Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

An Old Person’s Prayer

Zedekiah King of Judah

¹¹ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king of Judah. And he was king in Jerusalem for 11 years. ¹² Zedekiah did what the Lord his God said was wrong. The prophet Jeremiah spoke messages from the Lord. But Zedekiah did not obey.

Jerusalem Is Destroyed

¹³ Zedekiah turned against King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had forced Zedekiah to promise to be loyal to him. And Zedekiah had promised, using God’s name. But Zedekiah became stubborn. He refused to obey the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ Also, all the leaders of the priests and the people of Judah became more wicked. They followed the evil example of the other nations. The Lord had made the Temple in Jerusalem holy. But the leaders made the Temple unholy.

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent prophets again and again to warn his people. He did this because he had pity for them and for his Temple. ¹⁶ But they made fun of God’s prophets. They hated God’s messages. So they refused to listen to the prophets. Finally God became so angry with his people that he could not be stopped. ¹⁷ So God brought the king of Babylon to attack them. The king killed the young men even when they were in the Temple. He did not have mercy on the people. He killed both young men and women. He even killed the old men and those who were sick. God permitted Nebuchadnezzar to punish the people of Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon all the things from the Temple of God, both large and small. He took all the treasures from the Temple of the Lord and from the king and his officers. ¹⁹ Nebuchadnezzar and his army set fire to God’s Temple. They broke down Jerusalem’s wall. And they burned all the palaces. They took or destroyed every valuable thing in Jerusalem.

²⁰ Nebuchadnezzar took captive to Babylon the people who were left alive. And he forced them to be slaves for him and his descendants. They remained there as slaves until the Persian kingdom defeated Babylon. ²¹ And so what the Lord had told Israel through the prophet Jeremiah happened. The Lord had said that place would be an empty wasteland for 70 years. This happened to make up for the years of Sabbath rests^[a] that the people had not kept.

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, where Andrew and Peter lived. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “Remember that Moses wrote in the law about a man who was coming, and the prophets also wrote about him. We have found him. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶ But Nathanael said to Philip, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Philip answered, “Come and see.”

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. He said, “Here is truly a person of Israel. There is nothing false in him.”

⁴⁸ Nathanael asked, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree. That was before Philip told you about me.”

⁴⁹ Then Nathanael said to Jesus, “Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to Nathanael, “You believe in me because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. But you will see greater things than that!” ⁵¹ And Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth. You will all see heaven open. You will see ‘angels of God going up and coming down’^[a] on the Son of Man.”