Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹ God is our shelter and our strength.
    When troubles seem near, God is nearer, and He’s ready to help.
So why run and hide?
² No fear, no pacing, no biting fingernails.
    When the earth spins out of control, we are sure and fearless.
    When mountains crumble and the waters run wild, we are sure and fearless.
³ Even in heavy winds and huge waves,
    or as mountains shake, we are sure and fearless.

[pause]^[b]

⁴ A pure stream flows—never to be cut off—
    bringing joy to the city where God makes His home,
    the sacred site where the Most High chooses to live.
⁵ The True God never sleeps and always resides in the city of joy;
    He makes it unstoppable, unshakable.
    When it awakes at dawn, the True God has already been at work.
⁶ Trouble is on the horizon for the outside nations, not long until kingdoms will fall;
    God’s voice thunders and the earth shakes.
⁷ You know the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies, surrounds us and protects us;
    the True God of Jacob is our shelter, close to His heart.

[pause]

⁸ Come, gaze, fix your eyes on what the Eternal can do.
    Amazing, He has worked desolation here on this battlefield, earth.
⁹ God can stop wars anywhere in the world.
    He can make scrap of all weapons: snap bows, shatter spears,
    and burn shields.
¹⁰ “Be still, be calm, see, and understand I am the True God.
    I am honored among all the nations.
    I am honored over all the earth.”
¹¹ You know the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies, surrounds us and protects us;
    the True God of Jacob is our shelter, close to His heart.

[pause]

¹⁸ So this is what the Eternal says
    regarding Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), king of Judah:

Eternal One: Upon his death, no one in his family will weep and say,
        “Oh my brother, oh my sister—our loved one is gone.”
    Nor will any of his subjects weep and say,
        “Our leader is gone; our great king is gone.”
¹⁹     No, he will be buried like a dead donkey—his body dragged away
        and dumped outside Jerusalem’s gates in the trash heap.

²⁰     (to Jerusalem) Go to the mountains of Lebanon and cry out.
        Run to Bashan and the peaks of Abarim, and cry out loudly
    Because all of your lovers have been destroyed.
²¹     I warned you when things were going well,
        but you said to Me, “I will not listen.”
    You have treated Me this way since the days of your youth;
        you have never listened to My voice.
²²     All your shepherds will be driven away by the wind,
        and your lovers will be led into captivity.
    In that moment, you will be covered with shame,
        humiliated because of your evil ways.
²³     You who live in Lebanon,
        safe and nestled among the cedars—
    How you will cry in anguish when the judgment comes,
        like the anguish and pain of a woman giving birth.

²⁸ Is this man, Coniah, a broken and worthless pot?
    Is he like something tossed on the garbage heap that no one wants?
Why are he and his children being thrown out—
    no, hurled out into a foreign land?
²⁹ O land, land, land!
    You must hear the word of the Eternal!

³⁰ Eternal One: Write in the record that this man is childless and disgraced.
        As long as he lives, none of his children will succeed him
    And sit on the throne of David
        and rule over Judah again.