Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God is good, so thank him^[a]

God's promises to his people

33 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah a second time while he was in prison in the yard of the palace. ² He said, ‘I am the Lord who made the earth. I gave a shape to it and I put it in its place. The Lord is my name. I say this to you: ³ “Call out to me and I will answer you. I will tell you about great things. They are secret things that you do not yet know.” ⁴ The Lord, Israel's God, has a message about the houses in this city and about the royal palaces of Judah's kings. The people have knocked down the city's buildings. They have used the stones to make the city's walls stronger, ⁵ to fight against Babylon's army. The Lord says, “The city's houses will be full of dead bodies. I am very angry with the people in the city and I will kill them. I will refuse to help this city because of the wicked things that its people have done.

⁶ But listen to me! I will bring health again to the people of this city. I will make my people well again. They will live safely in peace. ⁷ I will bring back the people of Judah and Israel from foreign lands. I will make them a strong nation, as they were before. ⁸ They have done bad things and they have turned against me. But I will forgive all their sins that they have done against me. ⁹ Then this city will cause the people of all the nations on the earth to give me honour. They will praise me and make me happy. They will hear about all the good things that I am doing for Jerusalem. They will see that I have caused its people to have health and peace. Because of that, they will respect me and they will shake with fear.” 

Christians must be like lights in the world

¹² So, my friends, you must continue to obey God.^[a] When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that is true. Respect God and obey him. Remember that he is great and powerful. ¹³ It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you strong to do that. When you obey him, that makes him very happy.

¹⁴ Whatever you are doing, do not complain. And do not argue. ¹⁵ Then you will not be guilty of anything that is wrong. You will be clean inside yourselves. You will be living in a completely good way, as God's children should. In this world, you are living among bad people who have turned away from what is good. But you must bring light into this dark place, like stars that shine in the night. ¹⁶ Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.

¹⁷ You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like drink that I am pouring on your sacrifice, to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together. ¹⁸ Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.