The Parable of the Unjust Judge, 1628 by Pieter de Grebber, Oil on Oak Panel at the Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, October 20 are from Lectionary Year C, Proper 24: Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104 or Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 and Luke 18:1-8. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Jeremiah 31:27-34

²⁷ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. ²⁸ Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD. ²⁹ “In those days people will no longer say,

    ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
         and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
³⁰ Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. ³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, ” declares the LORD. ³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Psalm 119:97-104

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
     I meditate on it all day long.

⁹⁸ Your commands are always with me
     and make me wiser than my enemies.

⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers,
     for I meditate on your statutes.

¹⁰⁰ I have more understanding than the elders,
     for I obey your precepts.

¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path
     so that I might obey your word.

¹⁰² I have not departed from your laws,
     for you yourself have taught me.

¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
     sweeter than honey to my mouth!

¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
     therefore I hate every wrong path.

or Genesis 32:22-31

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. ²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” ²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” ³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
     where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
     the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
     he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
     will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
     the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
     nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
     he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
     both now and forevermore.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

¹ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Luke 18:1-8

¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.