Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

An instruction^[a]. By Ethan, the Ezrahite

God’s Covenant with David

⁸ “Therefore, this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘Because you haven’t listened to my message, ⁹ I’m now sending for all the tribes from the north, declares the Lord, and for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I’ll bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I’ll utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn,^[a] and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰ I’ll destroy the sounds of gladness and rejoicing from them, the sounds of the bridegroom and the bride, the sound of the hand mill and also the light of the lamp. ¹¹ This entire land will be a desolation and a waste, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹² ‘Then when the seventy years have passed, I’ll judge the king of Babylon and that nation, declares the Lord, I’ll judge^[b] the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity and I’ll make it a desolation forever. ¹³ I’ll bring on that land all the things I spoke against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied about the nations. ¹⁴ Indeed many nations and great kings will make slaves even of them, and I’ll repay them according to their deeds, according to what they have done.’”

⁷ You were running the race beautifully. Who cut in on you and stopped you from obeying the truth? ⁸ Such influence does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹ A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough. ¹⁰ I am confident^[a] in the Lord that you will take no other view of this. However, the one who is troubling you will suffer God’s^[b] judgment, whoever he is. ¹¹ As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching the necessity of^[c] circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. ¹² I wish that those who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!