Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Word of God

ALEPH^[a]

³⁴ The land will have a Sabbath rest while there are no people in it. ³⁵ All the time that it is empty, the land will have rest. It will have the Sabbath rest that it did not have. It did not have it when you lived in it.

³⁶ Some of Israel's people will remain in other countries. They will be frightened. A leaf that is blowing in the wind will cause them to run away. It will be like when an enemy is running after them. They will fall even if no enemy is running after them. ³⁷ They will fall over each other when nobody is running after them. They will not be strong enough to fight their enemies. ³⁸ They will die in the countries where they are living. Those countries will cause their deaths. ³⁹ Those who remain here will die because of their sins. They will die because their ancestors did not obey God.

⁴⁰ Your sons and your grandsons must tell me, the Lord, that they are sorry. They must be sorry because they did not obey my rules. They must be sorry that they turned away from me. ⁴¹ They must remember that they made me angry. They caused me to turn away from them. I am the Lord, and I sent them into their enemies' country. They will be sorry until I have punished them enough. ⁴² Then I will remember my covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will remember that I gave their land to them. ⁴³ Before this, the land will be empty and it will have a rest. My people will pay for the bad things that they did. ⁴⁴ But I, the Lord, will not kill all of them. The people will be living in their enemies' country. Then I will remember them. I will not leave them alone. I will remember my covenant with them. I am the Lord, their God. ⁴⁵ I will remember my covenant with their ancestors that I brought out of Egypt. The people of other nations saw me do this. I am the Lord.’

⁴⁶ These are the rules that the Lord gave to Moses on Sinai mountain. They are his covenant with Israel's people.^[a]

God tells us to love each other

⁷ My friends, I am telling you to love one another. When I write this to you, I am not giving you a new rule. It is an old rule that you have had for a long time. We gave it to you when you began to obey Christ. It is the same message that you have already heard. ⁸ But there is something new about it. This rule has become true in the way that Christ lived. Now it has also become true in your lives. God's true message has brought light to shine in your lives. You no longer live in the dark where you do bad things. ⁹ A person may say that he is living in the light. But if that person hates another believer, then he is telling a lie. He is still living in the dark. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves other believers shows that he is living in the light. There is nothing that will make him turn away from God. ¹¹ But if someone hates other believers, he is still living in a bad way. He is like someone who is walking in the dark. He cannot see where he is going. He is like a blind person. He cannot understand God's true message.^[a]

¹² My little children, I am writing to you because God has forgiven your sins. He has done this because of Christ.

¹³ You who are older, like fathers, I am writing to you because you know Christ. He has always been there, since before the world began.

You who are young men, I am writing to you because you have won against Satan.

¹⁴ Yes, my children, I have written to you because you know God, our Father.

Fathers, I have written to you because you know Christ. He was already there before the world began.

Young men, I have written to you because you are strong. You continue to obey God's message, and you have won against Satan.

¹⁵ Do not live like people who do not know God. Do not love the wrong things that belong to this world. If anyone loves those things, it shows that they do not love God, their Father. ¹⁶ What are the wrong things that belong to this world? People want to do bad things to make themselves happy. People want to have things that they see, even bad things. People want to show other people how rich they are. These ideas do not come from God, our Father. They are the thoughts of people who belong to the world. ¹⁷ One day, those people and the things that they want will not be there any longer. But those who continue to do what God wants will live for ever.