Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Book 1
Psalms 1—41
Two Ways to Live
1 Happy is the person who doesn’t listen to the wicked.
He doesn’t go where sinners go.
He doesn’t do what bad people do.
2 He loves the Lord’s teachings.
He thinks about those teachings day and night.
3 He is strong, like a tree planted by a river.
It produces fruit in season.
Its leaves don’t die.
Everything he does will succeed.
4 But wicked people are not like that.
They are like useless chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 So the wicked will not escape God’s punishment.
Sinners will not worship God with good people.
6 This is because the Lord protects good people.
But the wicked will be destroyed.
The Good and Bad Figs
24 I saw a vision after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim as a prisoner. Jehoiachin king of Judah and his officers were taken away from Jerusalem. They were taken to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took away all the craftsmen and metalworkers of Judah. It was then that the Lord showed me these things: I saw two baskets of figs. They were arranged in front of the Temple of the Lord. 2 One of the baskets had very good figs in it. They were like figs that ripen early in the season. But the other basket had rotten figs. They were too rotten to eat.
3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I answered, “I see figs. The good figs are very good. But the rotten figs are too rotten to eat.”
4 Then the Lord spoke his word to me. 5 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said: “I sent the people of Judah out of their country into Babylon. Those people will be like these good figs. I think of them as good. 6 I will look after them. I will bring them back to the land of Judah. I will not tear them down. I will build them up. I will not pull them up. I will plant them so they can grow. 7 I will make them want to know me. They will know that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God. This is because they will return to me with their whole hearts.
8 “But the bad figs are too rotten to eat,” says the Lord. “Zedekiah king of Judah and his officers will be like those rotten figs. All the people from Jerusalem who are left alive will be like that. This will be true even if those people now live in Egypt. 9 I will make those people hated as an evil people by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will make fun of the people from Judah and tell jokes about them. People will point fingers at them. They will curse them everywhere I scatter them. 10 I will send war, hunger and disease against them. I will attack them until they have all been killed. Then they will no longer be in the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”
The Gift for Other Believers
16 Now I will write about the collection of money for God’s people. Do the same thing that I told the Galatian churches to do: 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should put aside as much money as you can from what you are blessed with. You should save it up, so that you will not have to collect money after I come. 3 When I arrive, I will send some men to take your gift to Jerusalem. These will be men who you all agree should go. I will send them with letters of introduction. 4 If it seems good for me to go also, these men will go along with me.
Paul’s Plans
5 I plan to go through Macedonia. So I will come to you after I go through there. 6 Maybe I will stay with you for a time. I might even stay all winter. Then you can help me on my trip, wherever I go. 7 I do not want to come to see you now, because I would have to leave to go other places. I hope to stay a longer time with you if the Lord allows it. 8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost. 9 I will stay, because a good opportunity for a great and growing work has been given to me now. And there are many people working against me.
10 Timothy might come to you. Try to make him feel comfortable with you. He is working for the Lord just as I am. 11 So none of you should refuse to accept Timothy. Help him on his trip in peace, so that he can come back to me. I am expecting him to come back with the brothers.
12 Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the other brothers. But he was sure that he did not want to go now. But when he has the opportunity, he will go to you.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.