Alternate First Reading

photo of an earthquake crack in a desert highway
Commentary on Isaiah 65:17-25

Isaiah 40–66, a supremely hopeful section, contains prophecies at the end of the exile, both [...]

photo of a butterfly on an orange flower
Commentary on Haggai 1:15b-2:9

The co-temporal prophets Haggai and Zechariah mark a shift in [...]

Detail from
Commentary on Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

Sermon-writing fingers might get itchy at Habakkuk 2:4—“Look at the [...]

Detail from a fresco of Fresco of the Pharisee and the Publican, at Basilika Ottobeuren.
Commentary on Joel 2:23-32

Why did God let this happen? This is the question that drives the book of [...]

Detail from
Commentary on Jeremiah 31:27-34

The promise of a “new covenant” in this passage may [...]

Detail from
Commentary on Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

As one who speaks the word of the Lord to [...]

Detail from Vincent Van Gogh's
Commentary on Lamentations 1:1-6

The book of Lamentations emerges from the disorienting aftermath of [...]

Detail from an iIllustration of Lazarus at the rich man's gate by Fyodor Bronnikov, 1886.
Commentary on Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

One version of the Bible titles this text “Jeremiah Buys [...]

photo of a dollar bill in a backpocket with
Commentary on Jeremiah 8:18—9:1

No prophet incorporates the genre of lament into their message [...]

sepia-ish toned photo of a shepherd with many sheep in a foggy landscape
Commentary on Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

Have you ever read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No [...]