Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Two Ways to Live
1 Happy are those who don’t listen to the wicked,
who don’t go where sinners go,
who don’t do what evil people do.
2 They love the Lord’s teachings,
and they think about those teachings day and night.
3 They are strong, like a tree planted by a river.
The tree produces fruit in season,
and its leaves don’t die.
Everything they do will succeed.
4 But wicked people are not like that.
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 So the wicked will not escape God’s punishment.
Sinners will not worship with God’s people.
6 This is because the Lord takes care of his people,
but the wicked will be destroyed.
The Good and Bad Figs
24 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon captured Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim and king of Judah, his officers, and all the craftsmen and metalworkers of Judah. He took them away from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. It was then that the Lord showed me two baskets of figs arranged in front of the Temple of the Lord. 2 One of the baskets had very good figs in it, like figs that ripen early in the season. But the other basket had figs 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, says: ‘I sent the people of Judah out of their country to live in the country of Babylon. I think of those people as good, like these good figs. 6 I will look after them and bring them back to the land of Judah. I will not tear them down, but I will build them up. I will not pull them up, but I will plant them so they can grow. 7 I will make them want to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with their whole hearts.
8 “‘But the bad figs are too rotten to eat.’ So this is what the Lord says: ‘Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and all the people from Jerusalem who are left alive, even those who live in Egypt, will be like those rotten figs. 9 I will make those people hated as an evil people by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will make fun of them and tell jokes about them and point fingers at them and 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 I told the Galatian churches to do: 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should put aside money as you have been blessed. Save it up so you will not have to collect money after I come. 3 When I arrive, I will send whomever you approve to take your gift to Jerusalem. I will send them with letters of introduction, 4 and if it seems good for me to go also, they 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 Perhaps I will stay with you for a time or even all winter. Then you can help me on my trip, wherever I go. 7 I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to stay a longer time with you if the Lord allows it. 8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 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 If Timothy comes to you, see to it that he has nothing to fear with you, because he is working for the Lord just as I am. 11 So none of you should treat Timothy as unimportant, but help him on his trip in peace so that he can come back to me. I am expecting him to come with the brothers.
12 Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the other brothers. He did not at all want to come now; he will come when he has the opportunity.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.