Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
Psalm 1
1 The truly happy person
doesn’t follow wicked advice,
doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things,
these persons love the Lord’s Instruction,
and they recite God’s Instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
which bears fruit at just the right time
and whose leaves don’t fade.
Whatever they do succeeds.
4 That’s not true for the wicked!
They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice—
neither will sinners
in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is destroyed.
Good and bad figs
24 After Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar had deported Judah’s King Jeconiah, King Jehoiakim’s son, and the Judean officials, as well as the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs set in front of the Lord’s temple. 2 One basket was filled with fresh and ripe figs; the other basket was filled with rotten figs—too rotten to eat. 3 And the Lord asked me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I replied: “Figs! Some good ones and others very bad—so bad that they can’t be eaten.”
4 Then the Lord said to me: 5 The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: Just as with these good figs, I will treat kindly the Judean exiles that I have sent from this place to Babylon. 6 I regard them as good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not pull them down; I will plant them and not dig them up. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, for I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. 8 And just like the rotten figs that are so bad that they can’t be eaten, the Lord says, I will do to Judah’s King Zedekiah and his officials, as well as the remaining few in Jerusalem and those who are living in Egypt. 9 I will make them an object of horror and evil to all the kingdoms of the earth. Wherever I scatter them, they will be disgraced and insulted, mocked and cursed. 10 I will send the sword, famine, and disease against them until they vanish from the fertile land that I gave to their ancestors.
Collection for Jerusalem
16 Concerning the collection of money for God’s people: You should do what I have directed the churches in Galatia to do. 2 On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside whatever you can afford from what you earn so that the collection won’t be delayed until I come. 3 Then when I get there, I’ll send whomever you approve to Jerusalem with letters of recommendation to bring your gift. 4 If it seems right for me to go too, they’ll travel with me.
Plans to visit
5 I’ll come to you after I go through Macedonia, and because I’m going through Macedonia, 6 I may stay with you or even spend the winter there in Corinth so that you can send me on my way to wherever I’m off to next. 7 I don’t want to make a quick visit to you, since I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord lets it happen. 8 I’ll stay here in Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost. 9 In spite of the fact that there are many opponents, a big and productive opportunity has opened up for my mission here.
10 If Timothy comes to you, be sure that he has no reason to be afraid while he’s with you, because he does the work of the Lord just like I do. 11 So don’t let anyone disrespect him, but send him on in peace so he can join me. I’m waiting for him along with the brothers and sisters. 12 Concerning Apollos our brother: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the brothers and sisters, but he didn’t want to go now. He’ll come when he has an opportunity.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible