Genesis 45:3-1 The older brothers of Joseph, who had sold their younger brother  into slavery when he was still a child, go to Egypt for food during a famine.  There, they encounter Joseph who reveals to them his identity, “I … Continue reading →

Jeremiah 17:5-10 Jeremiah presents to our imaginations two starkly different images.  One image is of a scraggly bush struggling to survive in the desert or on a salt flat; the other is of a mighty tree, flourishing with a root … Continue reading →

Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) Unlike Jeremiah’s response to his call to speak for the Lord (see last Sunday’s reading), Isaiah’s reluctance is due to his feeling of unworthiness, which makes God’s call the more astounding.  After a vision of “the Lord … Continue reading →

Jeremiah 1:4-10 The prophet describes his call when he was still a young boy.  The Lord speaks directly to Jeremiah and tells him that “before you were born I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah … Continue reading →

Nehemiah 8: 1-3,5-6,8-10 The return of God’s people from exile in Babylon happened sporadically and with some difficulty.  The rebuilding of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem with the re-establishment of religious and civic order made progress and then … Continue reading →

Isaiah 62: 1-5 After a long, unexplained silence, the Lord speaks, the Book of Isaiah reports, and it is a damn-burst!  The Lord announces a “vindication” for the Lord’s people that will be the cause for a “new name that … Continue reading →

Numbers 6: 22-27 Embedded in this amended and expanded account of God’s people wandering in the wilderness for forty years in the book of Numbers is a priestly blessing, which has become iconic in synagogue and church.  Its origin is from the … Continue reading →

Joel 2:23-27 Prompted by the destruction caused by a wave of “locusts” that utterly wiped out the crops, this text, attributed to a “Joel,” addresses the “soil” and the “animals” and then the “children of Zion” with assurance that all will … Continue reading →

II Samuel 23:1-7 This version of David’s story concludes with what are characterized as his “last words.”  David lists the attributes  with which he was endowed: skill with words, favor with God, his lineage as the “son of Jesse,” “the … Continue reading →

I Samuel 1:4-20 When Elkanah [perhaps a son of Korah who led the revolt against Moses] made sacrifice, he gave some portion to one wife, Penniah, but to another wife, Hannah, he gave a double portion, because he loved her, … Continue reading →