Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 6

To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, set [possibly] an octave below. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, rebuke me not in Your anger nor discipline and chasten me in Your hot displeasure.

² Have mercy on me and be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am weak (faint and withered away); O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

³ My [inner] self [as well as my body] is also exceedingly disturbed and troubled. But You, O Lord, how long [until You return and speak peace to me]?

⁴ Return [to my relief], O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of Your steadfast love and mercy.

⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of You; in Sheol (the place of the dead) who will give You thanks?

⁶ I am weary with my groaning; all night I soak my pillow with tears, I drench my couch with my weeping.

⁷ My eye grows dim because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.^(A)

⁹ The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord receives my prayer.

¹⁰ Let all my enemies be ashamed and sorely troubled; let them turn back and be put to shame suddenly.

26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord:

² Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house [Jeremiah] and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I command you to speak to them; subtract not a word.

³ It may be that they will listen and turn every man from his evil way, that I may relent and reverse My decision concerning the evil which I purpose to do to them because of their evil doings.

⁴ And you will say to them, Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to and obey Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you,

⁵ And to hear and obey the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you urgently and persistently—though you have not listened and obeyed—

⁶ Then will I make this house [the temple] like Shiloh [the home of the Tent of Meeting, abandoned and later destroyed after the ark was captured by the Philistines], and I will make this city subject to the curses of all nations of the earth [so vile in their sight will it be].^(A)

⁷ And the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

⁸ Now when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people seized him, saying, You shall surely die!

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh [after the ark of the Lord had been taken by our enemies] and this city [Jerusalem] shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered around Jeremiah in the [outer area of the] house of the Lord.

¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord.

¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets said to the princes and to all the people, This man is deserving of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.

¹² Then Jeremiah said to all the princes and to all the people: The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

⁸ And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, Who died and came to life again:^(A)

⁹ I know your affliction and distress and pressing trouble and your poverty—but you are rich! and how you are abused and reviled and slandered by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰ Fear nothing that you are about to suffer. [Dismiss your dread and your fears!] Behold, the devil is indeed about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and proved and critically appraised, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be loyally faithful unto death [even if you must die for it], and I will give you the crown of life.^(B)

¹¹ He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). He who overcomes (is victorious) shall in no way be injured by the second death.