Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸⁹ Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven [stands firm as the heavens].^(A)

⁹⁰ Your faithfulness is from generation to generation; You have established the earth, and it stands fast.

⁹¹ All [the whole universe] are Your servants; therefore they continue this day according to Your ordinances.^(B)

⁹² Unless Your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

⁹³ I will never forget Your precepts, [how can I?] for it is by them You have quickened me (granted me life).

⁹⁴ I am Yours, therefore save me [Your own]; for I have sought (inquired of and for) Your precepts and required them [as my urgent need].^(C)

⁹⁵ The wicked wait for me to destroy me, but I will consider Your testimonies.

⁹⁶ I have seen that everything [human] has its limits and end [no matter how extensive, noble, and excellent]; but Your commandment is exceedingly broad and extends without limits [into eternity].^(D)

36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

² Take a scroll [of parchment] for a book and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the day I spoke to you in the days of [King] Josiah until this day.

³ It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, so that each one may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.^(A)

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote upon the scroll of the book all the words which Jeremiah dictated, [words] that the Lord had spoken to him.

⁵ And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am [in hiding, virtually] restrained and shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.

⁶ Therefore you go, and on a day of fasting, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord’s house, you shall read the words of the Lord which you have written on the scroll at my dictation. Also you shall read them in the hearing of all who come out of the cities of Judah.

⁷ It may be that they will make their supplication [for mercy] before the Lord, and each one will turn back from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.

⁸ And Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from [Jeremiah’s] book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

⁹ And in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast was proclaimed before the Lord for all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah.

¹⁰ Then Baruch read in the hearing of all the people the words of Jeremiah from the scroll of the book in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

14 Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (^[a]interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching).

² For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].

³ But [on the other hand], the one who prophesies [who ^[b]interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching] speaks to men for their upbuilding and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation.

⁴ He who speaks in a [strange] tongue edifies and improves himself, but he who prophesies [^[c]interpreting the divine will and purpose and teaching with inspiration] edifies and improves the church and promotes growth [in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness, and happiness].

⁵ Now I wish that you might all speak in [unknown] tongues, but more especially [I want you] to prophesy (to be inspired to preach and interpret the divine will and purpose). He who prophesies [who is inspired to preach and teach] is greater (more useful and more important) than he who speaks in [unknown] tongues, unless he should interpret [what he says], so that the church may be edified and receive good [from it].

⁶ Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in [unknown] tongues, how shall I make it to your advantage unless I speak to you either in revelation (disclosure of God’s will to man) in knowledge or in prophecy or in instruction?

⁷ If even inanimate musical instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone [listening] know or understand what is played?

⁸ And if the war bugle gives an uncertain (indistinct) call, who will prepare for battle?

⁹ Just so it is with you; if you in the [unknown] tongue speak words that are not intelligible, how will anyone understand what you are saying? For you will be talking into empty space!

¹⁰ There are, I suppose, all these many [to us unknown] tongues in the world [somewhere], and none is destitute of [its own power of] expression and meaning.

¹¹ But if I do not know the force and significance of the speech (language), I shall seem to be a foreigner to the one who speaks [to me], and the speaker who addresses [me] will seem a foreigner to me.

¹² So it is with yourselves; since you are so eager and ambitious to possess spiritual endowments and manifestations of the [Holy] Spirit, [concentrate on] striving to excel and to abound [in them] in ways that will build up the church.