Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 “(A)Hear, My people, and I will speak;
Israel, I will testify [a]against you;
I am God, (B)your God.
8 I do (C)not rebuke you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 I will not take a (D)bull from your house,
Nor male goats from your folds.
10 For (E)every animal of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every (F)bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is [b]Mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the (G)world is Mine, and [c]everything it contains.
13 Shall I eat the flesh of [d](H)bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14 Offer God (I)a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And (J)pay your vows to the Most High;
15 (K)Call upon Me on the day of trouble;
I will (L)rescue you, and you will (M)honor Me.”
7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness
(A)Jerusalem remembers all her treasures
That were hers since the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And (B)no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They (C)laughed at her [a]ruin.
8 Jerusalem sinned (D)greatly,
Therefore (E)she has become an [b]object of ridicule.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even (F)she herself groans and turns away.
9 Her (G)uncleanness was in her garment’s seams;
She [c]did not think of her (H)future.
So she has [d](I)fallen in an astonishing way;
(J)She has no comforter.
“(K)See, Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has [e](L)honored himself!”
10 The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the (M)nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they were (N)not to enter Your congregation.
11 All her people groan, (O)seeking bread;
They have given their treasures for food
To (P)restore their [f]lives.
“See, Lord, and look,
For I am (Q)despised.”
17 These are (A)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, (B)for whom the [a]black darkness has been reserved. 18 For, while speaking out (C)arrogant words of no (D)value they (E)entice by fleshly desires, by (F)indecent behavior, those who barely (G)escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for (H)by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have (I)escaped the defilements of the world by (J)the knowledge of the (K)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again (L)entangled in them and are overcome, (M)the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 (N)For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from (O)the holy commandment (P)handed on to them. 22 [b]It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “(Q)A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
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