Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who were standing in the ^(A)house of the Lord, ⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, “^(B)Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord ^[a]confirm your words which you have prophesied to bring back the vessels of the Lord’s house and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place. ⁷ Yet ^(C)hear now this word which I am about to speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people! ⁸ The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times ^(D)prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, of war and of calamity and of pestilence. ⁹ The prophet who prophesies of peace, ^(E)when the word of the prophet comes to pass, then that prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.”

The Lord’s Covenant with David, and Israel’s Afflictions.

A ^[a]Maskil of ^[b]Ethan ^[c]the Ezrahite.

¹² Therefore do not let sin ^(A)reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on ^(B)presenting ^[a]the members of your body to sin as ^[b]instruments of unrighteousness; but ^(C)present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as ^[c]instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For ^(D)sin shall not ^(E)be master over you, for ^(F)you are not under law but ^(G)under grace.

¹⁵ What then? ^(H)Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? ^(I)May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not ^(J)know that when you present yourselves to someone as ^(K)slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of ^(L)sin ^[d]resulting in death, or of obedience ^[e]resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(M)thanks be to God that ^[f]though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that ^(N)form of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and having been ^(O)freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ^19 (P)I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^(Q)as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ^[g]resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, ^[h]resulting in sanctification.

²⁰ For ^(R)when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what ^[i](S)benefit were you then ^[j]deriving ^[k]from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is ^(T)death. ²² But now having been ^(U)freed from sin and ^(V)enslaved to God, you ^[l]derive your ^[m](W)benefit, ^[n]resulting in sanctification, and ^(X)the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of ^(Y)sin is death, but the free gift of God is ^(Z)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Reward of Service

⁴⁰ “^(A)He who receives you receives Me, and ^(B)he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. ^41 (C)He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And ^(D)whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these ^[a]little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”