Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
161 Princes pursue and persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your words [dreading violation of them far more than the force of prince or potentate].(A)
162 I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law do I love.
164 Seven times a day and all day long do I praise You because of Your righteous decrees.
165 Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.(B)
166 I am hoping and waiting [eagerly] for Your salvation, O Lord, and I do Your commandments.(C)
167 Your testimonies have I kept [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]; I love them exceedingly!
168 I have observed Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are [fully known] before You.
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was working at the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
7 At one time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it;
8 And if [the people of] that nation concerning which I have spoken turn from their evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the evil that I thought to do to them.
9 At another time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will build up and plant it;
10 And if they do evil in My sight, obeying not My voice, then I will regret and reverse My decision concerning the good with which I said I would benefit them.
11 Now therefore say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return now each one from his evil way; reform your [accustomed] ways and make your [individual] actions good and right.
20 Then He began to censure and reproach the cities in which most of His mighty works had been performed, because they did not repent [and their hearts were not changed].
21 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes [and their hearts would have been changed].
22 I tell you [further], it shall be more endurable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
23 And you, Capernaum, are you to be lifted up to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades [the region of the dead]! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued until today.
24 But I tell you, it shall be more endurable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.
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