Gathering
I, the Lord, will bring
my people back from Babylonia
and everywhere else on earth.
The blind and the lame
will be there.
Expectant mothers
and women about to give birth
will come and be part
of that great crowd. ~ Jeremiah 31:8 (CEV)
The master said to the servant, ‘Go to the highways and back alleys and urge people to come in so that my house will be filled.' ~ Luke 14:23 (CEB)
Lord, you aggressively gather people to party with you. Fortunately for me, you include the lost and distant -- the handicapped and the vulnerable mothers -- the weak and the broken. Please give me the same passion for gathering people from the distant places and the margins of society. Please give me a true heart for these people -- those for whom Jesus died. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
