Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God's Complete Knowledge and Care[a]
139 Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2 You know everything I do;
from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3 You see me, whether I am working or resting;
you know all my actions.
4 Even before I speak,
you already know what I will say.
5 You are all around me on every side;
you protect me with your power.
6 Your knowledge of me is too deep;
it is beyond my understanding.
7 Where could I go to escape from you?
Where could I get away from your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there;
if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.
9 If I flew away beyond the east
or lived in the farthest place in the west,
10 you would be there to lead me,
you would be there to help me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
or the light around me to turn into night,
12 but even darkness is not dark for you,
and the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You created every part of me;
you put me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because you are to be feared;
all you do is strange and wonderful.
I know it with all my heart.
15 When my bones were being formed,
carefully put together in my mother's womb,
when I was growing there in secret,
you knew that I was there—
16 you saw me before I was born.
The days allotted to me
had all been recorded in your book,
before any of them ever began.
17 (A)O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;[b]
how many of them there are!
18 If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The Lord said to me, 5 “I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations.”
6 I answered, “Sovereign Lord, I don't know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say that you are too young, but go to the people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
9 Then the Lord reached out, touched my lips, and said to me, “Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak. 10 Today I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
You Cannot Go Where I Am Going
21 Again Jesus said to them, “I will go away; you will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot go where I am going.”
22 So the Jewish authorities said, “He says that we cannot go where he is going. Does this mean that he will kill himself?”
23 Jesus answered, “You belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world. 24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked him.
Jesus answered, “What I have told you from the very beginning.[a] 26 I have much to say about you, much to condemn you for. The one who sent me, however, is truthful, and I tell the world only what I have heard from him.”
27 They did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father. 28 So he said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that ‘I Am Who I Am’; then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say. 29 And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
30 Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.
The Truth Will Set You Free
31 So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; 32 (A)you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 (B)“We are the descendants of Abraham,” they answered, “and we have never been anybody's slaves. What do you mean, then, by saying, ‘You will be free’?”
34 Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not belong to a family permanently, but a son belongs there forever. 36 If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free. 37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me, because you will not accept my teaching. 38 I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.