Scripture Readings week of August 18, 2025

Deuteronomy 13:1-4

¹If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and promise you omens or portents,

² and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them’,

³ you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

⁴ The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.

Matthew 4:18-22

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen.

19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’

20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.

22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

⁵ ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’

⁶ Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’

 ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;for you shall go to all to whom I send you,and you shall speak whatever I command you.

⁸ Do not be afraid of them,for I am with you to deliver you,says the Lord.’

⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,to pluck up and to pull down,to destroy and to overthrow,to build and to plant.’

Psalm 71:1-6

Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help

¹ In you, O Lord, I take refuge;    let me never be put to shame.

² In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;    incline your ear to me and save me.

³ Be to me a rock of refuge,    a strong fortress,^[a] to save me,    for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴ Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵ For you, O Lord, are my hope,    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

⁶ Upon you I have leaned from my birth;    it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.My praise is continually of you.

Hebrews 12:18-29

¹⁸ You have not come to something^[a] that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. ²⁰ (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ ²¹ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’) ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly^[b] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵ See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ ²⁷ This phrase ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

1.     Hebrews 12:18 Other ancient authorities read a mountain

2.     Hebrews 12:23 Or angels, and to the festal gathering ²³ and assembly

Luke 13:10-17

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. ¹¹ And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ ¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. ¹⁴ But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ ¹⁵ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ ¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.