Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Lamedh
89 [a]Your word, Lord, stands forever;(A)
it is firm as the heavens.
90 Through all generations your truth endures;
fixed to stand firm like the earth.
91 By your judgments they stand firm to this day,
for all things are your servants.
92 Had your law not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget your precepts;
through them you give me life.
94 I am yours; save me,
for I cherish your precepts.
95 The wicked hope to destroy me,
but I seek to understand your testimonies.
96 I have seen the limits of all perfection,
but your commandment is without bounds.
11 Now Micaiah, son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord read from the scroll. 12 So he went down to the house of the king, into the scribe’s chamber,[a] where the princes were meeting in session: Elishama, the scribe; Delaiah, son of Shemaiah; Elnathan, son of Achbor; Gemariah, son of Shaphan; Zedekiah, son of Hananiah; and the other princes. 13 Micaiah reported to them all that he had heard Baruch read from his scroll in the hearing of the people. 14 The princes immediately sent Jehudi, son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch with the order: “The scroll you read in the hearing of the people—bring it with you and come.” Scroll in hand, Baruch, son of Neriah, went to them. 15 “Sit down,” they said to him, “and read it in our hearing.” Baruch read it in their hearing, 16 and when they had heard all its words, they turned to each other in alarm and said to Baruch, “We have to tell the king all these things.” 17 Then they asked Baruch: “Tell us, please, how did you come to write down all these words? Was it at his dictation?” 18 “Yes, he would dictate all these words to me,” Baruch answered them, “while I wrote them down with ink in the scroll.” 19 The princes said to Baruch, “Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah; do not let anyone know where you are.”
20 They went in to the king, into the courtyard; they had deposited the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. When they told the king everything that had happened, 21 the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the scribe, and read it to the king and to all the princes who were attending the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in his winter house, since it was the ninth month, and a fire was burning in the brazier before him. 23 Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, he would cut off the piece with a scribe’s knife[b] and throw it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire in the brazier. 24 As they were listening to all these words the king and all his officials did not become alarmed, nor did they tear their garments. 25 And though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 He commanded Jerahmeel, a royal prince, and Seraiah, son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them away.
2 [a]Make room for us; we have not wronged anyone, or ruined anyone, or taken advantage of anyone. 3 I do not say this in condemnation, for I have already said that you are in our hearts, that we may die together and live together.(A) 4 I have great confidence in you, I have great pride in you; I am filled with encouragement, I am overflowing with joy all the more because of all our affliction.
C. Resolution of the Crisis[b]
Paul’s Joy in Macedonia. 5 [c]For even when we came into Macedonia,[d] our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—external conflicts, internal fears.(B) 6 But God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus,(C) 7 and not only by his arrival but also by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning, your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. 8 [e]For even if I saddened you by my letter, I do not regret it; and if I did regret it ([for] I see that that letter saddened you, if only for a while),(D) 9 I rejoice now, not because you were saddened, but because you were saddened into repentance; for you were saddened in a godly way, so that you did not suffer loss in anything because of us. 10 For godly sorrow produces a salutary repentance without regret, but worldly sorrow produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this godly sorrow has produced for you, as well as readiness for a defense, and indignation, and fear, and yearning, and zeal, and punishment. In every way you have shown yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12 So then even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, or on account of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your concern for us might be made plain to you in the sight of God.(E)
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