Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Song About God’s Loyalty
A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of Ethan the Ezrahite [C a wise man; 1 Kin. 4:31].
89 I will always sing about the Lord’s ·love [loyalty];
I will ·tell of [L make known with my mouth] his ·loyalty [faithfulness] ·from now on [for generations].
2 I will say, “Your ·love [loyalty] ·continues [L is built] forever;
your ·loyalty [faithfulness] ·goes on and on [is established] like the ·sky [heavens].”
3 You said, “I ·made an agreement [L cut a covenant/treaty] with the man of my choice;
I made a promise to my servant David.
4 I told him, ‘I will ·make your family continue [L establish your seed] forever.
·Your kingdom will go on and on [L I will build your throne for generations; 2; 72; 78:70–72; 2 Sam. 7:11–16; 1 Chr. 17:10–14].’” ·
15 ·Happy [Blessed] are the people who know how to ·praise [shout to] you.
Lord, let them ·live [L walk] in the light of your ·presence [L face].
16 In your name they rejoice
and continually ·praise [exalt] your ·goodness [righteousness].
17 You are their ·glorious [beautiful] strength,
and in your ·kindness [favor] you ·honor our king [L lift up our horn; C symbol of power and here of the king].
18 Our shield [C the king] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
A Summary of Jeremiah’s Preaching
25 This is the message that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah and the first year Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. 2 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
3 The Lord has spoken his word to me again and again for these past twenty-three years. I have been a prophet since the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah. I have spoken messages from the Lord to you from that time until today, but you have not listened.
4 The Lord has sent all his servants the prophets [7:25; 2 Kin. 17:13] to you over and over again, but you have not listened or ·paid any attention [L inclined/bent your ear] to them. 5 Those prophets have said, “·Stop [Turn from/Repent of] your evil ways. ·Stop doing [Turn from/Repent of] what is wrong so you can stay in the land that the Lord gave to you and your ·ancestors [fathers] to live in forever. 6 Don’t ·follow [L go after] other gods to serve them or to ·worship [bow down to] them. Don’t make me, the Lord, angry by the work of your own hands [C idols], or I will ·punish [harm] you.”
7 “But you [C people of Judah] did not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me angry by the work of your own hands [C idols], so I ·punished [harmed] you.”
2 Listen, I Paul tell you that if you ·go back to the law by being [L let yourself be] circumcised, Christ does you no good. 3 Again, I warn every man: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, you ·must follow [are obligated to obey] all the law. 4 If you try to be ·made right with God [justified] through the law, ·your life with Christ is over [L you are alienated/separated/severed from Christ]—you have ·left [fallen away from] God’s grace. 5 For by the Spirit and through faith we wait eagerly for ·a right relationship with God [L righteousness]—the object of our hope. 6 ·When we are [L For] in Christ Jesus, ·it is not important if we are circumcised or not [L neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything]. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.
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