Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men’s advice, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God. ² But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.

³ They are like trees along a riverbank bearing luscious fruit each season without fail. Their leaves shall never wither, and all they do shall prosper.

⁴ But for sinners, what a different story! They blow away like chaff before the wind. ⁵ They are not safe on Judgment Day; they shall not stand among the godly.

⁶ For the Lord watches over all the plans and paths of godly men, but the paths of the godless lead to doom.

24 After Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had captured and enslaved Jeconiah (son of Jehoiakim), king of Judah, and exiled him to Babylon along with the princes of Judah and the skilled tradesmen—the carpenters and blacksmiths—the Lord gave me this vision. ² I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the Temple in Jerusalem. In one basket there were fresh, just-ripened figs, but in the other the figs were spoiled and moldy—too rotten to eat. ³ Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad.”

^4-5 Then the Lord said: “The good figs represent the exiles sent to Babylon. I have done it for their good. ⁶ I will see that they are well treated, and I will bring them back here again. I will help them and not hurt them; I will plant them and not pull them up. ⁷ I will give them hearts that respond to me. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with great joy.

⁸ “But the rotten figs represent Zedekiah, king of Judah, his officials, and all the others of Jerusalem left here in this land; those too who live in Egypt. I will treat them like spoiled figs, too bad to use. ⁹ I will make them repulsive to every nation of the earth, and they shall be mocked and taunted and cursed wherever I compel them to go. ¹⁰ And I will send massacre and famine and disease among them until they are destroyed from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and to their fathers.”

16 Now here are the directions about the money you are collecting to send to the Christians in Jerusalem;^[a] (and, by the way, these are the same directions I gave to the churches in Galatia). ² On every Lord’s Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once. ³ When I come I will send your loving gift with a letter to Jerusalem, to be taken there by trustworthy messengers you yourselves will choose. ⁴ And if it seems wise for me to go along too, then we can travel together.

⁵ I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia first, but I will be staying there only for a little while. ⁶ It could be that I will stay longer with you, perhaps all winter, and then you can send me on to my next destination. ⁷ This time I don’t want to make just a passing visit and then go right on; I want to come and stay awhile, if the Lord will let me. ⁸ I will be staying here at Ephesus until the holiday of Pentecost, ⁹ for there is a wide open door for me to preach and teach here. So much is happening, but there are many enemies.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes make him feel at home, for he is doing the Lord’s work just as I am. ¹¹ Don’t let anyone despise or ignore him because he is young,^[b] but send him back to me happy with his time among you; I am looking forward to seeing him soon, along with the others who are returning.

¹² I begged Apollos to visit you along with the others, but he thought that it was not at all God’s will for him to go now; he will be seeing you later on when he has the opportunity.