Daily Reading for Sunday, July 18th, 2021

Reading 1, Jeremiah 23:1-16

¹ 'Disaster for the shepherds who lose and scatter the sheep of my pasture, Yahweh declares.

² This, therefore, is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd my people, "You have scattered my flock, you have driven them away and have not taken care of them. Right, I shall take care of you for your misdeeds, Yahweh declares!

³ But the remnant of my flock I myself shall gather from all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; they will be fruitful and increase in numbers.

⁴ For them I shall raise up shepherds to shepherd them and pasture them. No fear, no terror for them any more; not one shall be lost, Yahweh declares!

⁵ Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David; he will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country.

⁶ In his days Judah will triumph and Israel live in safety. And this is the name he will be called, 'Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice.' "

⁷ 'So, look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people will no longer say, "As Yahweh lives who brought the Israelites out of Egypt,"

⁸ but, "As Yahweh lives who led back and brought home the offspring of the House of Israel from the land of the north and all the countries to which he had driven them, to live on their own soil." '

⁹ On the prophets. My heart is broken within me, I tremble in all my bones; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome with wine, because of Yahweh and his holy words:

¹⁰ 'For the country is full of adulterers; yes, because of a curse, the country is in mourning and the pasturage in the desert has dried up; they are prompt to do wrong, make no effort to do right.

¹¹ Yes, even prophet and priest are godless, I have detected their wickedness in my own House, Yahweh declares.

¹² Because of this, their way will prove treacherous going for them; in the darkness where they are driven, there they will fall. For I shall bring disaster on them, when the year for punishing them comes, Yahweh declares.

¹³ 'In the prophets of Samaria I have seen insanity: they prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people Israel astray.

¹⁴ But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: adultery, persistent lying, such abetting of the wicked that no one renounces his wickedness. To me they are all like Sodom and its inhabitants are like Gomorrah.

¹⁵ So this is what Yahweh Sabaoth says about the prophets, "Now I shall give them wormwood to eat and make them drink poisoned water, since from the prophets of Jerusalem godlessness has spread throughout the land."

¹⁶ 'Yahweh Sabaoth says this, "Do not listen to what those prophets prophesy to you; they are deluding you, they retail visions of their own, and not what comes from Yahweh's mouth.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

¹ [Psalm Of David] Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

² In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me

³ to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.

⁴ Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.

⁵ You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.

⁶ Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.

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