Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
5 I must be patient as I wait for God to help me.
He is the only one that I can trust for help.
6 He alone is the strong rock
where I can hide and be safe.
With him, nothing will make me fall.
7 It is God who has kept me safe,
and he has made me great.
He is the strong place
where I can hide and be safe.
8 Yes, my friends,
you should always trust in God!
Tell him about all the troubles in your thoughts.
God is our safe place to hide!
Selah.
9 People are only as light as a breath!
Whoever they are, they are not important.
If you try to weigh them, all together,
they weigh less than a breath of air.[a]
10 Do not cheat people,
or rob them to get money!
That will not give you anything
that you can trust to help you.
Even if you become very rich,
do not think it is important.
11 I have heard God speak his truth
once, no twice!
God has great strength.
12 And also, my Lord, you have a faithful love.
You pay back to everybody what they should get
for the things that they have done.
A pot that breaks
19 The Lord said to me, ‘Go to a potter. Buy from him a pot that he has made from clay. Take with you some leaders of the people and some leaders of the priests. 2 Go out into Ben-Hinnom Valley, which is near to the “Broken Pots” gate. There you must speak the words that I will tell you.
3 Say, “Hear the Lord's message, you kings of Judah and people who live in Jerusalem. The Lord Almighty, Israel's God says this: Listen to me! I will bring very great trouble to this place. It will be very bad. Everyone who hears about it will be very surprised. 4 That will happen because Judah's people have turned away from me. They worship foreign gods in this place. They have offered sacrifices to those gods. They are gods that their ancestors did not know about. The kings of Judah never knew about them either. In this place, Judah's people have killed people who did not deserve to die. 5 They have built altars here to give honour to Baal. They light fires to give their children to Baal as burnt offerings. I never even thought about it. I never commanded my people to offer those kinds of sacrifices. I never even thought about it. 6 So I tell you this: A time will soon come when people do not call this place Topheth or Ben-Hinnom Valley. Instead, they will call it Death Valley.[a]
7 I will spoil all the ideas that the people of Judah and Jerusalem have. In this place I will put them under the power of their enemies. Their enemies will kill them in war. I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will make this city a heap of stones. People will see how disgusting my people are. Everybody who goes near there will be very surprised. They will see all the terrible trouble that has happened to the city and they will insult it. 9 Enemies will make their camp all around the city, so that they can kill the people who live there. The people will not have any food to eat. They will be so hungry that they will eat their own children and they will eat each other.”
10 Then, Jeremiah, take the pot that you bought. Break it in front of all those people who are there with you. 11 Tell them that the Lord Almighty says, “I will destroy this nation and this city. They will be like this broken pot that nobody is able to mend. They will bury lots of dead people here in Topheth. There will be no space left to bury any more people. 12 I tell you this: I will cause this city and its people to become like Topheth. 13 The houses in Jerusalem will be full of dead bodies like Topheth. The palaces of the kings of Judah will be the same. I will do that because people went up on the roofs of their houses to offer sacrifices to the stars. They poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’
14 Then Jeremiah left Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to speak his message. He went to the Lord's temple in the city. He stood in the yard of the temple. He spoke aloud to the people. 15 He said, ‘The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this: “Listen to me! I will soon punish this city and all the towns around it, as I have promised that I will do. I will do it because the people have refused to listen to my message.” ’
11 The traders of this world will also be very sad. They will weep because nobody will buy their things any more. 12 They sold many expensive things like these:
Things made from gold and silver.
Valuable stones and pearls.
Good linen and other kinds of expensive cloth that is red or purple.
Things made from wood that has a nice smell.
Many different things that are made from ivory.
Many kinds of things that people had made from expensive wood, from different metals and from stone.
13 Different kinds of spice and incense, like myrrh and frankincense.
Wine, olive oil, expensive flour and wheat.
Cows and sheep.
Horses and chariots.
Human slaves.
14 The people who sold these things will say to the city, ‘You have now lost all the good things that you wanted so much. You have lost all those expensive things that made you beautiful. You will never have them again.’
15 The traders had become rich because of the city. But now they will stand a long way from the city because they are afraid. They do not want to suffer in the same way themselves. They will weep and they will be very sad. 16 They will say,
‘Bad trouble has come to you, Babylon!
Great city! It is very bad for you!
You wore beautiful clothes that were made from good linen.
You wore bright things that made you look beautiful.
You shone with gold, valuable stones and pearls.
17 But in one single hour God has destroyed all those valuable things.’
All the sailors and the people who travel on ships will also be sad. They include every ship's captain, and everyone who works on ships on the sea. They will stand a long way from the city. 18 They will see the smoke from the fire that burns the city. Then they will shout, ‘There is no other city like this great city!’ 19 They will throw dirt from the ground on their heads because they are so sad. They will weep and they will shout,
‘Bad trouble has come to you, Babylon!
Great city! It is very bad for you!
Everyone who had ships on the sea became rich because of you.
You used your money to buy their expensive things.
But in one single hour God has destroyed that city.’
20 Yes, you who live in heaven, be happy!
Be happy because God has punished Babylon!
God's people and his apostles and his prophets, be happy!
God has punished the city because of what she did to you.
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