their enemies, your own eyes will see it. The whole of Judah, too, I shall hand over to the king of Babylon; he will carry them off captive to Babylon and put them to the sword. 5 And all the wealth of this city, all its stores, all its valuables, all the treasures of the kings of Judah, I shall hand over to their enemies who will plunder them, round them up and carry them off to Babylon. 6 As for you, Pashhur, and your whole household, you will go into captivity; you will go to Babylon; there you will die, and there be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies."' 7 You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger. I am a laughing-stock all day long, they all make fun of me. 8 For whenever I speak, I have to howl and proclaim, 'Violence and ruin!' For me, Yahweh's word has been the cause of insult and derision all day long. 9 I would say to myself, 'I will not think about him, I will not speak in his name any more,' but then there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones. The effort to restrain it wearied me, I could not do it. 10 I heard so many disparaging me, 'Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!' All those who were on good terms with me watched for my downfall, 'Perhaps he will be seduced into error. Then we shall get the better of him and take our revenge!' 11 But Yahweh is at my side like a mighty hero; my opponents will stumble, vanquished, confounded by their failure; everlasting, unforgettable disgrace will be theirs. 12 Yahweh Sabaoth, you who test the upright, observer of motives and thoughts, I shall see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you. 13 Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the soul of one in need from the clutches of evil doers. 14 A curse on the day when I was born! May the day my mother bore me be unblessed! 15 A curse on the man who brought my father the news, 'A son, a boy has been born to you!' making him overjoyed. 16 May this man be like the towns that Yahweh overthrew without mercy; may he hear the warning-cry at dawn and the shout of battle at high noon, 17 for not killing me in the womb; my mother would have been my grave and her womb pregnant for ever. 18 Why ever did I come out of the womb to see toil and sorrow and end my days in shame? |
Odd Years: Lamentations 2:10-22 10 יֵשְׁבוּ
לָאָרֶץ
יִדְּמוּ
זִקְנֵי
בַת־צִיּוֹן
הֶעֱלוּ
עָפָר
עַל־רֹאשָׁם
חָגְרוּ
שַׂקִּים
הוֹרִידוּ
לָאָרֶץ
רֹאשָׁן בְּתוּלֹת
יְרוּשָׁלִָם׃
ס
10 Mute, they sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have put dust on their heads and wrapped themselves in sackcloth. The young girls of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground. 11 My eyes are worn out with weeping, my inmost being is in ferment, my heart plummets at the destruction of my young people, as the children and babies grow faint in the streets of the city. 12 They keep saying to their mothers, 'Where is some food?' as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as they breathe their last on their mothers' breasts. 13 To what can I compare or liken you, daughter of Jerusalem? Who can rescue and comfort you, young daughter of Zion? For huge as the sea is your ruin: who can heal you? 14 The visions your prophets had for you were deceptive whitewash; they did not lay bare your guilt so as to change your fortunes: the visions they told you were deceptive. 15 All who pass your way clap their hands at the sight; they whistle and shake their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem, 'Is this the city they call Perfection of Beauty, the joy of the whole world?' 16 Your enemies open their mouths in chorus against you; they whistle and grind their teeth; they say, 'We have swallowed her up. This is the day we were waiting for; at last we have seen it!' 17 Yahweh has done what he planned, has carried out his threat, as he ordained long ago: he has destroyed without pity, increasing the might of your foes—and letting your foes get the credit. 18 Cry then to the Lord, rampart of the daughter of Zion; let your tears flow like a torrent, day and night; allow yourself no respite, give your eyes no rest! 19 Up, cry out in the night-time as each watch begins! Pour your heart out like water in Yahweh's presence! Raise your hands to him for the lives of your children (who faint with hunger at the end of every street)! 20 Look, Yahweh, and consider: whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their little ones, the children they have nursed? Should priest and prophet be slaughtered in the Lord's sanctuary? 21 Children and old people are lying on the ground in the streets; my young men and young girls have fallen by the sword; you have killed them, on the day of your anger, you have slaughtered them pitilessly. 22 As though to a festival you called together terrors from all sides, so that, on the day of Yahweh's anger, none escaped and none survived. Those whom I had nursed and reared, my enemy has annihilated them all.
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Even Years: Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 23A, on the Old Testament, 2-3 (CCL 41, 322) Vix enim pro iusto quis moritur, nam pro bono forsitam quis audeat mori. forte inuenitur aliquis qui audeat mori pro bono. pro iniusto autem, pro impio, pro iniquo quis uelit mori, nisi christus solus, ita iustus ut etiam iniustos iustificaret? Nulla ergo, fratres mei, bona opera habebamus, sed omnia mala. cum ergo talia essent facta hominum, non deseruit homines misericordia ipsius. et cum digni essent poena, ille pro poena quae debebatur, donauit gratiam quae non debebatur. et misit filium suum, ut redimeret nos, non auro, non argento, sed praetio fusi sanguinis sui, agnus immaculatus ad uictimam ductus pro ouibus maculatis, si uel maculatis, et non totis infectis. accepimus ergo hanc gratiam. digne uiuamus ipsa gratia quam accepimus, ne tantae gratiae iniuriam faciamus. medicus tantus uenit ad nos, dimisit omnia peccata nostra. si uolumus iterum aegrotare, non solum in nos perniciosi erimus, sed etiam medico ingrati. Sequamur ergo uias ipsius quas nobis ostendit, praecipue humilitatis uiam, quod factus est nobis ipse. ostendit enim nobis uiam humilitatis praeceptis, et fecit illam patiendo pro nobis. non enim pateretur, nisi se humilaret. Quis occideret deum, nisi se humilaret deus? christus enim filius dei, et filius dei utique deus. ipse est filius dei, uerbum dei, de quo dicit iohannes: in principio erat uerbum, et uerbum erat aput deum, et deus erat uerbum. hoc erat in principio aput deum. omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil. quis occideret, per quem omnia facta sunt, et sine quo factum est nihil? quis illum occidere posset, nisi se ipse humilaret? Sed quomodo se humilauit? dicit ipse iohannes: uerbum caro factum est et habitauit in nobis. uerbum enim dei non posset occidi. ut posset ergo pro nobis mori, quod mori non poterat, uerbum caro factum est et habitauit in nobis. immortalis suscepit mortalitatem, ut moreretur pro nobis, et morte sua occideret mortem nostram. Hoc fecit dominus, hoc nobis praestitit. magnus humilatus est, humilatus occisus, occisus et resurgens et exaltatus, ut mortuos nos non relinqueret in inferno, sed exaltaret in se in resurrectione mortuorum, quos exaltauit modo in fide et confessione iustorum. |
Odd Years: Melito of Sardis, Easter homily, 65-71 (SC 123, 95-101)
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