Jeremiah 2:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God Pleads with Israel to Repent
2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord:
I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.(A)
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
disaster came upon them,
says the Lord.(B)
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?(C)
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”(D)
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.(E)
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers[a] transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.(F)
9 Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the Lord,
and I accuse your children’s children.(G)
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.(H)
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked; be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.(I)
Footnotes
- 2.8 Heb shepherds
Romans 1:16-25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Power of the Gospel
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes,[a] for the Jew first and also for the Greek.(A) 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”[b](B)
The Guilt of Humankind
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth.(C) 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse,(D) 21 for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.(E) 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.(F)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.(G) 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.(H)
Read full chapter
John 4:43-54
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jesus Returns to Galilee
43 When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee(A) 44 (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country).(B) 45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they, too, had gone to the festival.(C)
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum.(D) 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.(E) 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you[a] see signs and wonders you will not believe.”(F) 49 The official said to him, “Sir,[b] come down before my little boy dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”[c] The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” 53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”[d] So he himself believed, along with his whole household.(G) 54 Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.(H)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.