Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ¹⁸ “Son of man, the people of Israel have become worthless to me. All of them are like copper, tin, iron, and lead in a smelting furnace. They are like the impurities left from silver. ¹⁹ This is what the Almighty Lord says: All of you have become worthless. That is why I’m going to gather you in Jerusalem. ²⁰ People gather silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin together in a smelting furnace to melt them with a fiery blast. In the same way, in my anger and fury I will gather you and put you in the city. I will melt you there. ²¹ Yes, I will gather you, breathe on you with my fiery anger, and melt you in the city. ²² You will be melted in the city like silver that is melted in a furnace. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my fury on you.”

²³ The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ²⁴ “Son of man, tell the city, ‘You are an unclean land that has not had rain during the day of my anger. You have not been made clean.^{[a] 25} Your princes are like roaring lions who tear their prey into pieces. They eat people and take their treasures and precious belongings. They turn many women into widows. ²⁶ Your priests violate my teachings and dishonor my holy things. They don’t distinguish between what is holy and what is unholy. They don’t teach the difference between what is clean and what is unclean. They ignore the days to worship me. So I am dishonored among the people. ²⁷ Your leaders are like wolves that tear their prey into pieces. They murder and destroy people to make excessive profits. ²⁸ Your prophets cover up these things by seeing false visions and by prophesying lies. They say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says.” Yet, the Lord hasn’t spoken. ²⁹ The common people oppress and rob others. They do wrong to humble people and to poor people. They oppress foreigners for no reason.

³⁰ “ ‘I looked for someone among you who could build walls or stand in front of me by the gaps in the walls to defend the land and keep it from being destroyed. But I couldn’t find anyone. ³¹ So I will pour out my anger on you, and with my fiery anger I will consume you. This is because of all the things you have done,’ declares the Almighty Lord.”

³¹ What can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² God didn’t spare his own Son but handed him over ⌞to death⌟ for all of us. So he will also give us everything along with him. ³³ Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? God has approved of them. ³⁴ Who will condemn them? Christ has died, and more importantly, he was brought back to life. Christ is in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. Christ also intercedes for us. ³⁵ What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from his love? ³⁶ As Scripture says:

³⁷ The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. ³⁸ I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us.^[a] We can’t be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces ³⁹ or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.