September 7, 2025

Proper 18 (23)

First Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-11 Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
KJV
¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
²Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
³Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
⁴And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
⁵Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
⁶O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
⁷At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
⁸If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
⁹And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
¹⁰If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
¹¹Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
¹²And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
¹³Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
¹⁵Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths*, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
¹⁶To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing*; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
¹⁷I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
¹⁸Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
¹⁹Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
²⁰Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
²¹Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
²²Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit* to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
²³Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
Psalm: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Psalm 1
KJV
¹And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
²And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
³That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
⁴If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
⁵And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
⁶And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
⁷And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
⁸And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.
⁹And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
¹⁰If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
¹¹For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
¹²It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
¹³Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
¹⁴But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
¹⁵See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
¹⁶In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
¹⁷But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
¹⁸I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
¹⁹I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
²⁰That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Second Reading: Philemon 1:1-21
KJV
¹Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
²And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:
³Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
⁴I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
⁵Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;
⁶That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
⁷For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
⁸Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
⁹Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
¹⁰I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
¹¹Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
¹²Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
¹³Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
¹⁴But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly*.
¹⁵For* perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;
¹⁶Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
¹⁷If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
¹⁸If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
¹⁹I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
²⁰Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.
²¹Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.
²²But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
²³There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
²⁴Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
²⁵The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen*. [Written from Rome to Philemon, by Onesimus a servant.]
Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
KJV
¹And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched* him.
²And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.
³And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
⁴And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;
⁵And answered them*, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
⁶And they could not answer him again to these things.
⁷And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
⁸When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
⁹And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
¹⁰But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
¹¹For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
¹²Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
¹³But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
¹⁴And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot* recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
¹⁵And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
¹⁶Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
¹⁷And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
¹⁸And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
¹⁹And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
²⁰And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot* come.
²¹So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
²²And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
²³And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
²⁴For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
²⁵And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
²⁶If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot* be my disciple.
²⁷And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot* be my disciple.
²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
²⁹Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
³⁰Saying, This* man began to build, and was not able to finish.
³¹Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
³²Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
³³So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath*, he cannot* be my disciple.
³⁴Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
³⁵It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.