Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the director: With flutes.[a] A song of David.
5 Lord, listen to me
and understand what I am trying to say.
2 My God and King,
listen to my prayer.
3 Every morning, Lord, I lay my gifts before you
and look to you for help.
And every morning you hear my prayers.
4 God, you don’t want evil people near you.
They cannot stay in your presence.[b]
5 Fools[c] cannot come near you.
You hate those who do evil.
6 You destroy those who tell lies.
Lord, you hate those who make secret plans to hurt others.
7 But by your great mercy, I can enter your house.
I can worship in your holy Temple with fear and respect for you.
8 Lord, show me your right way of living,
and make it easy for me to follow.
People are looking for my weaknesses,
so show me how you want me to live.
9 My enemies never tell the truth.
They only want to destroy people.
Their words come from mouths that are like open graves.
They use their lying tongues to deceive others.[d]
10 Punish them, God!
Let them be caught in their own traps.
They have turned against you,
so punish them for their many crimes.
11 But let those who trust in you be happy forever.
Protect and strengthen those who love your name.
12 Lord, when you bless good people,
you surround them with your love, like a large shield that protects them.
18 This message is from the Lord: “But, Judah, when these terrible days come, I will not fully destroy you. 19 The people of Judah will ask you, ‘Jeremiah, why has the Lord our God done this bad thing to us?’ Give them this answer: ‘You people of Judah have left me, and you have served foreign idols in your own land. You did these things, so now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.’
20 “Tell this message to the family of Jacob,
and tell it in the nation of Judah.
21 Hear this message,
you foolish people who have no sense.
You have eyes, but you don’t see!
You have ears, but you don’t listen!
22 Surely you are afraid of me.”
This message is from the Lord.
“You should shake with fear in front of me.
I am the one who made the sandy shores to hold back the sea.
I made it that way to keep the water in its place forever.
The waves may pound the beach, but they will not destroy it.
The waves may roar as they come in, but they cannot go beyond the beach.
23 But the people of Judah are stubborn.
They are always planning ways to turn against me.
They turned away from me and left me.
24 The people of Judah never say to themselves,
‘Let’s fear and respect the Lord our God.
He gives us autumn and spring rains at just the right time.
He makes sure that we have the harvest at just the right time.’
25 You don’t have these blessings because you have done wrong.
Your sins have kept these good things away from you.
26 There are evil men among my people.
They are like men who make nets for catching birds.[a]
They set their traps,
but they catch people instead of birds.
27 Their houses are full of lies,
like a cage full of birds.
Their lies made them rich and powerful.
28 They have grown big and fat from the evil they have done.
There is no end to the evil they do.
They will not plead the case of children who have no parents.
They will not help these orphans.
They will not let the poor be judged fairly.
29 Should I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?”
This message is from the Lord.
“You know I should punish a nation such as this.
I should give it the punishment it deserves.
30 “A terrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land of Judah.
31 The prophets tell lies.
The priests will not do what they were chosen to do,[b]
and my people love it this way!
But what will you people do when your punishment comes?
13 Also, we always thank God because of the way you accepted his message. You heard it and accepted it as God’s message, not our own. And it really is God’s message. And it works in you who believe. 14 Brothers and sisters, you are just like God’s churches in Judea.[a] I mean that you were treated badly by your own people, just as those believers in Christ Jesus were treated badly by other Jews— 15 the same Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets. And they forced us to leave their country. They are not pleasing to God, and they are against everyone else. 16 And they are trying to stop us from teaching those who are not Jews. They don’t want them to be saved. But they are just adding more and more sins to the ones they already have. Now the time has come for them to suffer God’s anger.
Paul’s Desire to Visit Them Again
17 Brothers and sisters, we were separated from you for a short time. But even though we were not there, our thoughts were still with you. We wanted very much to see you, and we tried very hard to do this. 18 Yes, we wanted to come to you. I, Paul, tried more than once to come, but Satan stopped us. 19 You are our hope, our joy, and the crown we will be proud of when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. 20 You bring us honor and joy.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International