Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote.

Tell the music leader, ‘Use harps when you sing this song.’

David prays for health^[a]

The people want to kill Jeremiah

26 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah at the time when Josiah's son Jehoiakim became king of Judah. ² The Lord said, ‘Go and stand in the yard of the Lord's temple. People come from all the towns in Judah to worship the Lord in his temple. Speak to them. Tell them everything that I command you to say. Do not leave out even one word. ³ Perhaps they will listen to what you say. Then they may stop living in the evil way that they do now. If they change how they live, I will not punish them for their sins, as I had promised to do. ⁴ Tell them that the Lord says this: “You must obey me. I have given you my laws that tell you how you should live. ⁵ You must listen to the messages that my servants the prophets tell you. I have sent them to speak to you many times, but you have not listened to them. ⁶ So if you do not obey me, I will destroy this temple, as I destroyed Shiloh. People of all the other nations on earth will use the name of this city as a curse.” ’^[a]

⁷ The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah's message in the Lord's temple. ⁸ Jeremiah said everything that the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. Just as he finished, some of the priests, the prophets, and the people took hold of him. They shouted, ‘You deserve to die! ⁹ You should not say that you have the Lord's authority to prophesy such terrible things! You cannot say that this temple will become like Shiloh. You cannot say that this city will become a heap of stones where nobody lives!’

The whole crowd of people pushed together around Jeremiah in the yard of the temple.

¹⁰ Some of Judah's officers heard about what was happening. So they left the king's palace and they went up to the Lord's temple. They went to the gate of the temple that is called ‘The New Gate’. They sat in their places as judges near the gate.^{[b] 11} Then the priests and the prophets told the officers and all the people why they accused Jeremiah. They said, ‘This man deserves to die because he has prophesied trouble against this city. You yourselves have heard what he said!’

¹² Then Jeremiah said to all the officers and to all the people, ‘The Lord sent me to say all the things that you have heard me speak. He told me to prophesy against this temple and against this city.

Jesus' message to the believers at Smyrna

⁸ ‘Write this to the angel of the church at Smyrna:

“This is the message to you from the one who is the first and the last. He was dead, but he became alive again.

⁹ I know that bad people are making you suffer. I also know that you are poor. But really, you are rich. Some people say that they are Jews, but they tell lies about you. So they cannot be my true people. Instead, they belong to a group of Satan's people. ¹⁰ I know that trouble will soon come to you. But do not be afraid. Listen! The Devil will cause some of you to go to prison. He wants to see whether you will continue to believe in me. As a result, you will suffer for ten days.^[a] But continue to trust me, even if you die. Then you will win against the Devil. I will give you a gift, as they give a crown to the winner of a race.^[b] You will have life with me for ever.

¹¹ God's Spirit is speaking to you in the churches. You should understand what the Spirit is saying to you. You have ears, so listen carefully! The second death will not hurt anyone who wins against Satan.” ’^[c]