Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Remembering the Covenant with David, and Sorrow for Lost Blessings
A [a]Contemplation of (A)Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;
With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;
(B)Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”
15 Blessed are the people who know the (A)joyful sound!
They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.
16 In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength,
And in Your favor our [a]horn is (B)exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, 9 behold, I will send and take (A)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (B)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and (C)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will [a]take from them the (D)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (E)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy (F)years.
12 ‘Then it will come to pass, (G)when [b]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; (H)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. 14 (I)(For many nations (J)and great kings shall (K)be served by them also; (L)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”
Love Fulfills the Law
7 You (A)ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 (B)A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, (C)why do I still suffer persecution? Then (D)the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 (E)I could wish that those (F)who trouble you would even [a]cut themselves off!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.