JESUS Inaugurates HIS Mission.

       After John had been arrested, JESUS came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of GOD, and saying, "The time of fulfillment has arrived, and the kingdom of GOD is close at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

GOSPEL OF MARK: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 14 & 15

JESUS Is Tempted in the Desert.

       THE SPIRIT immediately drove HIM out into the desert. HE remained there for forty days, during which time HE was tempted by Satan. HE lived there among the wild beasts, while the angels ministered to HIM.

GOSPEL OF MARK: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 12 & 13

JESUS Is Baptized by John.

       At that time, JESUS came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And as HE was coming up out of the water, HE beheld the heavens break open and THE SPIRIT descending upon HIM like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "YOU are MY BELOVED SON; in YOU I AM well pleased."

GOSPEL OF MARK: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 9 - 11

Beginning of the Good News.

The beginning of the gospel of JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.

       It is written in the prophet Isaiah:

       "Behold, I am sending MY messenger

              ahead of YOU;

          he will prepare YOUR way.

       The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

       'Prepare the way of THE LORD,

          make HIS paths straight.' "

Hence, John the Baptist appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People from the entire Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him, and as they confessed their sins they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

       John was clothed in a garment of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food consisted of locusts and wild honey. And this was the message he proclaimed: "One who is far more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy even to stoop down and loosen the straps of HIS sandals. I have baptized you with water, but HE will baptize you with THE HOLY SPIRIT."

GOSPEL OF MARK: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 1 - 8

Meeting in Babylon.

Following are the words of the book composed by Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah, in Babylon, on the seventh day of the month, during the fifth year after the Chaldeans had captured Jerusalem and destroyed it by fire. Baruch read aloud the text of this book to Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and to all those who came to hear his words: to the nobles, the princes, the elders, and the entire populace of both exalted and lowly rank--that is, all the people who lived in Babylon by the River Sud.

       Then they wept and fasted and raised their voices in prayer before THE LORD. A collection was made, with all contributing as much money as they could. They sent the proceeds of this collection to Jerusalem, to the high priest Jehoiakim, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, and to the priests and all the people who were with him in Jerusalem. At the same time, on the tenth day of the month Sivan, Baruch took the vessels of the house of THE LORD that had been stolen from the temple and returned them to the land of Judah. These were the silver vessels that Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, had ordered to be made, after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported Jeconiah from Jerusalem together with the princes, artisans, nobles, and the people, and brought them to Babylon as captives.

BARUCH: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 1 - 9

A Message to Jerusalem.

       This is the message they sent: "Use this money we are sending you to purchase burnt offerings, sin offerings, and frankincense, and to prepare grain offerings. Offer these on the altar of THE LORD, our GOD, along with prayers for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his son Belshazzar, that their lifetimes may continue as long as the heavens are above the earth. May THE LORD give us strength and wisdom as we live under the protection of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that of his son Belshazzar, and serve them for many years and enjoy their favor.

       "Pray also to THE LORD, our GOD, for us, for we have sinned against THE LORD, our GOD, and HIS anger and wrath that we have incurred have not yet been withdrawn from us even to the present day. Finally, we exhort you to read publicly this book we are sending you in the house of THE LORD on the festival days and the days of assembly, and to proclaim:

BARUCH: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 10 - 15

Confession of Guilt.

       "Justice is the hallmark of THE LORD, our GOD, and we, the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, are filled with shame this day, that we, together with our kings and rulers, our priests and prophets, and our ancestors, have sinned against THE LORD by refusing to obey HIM. We have not heeded the commands of THE LORD, our GOD, or obeyed the laws that THE LORD enjoined on us.

       "From the day THE LORD brought our forefathers out of Egypt until the present time, we have disobeyed THE LORD, our GOD, and paid no heed to HIS voice. Even today we continue to be afflicted with the evils and the curse pronounced by THE LORD through HIS servant Moses when he led forth our ancestors out of Egypt to bestow upon us a land flowing with milk and honey. We did not listen to the voice of THE LORD, our GOD, as HE spoke to us in the admonitions of the prophets whom HE sent to us, but instead followed our own wicked inclinations, choosing to serve other gods and to do what is evil in the sight of THE LORD, our GOD."

BARUCH: CHAPTER 1, VERSES 15 - 22

Punishment of Sin.

"Therefore, THE LORD carried out the penalty that HE threatened to inflict upon us: upon our judges who governed Israel, upon our kings and rulers, and upon the people of Israel and Judah. The evils HE permitted to afflict Jerusalem have been of such intensity that they have never been paralleled anywhere under the heavens, as was foretold in the law of Moses: that we would sink to the depravity of eating the flesh of our young sons and daughters. THE LORD made us subject to all the kingdoms that surround us. All the nations among which HE has scattered us regard us as an object of scorn, and our land is regarded as a wilderness. Instead of being raised up, we have been brought low, because in ignoring HIS precepts, we have sinned against THE LORD, our GOD.

