Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

131 Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.” ² I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.

³ O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.

¹⁰ Then Hananiah, the false prophet, took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹ And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, “The Lord has promised that within two years he will release all the nations now in slavery to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.” At that point Jeremiah walked out.

¹² Soon afterwards the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ¹³ Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but these people have yokes of iron on their necks. ¹⁴ The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. And nothing will change this decree, for I have even given him all your flocks and herds.

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, the false prophet, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and the people are believing your lies. ¹⁶ Therefore the Lord says you must die. This very year your life will end because you have rebelled against the Lord.”

¹⁷ And sure enough, two months later Hananiah died.

3 Then what’s the use of being a Jew? Are there any special benefits for them from God? Is there any value in the Jewish circumcision ceremony? ² Yes, being a Jew has many advantages.

First of all, God trusted them with his laws so that they could know and do his will.^{[a] 3} True, some of them were unfaithful, but just because they broke their promises to God, does that mean God will break his promises? ⁴ Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is not. Do you remember what the book of Psalms says about this?^[b] That God’s words will always prove true and right, no matter who questions them.

⁵ “But,” some say, “our breaking faith with God is good, our sins serve a good purpose, for people will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. Is it fair, then, for him to punish us when our sins are helping him?” (That is the way some people talk.) ⁶ God forbid! Then what kind of God would he be, to overlook sin? How could he ever condemn anyone? ⁷ For he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought him glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies. ⁸ If you follow through with that idea you come to this: the worse we are, the better God likes it! But the damnation of those who say such things is just. Yet some claim that this is what I preach!