Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 God says, “My people, listen to me!
People of Israel, I will show my evidence against you.
I am God, your God.
8 The problem I have with you is not your sacrifices
or the burnt offerings you bring to me everyday.
9 Why would I want more bulls from your barns
or goats from your pens?
10 I already own all the animals in the forest.
I own all the animals on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains.
Everything that moves in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not ask you for food.
I already own the world and everything in it.
13 I don’t eat the meat of bulls or drink the blood of goats.”
14 You made promises to God Most High, so give him what you promised.
Bring your sacrifices and thank offerings.
15 God says, “Call me when trouble comes.
I will help you, and you will honor me.”
7 Jerusalem thinks back.
She remembers the time when she was hurt
and when she lost her home.
She remembers all the nice things that she had in the past.
She remembers those nice things that she had in the old days.
She remembers when her people were captured by the enemy.
She remembers when there was no one to help her.
When her enemies saw her, they laughed,
because she was destroyed.
8 Jerusalem sinned very badly.
Because Jerusalem sinned,
she became a ruined city that people shake their heads about.
In the past people respected her.
But now they hate her,
because they abused her.
Jerusalem groaned
and turned away.
9 Jerusalem’s skirts were dirty.
She gave no thought to what would become of her.
Her fall was amazing.
She had no one to comfort her.
She says, “Lord, see how I am hurt!
See how my enemy thinks he is so great!”
10 The enemy stretched out his hand.
He took all her nice things.
In fact, she saw the foreign nations go inside her Temple.
And you said those people could not join in our assembly!
11 All the people of Jerusalem are groaning.
All of her people are looking for food.
They are giving away all their nice things for food to stay alive.
Jerusalem says, “Look, Lord. Look at me!
See how people hate me.
17 These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them. 18 They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness. 19 These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
20 People can be made free from the evil in the world. They can be made free by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they go back into those evil things and are controlled by them, then it is worse for them than it was before. 21 Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. 22 What they did is like these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.”[a] And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International