       "Justice is the hallmark of THE LORD, our GOD, but we, like our fathers, are the object of shame even today. All of the evils that THE LORD threatened to inflict upon us we have experienced, yet we did not entreat THE LORD for relief and pledge to renounce the desires of our evil hearts. THE LORD did not ignore our misdeeds but inflicted evils upon us in recompense, for THE LORD is just in all the works HE has commanded us to do. Yet we did not heed the voice of THE LORD or obey the precepts that HE enjoined upon us."

BARUCH: CHAPTER 2, VERSES 1 - 10

Prayer for Deliverance.

       "And now, LORD, GOD of Israel, who delivered YOUR people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, with signs and wonders, and with great power and outstretched arm, winning for YOURSELF a great name that is revered even today, we admit that we have sinned by our godless actions and our violation of all YOUR precepts, O LORD, our GOD. Avert YOUR wrath from us, for only a scant portion of us still remains among the nations where YOU have scattered us. Pay heed, O LORD, to our prayers and requests. For YOUR own sake deliver us, and enable us to gain the approbation of those who have led us into exile, so that the entire world may acknowledge that YOU are THE LORD, our GOD, and that Israel and his descendants bear YOUR name.

       "Look down, O LORD, from YOUR holy dwelling, and keep us in YOUR thoughts. Turn YOUR ear toward us, O LORD, and listen to us. Look upon us, LORD, and see. It is not the dead in Hades, whose spirit no longer dwells in their bodies, who can render praise and vindication to YOU, O LORD. Rather, it is those who are living and deeply grieved, bent over and frail in their movements, with failing eyesight and hungering soul, who will praise YOUR glory and justice, O LORD.

       "It is not because of the righteous deeds of our ancestors and our kings that we make bold to approach YOU with our plea for mercy, O LORD, our GOD. YOU have rained down YOUR wrath and anger upon us, as YOU had announced through YOUR servants the prophets, saying: 'Thus says THE LORD: Bow your shoulders in the service of the king of Babylon, so that you can remain in the land that I gave to your fathers. But if you refuse to heed THE LORD's command to serve the king of Babylon, I will banish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the shouts of joy and the sounds of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the whole land will be a desolate waste, without a single inhabitant.'

       "However, we disobeyed YOUR command to serve the king of Babylon, and therefore YOU carried out the warning YOU had issued through YOUR servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our ancestors would be uprooted from their burial sites. And indeed, those bones have been exposed to the daytime heat and the nighttime frost. They died in dreadful anguish, as a result of famine and sword and pestilence. Therefore, because of the wickedness of the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah, the house that bears YOUR name YOU have reduced to its present state."

BARUCH: CHAPTER 2, VERSES 11 - 26

GOD's Promises Recalled.

       "Yet, O LORD, our GOD, You have treated us with all YOUR goodness and all YOUR mercy, exactly as YOU promised through YOUR servant Moses, on the day YOU commanded him to write down YOUR law in the presence of the Israelites when YOU said: 'If you do not listen to MY voice, this huge and multitudinous people will be reduced to a tiny remnant among the nations where I will scatter them. I well realize that they will not heed ME, because they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their exile, they will return to themselves and come to realize that I AM THE LORD, their GOD. I will give them an obedient heart and attentive ears, and they will praise ME in the land of their exile as they invoke MY name. Remembering the fate of their ancestors who sinned against THE LORD, they will forsake their stubborn obstinacy and their evil deeds.

       " 'Then I will again lead them back to the land that I promised under oath to give to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it. Their numbers will increase as I ordain; they will not diminish. And I will enter with them into an eternal covenant, that I will be their GOD and they will be MY people. Never again will I banish MY people Israel from the land I have given them.'

"LORD ALMIGHTY, GOD OF ISRAEL, the anguished soul and the troubled spirit cry out to YOU. Listen to us, O LORD, and have mercy, for we have sinned against YOU. While we are perishing forever, YOU are enthroned forever. LORD ALMIGHTY, GOD of Israel, listen to the prayer of the people of Israel, the children of those who have sinned against YOU. They have not heeded the voice of THE LORD, their GOD, and therefore, evils continue to befall us. Do not call to mind the iniquity of our fathers, but during this time of calamity, remember instead YOUR power and YOUR name. For YOU are THE LORD, our GOD, and it is YOU, O LORD, whom we will praise. To effect this, YOU have put the fear of YOU into our hearts so that we will invoke YOUR name. We now praise YOU in exile, for we have cast away from our hearts all the iniquity of our fathers who sinned against YOU. Look upon us today in our exile, where YOU scattered us. We have become a reproach and a curse, to be condemned for all the iniquities of our fathers who turned away from THE LORD, our GOD."

BARUCH: CHAPTER 2, VERSES 27 - 35 & CHAPTER 3, VERSES 1 - 8