Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

The Call of Jeremiah

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

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(D)I do not know how to speak, ^(E)for I am only a youth.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

^9 (I)Then the Lord put out his hand and ^(J)touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (C)If I give away all I have, and ^(D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (E)Love is patient and ^(F)kind; love ^(G)does not envy or boast; it ^(H)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(I)does not insist on its own way; it ^(J)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(K)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(L)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (M)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(N)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(O)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(P)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For ^(Q)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(R)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(S)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Passover with the Disciples

^12 (A)And on ^(B)the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they ^(C)sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ¹³ And he sent ^(D)two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, ¹⁴ and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ^(E)‘The Teacher says, Where is ^(F)my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵ And he will show you ^(G)a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” ¹⁶ And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

^17 (H)And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. ¹⁸ And as they were reclining at table and eating, ^(I)Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, ^(J)one who is eating with me.” ¹⁹ They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” ²⁰ He said to them, “It is ^(K)one of the twelve, ^(L)one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. ²¹ For the Son of Man goes ^(M)as it is written of him, but ^(N)woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! ^(O)It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

Institution of the Lord's Supper

^22 (P)And as they were eating, he took bread, and after ^(Q)blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; ^(R)this is my body.” ²³ And he took a cup, and when he had ^(S)given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. ²⁴ And he said to them, ^(T)“This is my ^(U)blood of the^[a] covenant, which is poured out for ^(V)many. ²⁵ Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Benediction

²⁰ Now ^(A)may the God of peace ^(B)who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, ^(C)the great shepherd of the sheep, by ^(D)the blood of the eternal covenant, ^21 (E)equip you with everything good that you may do his will, ^(F)working in us^[a] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, ^(G)to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.