Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

89 Forever and ever I will sing about the tender kindness of the Lord! Young and old shall hear about your blessings. ² Your love and kindness are forever; your truth is as enduring as the heavens.

^3-4 The Lord God says,^[a] “I have made a solemn agreement with my chosen servant David. I have taken an oath to establish his descendants as kings forever on his throne, from now until eternity!”

^14-15 Your throne is founded on two strong pillars—the one is Justice and the other Righteousness. Mercy and Truth walk before you as your attendants. Blessed are those who hear the joyful blast of the trumpet, for they shall walk in the light of your presence. ¹⁶ They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation and in your perfect righteousness. ¹⁷ You are their strength. What glory! Our power is based on your favor! ¹⁸ Yes, our protection is from the Lord himself and he, the Holy One of Israel, has given us our king.

25 This message for all the people of Judah came from the Lord to Jeremiah during the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah (son of Josiah). This was the year Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, began his reign.

^2-3 For the past twenty-three years, Jeremiah said, from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (son of Amon) king of Judah, until now, God has been sending me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you haven’t listened. ⁴ Again and again down through the years, God has sent you his prophets, but you have refused to hear. ⁵ Each time the message was this: “Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then can you continue to live here in this land which the Lord gave to you and to your ancestors forever. ⁶ Don’t anger me by worshiping idols; but if you are true to me, then I’ll not harm you.” ⁷ But you won’t listen; you have gone ahead and made me furious with your idols. So you have brought upon yourselves all the evil that has come your way.

² Listen to me, for this is serious: if you are counting on circumcision and keeping the Jewish laws to make you right with God, then Christ cannot save you. ³ I’ll say it again. Anyone trying to find favor with God by being circumcised must always obey every other Jewish law or perish. ⁴ Christ is useless to you if you are counting on clearing your debt to God by keeping those laws; you are lost from God’s grace.

⁵ But we by the help of the Holy Spirit are counting on Christ’s death to clear away our sins and make us right with God. ⁶ And we to whom Christ has given eternal life don’t need to worry about whether we have been circumcised or not, or whether we are obeying the Jewish ceremonies or not; for all we need is faith working through love.