Jeremiah 1:4-10 and/or Isaiah 58:9b-14 What It’s About: Isaiah and Jeremiah are two of the greatest and most important prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and these passages serve as short synopses or thesis statements for the two books. They do so in different ways, though. The Jeremiah text is from the very beginning of the book–probably, actually, the “original” beginning (if we can really speak of an original in a text like this), since verses 1-3 were probably a later editorial... Read more

Isaiah 5:1-7 and/or Jeremiah 23:23-29 What It’s About: Both of these passages are unusual in their own ways. Neither fits very easily into the normal prophetic categories. But both are quite beautiful. The Isaiah passage is a strange interruption into the narrative of the book; it is a poem or a song, sung by the prophet. It seems to be sung on behalf of another (“my beloved”), who might be a friend.The song is about a vineyard, which is carefully tended,... Read more

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 and/or Genesis 15:1-6 What It’s About: These are both texts about beginnings–of a sort. The Isaiah text is the prophet’s opening salvo, some of the first words in his book, and this passage gives a sense of the angry condemnation that’s coming in the rest of the chapters and verses. The Genesis text is the story of God’s revelation to Abram that he will father a child with Sarai, and therefore continue his lineage, and indeed have numerous descendants.... Read more

Hosea 11:1-11 and/or Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23 What It’s About: These are pretty distinct texts, and it would take some creativity to read them together. The Hosea text is a heart-rending passage that is told from the perspective of God as parent, and Israel as a child. Israel has been a disobedient child (in the text) though, and God is faced with the question of how to handle the nation. Real pathos pervades the passage, as the struggles of a parent... Read more

Hosea 1:2-10 What It’s About: Hosea has perhaps the most memorable opening section of any of the minor prophets, because it is there that the conceit of the whole book is introduced. Israel (the northern kingdom, to which Hosea’s prophecy is addressed) and its relationship to God is likened to Hosea’s relationship with his wife Gomer. Gomer, “a wife of whoredom,” was unfaithful to Hosea, in the same way (we are to understand) that Israel was unfaithful to God. This image... Read more

Normally, I comment on the Hebrew Bible, Gospel, and Epistle readings for the week. This week, however, I am focusing on the reading from the Hebrew Bible, which comes from Amos, because it speaks in uniquely powerful ways to the historical moment in which we live.   Amos 8:1-12 What It’s About: Amos could not have known, thousands of years ago when he was delivering his prophetic oracles, that they would someday appear in the lectionary at this particular moment in... Read more

2 Kings 5:1-14 and/or Isaiah 66:10-14 What It’s About: These passages really don’t have a ton to do with each other. The 2 Kings passage is about Naaman, a mighty warrior with leprosy, and a servant girl, unnamed, who suggests to him that he could be healed by a prophet of her homeland, Israel. The Isaiah text is a classic text of consolation–casting both Jerusalem and God’s self as mothering, feminine figures. The common thread is the feminine–in the girl’s case... Read more

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 and/or 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 What It’s About: These are stories about Elijah and his relationship to Elisha. They are both about succession and the transmission of power and authority from one person to the next, and from one generation to the next. In the 2 Kings story, we see a very intentional, planned transition; the narrator tells us that Elijah is about to be taken up into heaven, and Elijah is aware that it is happening. Elisha... Read more

1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a and/or Isaiah 65:1-9 What It’s About: Both of these passages are in some way about God’s call and human response. The 1 Kings reading relates the threat to Elijah’s life on the part of Jezebel, and his journey to a cave at Horeb, where he waited for God’s presence. Along the way there were several call-and-response moments, in which God made a demand and Elijah responded. And the Isaiah reading, from the penultimate chapter of the book,... Read more

1 Kings 21:1-21a and/or 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15 What It’s About: These are both stories about the abuse of power and the use of subterfuge to achieve aims. In both cases, kings desired something that did not belong to them–in Ahab’s case a vineyard, and in David’s case a woman–and in both cases they employed murder to get it. In 1 Kings we get the story of the plot itself, and how Ahab was convinced by Jezebel to set the plot into... Read more