Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ “Therefore, here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Because you haven’t paid attention to what I’ve been saying, ⁹ I’m going to send for all the families of the north,’ says Adonai, ‘and for my servant N’vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, and bring them against this land, against its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them, making them an object of horror and ridicule, a perpetual ruin. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will silence among them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride, the grinding of millstones and the light of lamps. ¹¹ This entire land will become a ruin, a waste; and these nations will serve the king of Bavel for seventy years. ¹² But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Bavel and that nation for their sin,’ says Adonai, ‘and I will turn the land of the Kasdim into everlasting ruins. ¹³ I will inflict on that land all my words that I have decreed against it, everything written in this book, in which Yirmeyahu has prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴ For they too will become slaves to many nations and to powerful kings; I will pay them back according to their deeds and the work of their own hands.’

⁷ You were running the race well; who has stopped you from following the truth? ⁸ Whatever means of persuasion he used was not from the One who calls you. ⁹ “It takes only a little hametz to leaven the whole batch of dough.” ¹⁰ I am confident that since you are united with the Lord, you will take no other view; and I am confident that the one who has been disturbing you, whoever he may be, will have to bear his punishment.

¹¹ And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever. ¹² I wish the people who are bothering you would go the whole way and castrate themselves!