Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 It is not concerning a lack of your sacrifices that I rebuke you,
and your burnt offerings are before me continually.
9 I will not take from your house a bull
or from your stalls a he-goat,
10 because every animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and every moving creature in the field is mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
because the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a thank offering
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 And call me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”
7 Jerusalem remembers
the days of her misery and wanderings,
all her treasures
that were from the days of long ago.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
there was no one helping her;
the enemies saw her, they mocked
at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously,
thus she became an objection of derision;
all those who honored her despise her
because they have seen her nakedness.
She herself groans
and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she did not remember her future,
she has descended beyond understanding,
there is no comforter for her.
See, O Yahweh, my persecution!
My enemy has been made great!
10 The enemy has stretched out his hand
over all her treasures;
for she has seen the nations,
they entered her sanctuary,
those whom you commanded not to enter
in your assembly.
11 All her people groan,
they are searching for bread.
They give their treasures for food,
to bring back life.
See, O Yahweh, and look,
how I am despised.
17 These people are waterless springs and mists driven by a hurricane, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved. 18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words[a], they entice with desires of the flesh and with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error, 19 promising them freedom although they[b] themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also[c] enslaved. 20 For if, after they[d] have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord[e] and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these things and succumb to them, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. 22 The statement of the true proverb has happened to them, “A dog returns to its own vomit,”[f] and “A sow, after[g] washing herself, returns[h] to wallowing in the mud.”[i]
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