Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
BOOK ONE(A)
True Happiness
1 Happy are those
who reject the advice of evil people,
who do not follow the example of sinners
or join those who have no use for God.
2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,
and they study it day and night.
3 (B)They are like trees that grow beside a stream,
that bear fruit at the right time,
and whose leaves do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.
4 But evil people are not like this at all;
they are like straw that the wind blows away.
5 Sinners will be condemned by God
and kept apart from God's own people.
6 The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord,
but the evil are on the way to their doom.
10 (A)“The Lord says, ‘When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. 11 I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.[a] 12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. 13 (B)You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. 14 Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country and from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the Lord, have spoken.’
15 “You say that the Lord has given you prophets in Babylonia. 16 Listen to what the Lord says about the king who rules the kingdom that David ruled and about the people of this city, that is, your relatives who were not taken away as prisoners with you. 17 The Lord Almighty says, ‘I am bringing war, starvation, and disease on them, and I will make them like figs that are too rotten to be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with war, starvation, and disease, and all the nations of the world will be horrified at what they see. Everywhere I scatter them, people will be shocked and terrified at what has happened to them. People will make fun of them and use their name as a curse. 19 This will happen to them because they did not obey the message that I kept on sending to them through my servants the prophets. They refused to listen.
Final Words
13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14 Do all your work in love.
15 (A)You know about Stephanas and his family; they are the first Christian converts in Achaia and have given themselves to the service of God's people. I beg you, my friends, 16 to follow the leadership of such people as these, and of anyone else who works and serves with them.
17 I am happy about the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus; they have made up for your absence 18 and have cheered me up, just as they cheered you up. Such men as these deserve notice.
19 (B)The churches in the province of Asia send you their greetings; Aquila and Priscilla and the church that meets in their house send warm Christian greetings. 20 All the believers here send greetings.
Greet one another with the kiss of peace.
21 With my own hand I write this: Greetings from Paul.
22 Whoever does not love the Lord—a curse on him!
Marana tha—Our Lord, come!
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.