²³ “Then the priest shall put these curses in writing and wash them off into the water of bitterness.

¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.^(A)

²¹ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. ²² Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come!^[a](A)

¹⁹ Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,

⁶⁰ Jeremiah wrote in a^[a] scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.^{(A) 61} And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶² and say, ‘O Lord, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither humans nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’^{(B) 63} When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,^{(C) 64} and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’ ”^[b]

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.^(D)

Psalm 51

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.