Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song of David for going up to the Temple.

The Lord Made Nebuchadnezzar Ruler

27 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came during the fourth year that Zedekiah^[a] son of Josiah was king of Judah. ² This is what the Lord said to me: “Jeremiah, make a yoke out of straps and poles. Put that yoke on the back of your neck. ³ Then send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Send the message with the messengers of these kings who have come to Jerusalem to see King Zedekiah of Judah. ⁴ Tell them to give the message to their masters. Tell them that this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell your masters that ⁵ I made the earth and all the people on it. I made all the animals on the earth. I did this with my great power and my strong arm. I can give the earth to anyone I want. ⁶ Now I have given all your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He is my servant. I will make even the wild animals obey him. ⁷ All nations will serve Nebuchadnezzar and his son and his grandson. Then the time will come for Babylon to be defeated. Many nations and great kings will make Babylon their servant.

⁸ “‘But if some nations or kingdoms refuse to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and refuse to be put under his control, I will punish them, says the Lord. I will destroy them with war, hunger, and disease. I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy any nation that fights against him. ⁹ So don’t listen to your prophets. Don’t listen to those who use magic to tell what will happen in the future. Don’t listen to those who say they can interpret dreams. Don’t listen to those who talk to the dead or to people who practice magic. All of them tell you, “You will not be slaves to the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ But they are telling you lies. They will only cause you to be taken far from your homeland. I will force you to leave your homes, and you will die in another land.

¹¹ “‘But the nations that put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and obey him will live. I will let them stay in their own country and serve the king of Babylon,’ says the Lord. ‘The people from those nations will live in their own land and farm it.’”

¹⁶ Then I told the priests and all the people that this is what the Lord says: “Those false prophets are saying, ‘The Babylonians took many things from the Lord’s Temple. These things will be brought back soon.’ Don’t listen to them because they are telling you lies. ¹⁷ Don’t listen to those prophets. Serve the king of Babylon. Accept your punishment, and you will live. There is no reason for you to cause this city of Jerusalem to be destroyed. ¹⁸ If they are prophets and their message is from the Lord, let them pray. Let them pray to the Lord about the things that are still in the Lord’s Temple, in the king’s palace, and in Jerusalem. Let them pray that all those things will not be taken away to Babylon.

¹⁹ “This is what the Lord All-Powerful says about the things that are still left in Jerusalem. In the Temple, there are the pillars, the bronze sea, the moveable stands, and other things.^[a] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left those things in Jerusalem. ²⁰ He didn’t take them away when he took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah away as a prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar also took other important people away from Judah and Jerusalem. ²¹ This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says about the things still left in the Lord’s Temple and in the king’s palace and in Jerusalem: ²² ‘All those things will also be taken to Babylon. They will be brought to Babylon until the day comes when I go to get them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring those things back. I will put them back in this place.’”

All People Have Done Wrong

¹⁸ God shows his anger from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that people do. Their evil lives hide the truth they have. ¹⁹ This makes God angry because they have been shown what he is like. Yes, God has made it clear to them.

²⁰ There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do.

²¹ People knew God, but they did not honor him as God, and they did not thank him. Their ideas were all useless. There was not one good thought left in their foolish minds. ²² They said they were wise, but they became fools. ²³ Instead of honoring the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, and snakes.

²⁴ People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other. ²⁵ They traded the truth of God for a lie. They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen.