Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song of David for going up to the Temple.

¹⁰ Jeremiah was wearing a yoke around his neck. The prophet Hananiah took the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹ Then Hananiah spoke loudly so that all the people could hear him. He said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way, I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He put that yoke on all the nations of the world, but I will break it before two years are over.’”

After Hananiah said that, Jeremiah left the Temple.

¹² Then the message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. This happened after Hananiah had taken the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and had broken it. ¹³ The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Go and tell Hananiah that this is what the Lord says: ‘You have broken a wooden yoke, but I will make a yoke of iron in the place of the wooden yoke. ¹⁴ The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, is the one saying this. I will put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations. I will do that to make them serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will be slaves to him. I will even give Nebuchadnezzar control over the wild animals.’”

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you. But you have made the people of Judah trust in lies. ¹⁶ So this is what the Lord says: ‘Soon I will take you from this world, Hananiah. You will die this year, because you taught the people to turn against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ Hananiah died in the seventh month of that same year.

3 So, do Jews have anything that others don’t have? Do they get any benefit from being circumcised? ² Yes, the Jews have many benefits. The most important one is this: God trusted the Jews with his teachings. ³ It is true that some Jews were not faithful to God. But will that stop God from doing what he promised? ⁴ No, even if everyone else is a liar, God will always do what he says. As the Scriptures say about him,

⁵ When we do wrong, that shows more clearly that God is right. So can we say that God does wrong when he punishes us? (That’s the way some people think.) ⁶ Of course not. If God could not punish us, how could he judge the world?

⁷ Someone might say, “When I lie, it really gives God glory, because my lie makes his truth easier to see. So why am I judged a sinner?” ⁸ It would be the same to say, “We should do evil so that good will come.” Many people criticize us, saying that’s what we teach. They are wrong, and they should be condemned for saying that.