Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Childlike Trust in God

A song for going up to worship. Of David.

Nebuchadnezzar Is Made Ruler

27 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. This happened when Zedekiah son of Josiah was king of Judah. ² This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and poles. Put it on the back of your neck. ³ Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon. Send the messages through the messengers of these kings. Those messengers have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ Tell them to give this message to their masters. Tell them, ‘The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: “Tell your masters: ⁵ I made the earth and everyone 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 these lands to Nebuchadnezzar king 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 grandson. Then the time will come for Babylon to be defeated. Many nations and great kings will make Babylon their servant.

⁸ “‘“But now some nations or kingdoms might refuse to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They might refuse to be under his control. If that happens, I will punish that nation with war, hunger and terrible sickness, says the Lord. I will do it until I destroy that nation. I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the nation that fights against him. ⁹ So don’t listen to your false prophets. Don’t listen to people who use magic to tell what will happen in the future. Don’t listen to those who say they can tell what dreams mean. Don’t listen to mediums or magicians. They all tell you, ‘You will not be slaves to the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁰ 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 some nations will put themselves under the control of the king of Babylon. They will serve him. I will let those nations stay in their own country, says the Lord. The people from those nations will live in their own land and farm it.”’”

¹⁶ Then I, Jeremiah, said to the priests and all the people, “This is what the Lord says: Those false prophets are saying that what the Babylonians took from the Temple of the Lord will be brought back soon. Don’t listen to them! They are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁷ Don’t listen to those prophets. But serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. There is no reason for you to cause Jerusalem to become a ruin. ¹⁸ They might be prophets and have the message from the Lord. If so, let them pray to the Lord of heaven’s armies. Let them pray about the things that are still in the Temple of the Lord. Let them pray about the things that are still in the king’s palace and in Jerusalem. Let them pray that all this will not be taken away to Babylon.

¹⁹ “This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says about those things left in Jerusalem. In the Temple there are the pillars, the large bronze bowl, which is called the Sea, the stands that can be moved and other things. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left them in Jerusalem. ²⁰ Nebuchadnezzar did not take these away when he took Jehoiachin king of Judah captive. Jehoiachin was the son of King Jehoiakim. Nebuchadnezzar also took other important people away from Judah and Jerusalem. ²¹ This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says about the things left in the Temple of the Lord and in the king’s palace and in Jerusalem: ‘All of this will also be taken to Babylon. ²² And they will stay there until the day I go to get them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and return them to this place.’”

All People Have Done Wrong

¹⁸ God’s anger is shown from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that people do. By their own evil lives they hide the truth. ¹⁹ God shows his anger because everything that may be known about God has been made clear. Yes, God has clearly shown them everything that may be known about him. ²⁰ There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all the things that make him God. But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy to understand. They are made clear by what God has made. So people have no excuse for the bad things they do. ²¹ They knew God. But they did not give glory to God, and they did not thank him. Their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. ²² They said they were wise, but they became fools. ²³ They gave up the glory of God who lives forever. They traded that glory for the worship of idols made to look like earthly people. They traded God’s glory for things that look like birds, animals, and snakes.

²⁴ People were full of sin, wanting only to do evil. So God left them to follow their evil desires, and they made one another’s bodies impure by what they did. ²⁵ They traded the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served things that were made by man. But they did not worship and serve the God who made those things. God should be praised forever. Amen.