Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

46 God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble. ² And so we need not fear even if the world blows up and the mountains crumble into the sea. ³ Let the oceans roar and foam; let the mountains tremble!

⁴ There is a river of joy flowing through the city of our God—the sacred home of the God above all gods. ⁵ God himself is living in that city; therefore it stands unmoved despite the turmoil everywhere. He will not delay his help. ⁶ The nations rant and rave in anger—but when God speaks, the earth melts in submission and kingdoms totter into ruin.

⁷ The Commander of the armies of heaven is here among us. He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us.

⁸ Come, see the glorious things that our God does, how he brings ruin upon the world ⁹ and causes wars to end throughout the earth, breaking and burning every weapon. ¹⁰ “Stand silent! Know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation in the world!”

¹¹ The Commander of the heavenly armies is here among us! He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us!

¹⁸ Therefore this is God’s decree of punishment against King Jehoiakim, who succeeded his father Josiah on the throne: His family will not weep for him when he dies. His subjects will not even care that he is dead. ¹⁹ He shall be buried like a dead donkey—dragged out of Jerusalem and thrown on the garbage dump beyond the gate! ²⁰ Weep, for your allies are gone. Search for them in Lebanon; shout for them at Bashan; seek them at the fording points of Jordan. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you! ²¹ When you were prosperous, I warned you, but you replied, “Don’t bother me.” Since childhood you have been that way—you just won’t listen! ²² And now all your allies have disappeared with a puff of wind; all your friends are taken off as slaves. Surely at last you will see your wickedness and be ashamed. ²³ It’s very nice to live graciously in a beautiful palace among the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will cry and groan in anguish—anguish as of a woman in labor.

^24-25 And as for you, Coniah,^[a] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah—even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off and give you to those who seek to kill you, of whom you are so desperately afraid—to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his mighty army. ²⁶ I will throw you and your mother out of this country, and you shall die in a foreign land. ²⁷ You will never again return to the land of your desire. ²⁸ This man Coniah is like a discarded, broken dish. He and his children will be exiled to distant lands.

²⁹ O earth, earth, earth! Hear the word of the Lord! ³⁰ The Lord says: Record this man Coniah as childless, for none of his children shall ever sit upon the throne of David or rule in Judah.^[b] His life will amount to nothing.

¹⁵ One day some mothers brought their babies to him to touch and bless. But the disciples told them to go away.

^16-17 Then Jesus called the children over to him and said to the disciples, “Let the little children come to me! Never send them away! For the Kingdom of God belongs to men who have hearts as trusting as these little children’s. And anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get within the Kingdom’s gates.”