Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
YOD
73 You made me with your hands. You made me what I am.
Help me to understand things well,
so that I learn your commands.
74 People who respect you will be happy when they see me.
That is because I trust your word.
75 Lord, I know that your rules are good and fair.
When you sent trouble to me,
it was because you truly loved me.
76 Now, please use your faithful love
to comfort me.
That is what you promised to do for me, your servant.
77 Be kind to me so that I will live!
Your Law makes me really happy.
78 Proud men should be ashamed!
They have spoken lies against me.
79 Let the people who respect you come back to me.
Then they will learn to obey your rules.
80 Let me obey your commands completely.
Then I will not be ashamed.
Sin brings punishment
4 ‘Jeremiah, tell the people that this is what I, the Lord, say to them:
When people fall down, they get up again.
When people realize that they are on the wrong road,
they turn around.
5 So why have the people of Jerusalem not turned back to me?
They turn away from me all the time.
They believe the lies of false gods,
and they refuse to return to me.
6 I have listened carefully to them,
but they do not say what is right.
They are not sorry for the wicked things that they have done.
None of them say, “I have done something wrong.”
They all continue to do what they want to do.
They are like horses that are running into a battle.
7 Even birds know when it is time for them to move to a different place.
That is true for storks, doves, swallows and cranes.[a]
Birds know when it is time to return,
but my people do not know my laws.
8 You say, “We are wise
because we have the law of the Lord.”
But I tell you, your teachers have changed my laws.
They teach you lies instead.
9 Those wise teachers will be ashamed and upset.
Enemies will catch them as their prisoners.
They have refused to accept the Lord's message.
So they are not really wise.
10 I will give their wives to other men.
Their fields will belong to other men.
They all cheat other people to get what they want.
Important people and ordinary people do that.
Prophets and priests do that.
They love to deceive people.
11 They tell my dear people that their wounds are not bad.
They say to them,
“No problem! You will have peace.”
But there will be no peace for my people.
12 They are not ashamed of the disgusting things that they do.
They do not even know what shame is.
They have forgotten how to be ashamed.
So they will fall to the ground,
as other people have fallen.
When I punish them,
that will be the end of them.’
That is what the Lord says.
13 The Lord says,
‘I will take away the crops from their fields.’
‘No figs or grapes will grow on their trees.[b]
The leaves on their trees will dry up and die.
All the good things that I gave to them will disappear.’
28 When the workers heard Demetrius, they became very angry. They all shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’ 29 More and more people in the whole city began to shout. There was trouble everywhere. Gaius and Aristarchus had been travelling with Paul. They had come with him from Macedonia. Some people from the crowd took hold of Gaius and Aristarchus. They pulled them quickly to the big public meeting place in the middle of the city.[a]
30 Paul himself wanted to go there. He wanted to speak to the crowd. But the other believers would not let him do that. 31 Some Roman officers in that region were Paul's friends. They also sent a message to him. They said to him, ‘Please, do not go to the meeting place.’
32 The crowd of people in the meeting place continued to shout loudly. Some people were shouting one thing and other people were shouting something different. Not many of the people even knew why they had all met together. 33 There was a Jewish man called Alexander in the crowd. The Jews pushed him to the front of the crowd. He raised his hands towards the people, so that they would be quiet. He wanted to explain to them that he and his Jewish friends had not caused the trouble. 34 But the crowd knew that Alexander was a Jew. So they continued to shout the same words for about two hours. All together they shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’
35 After two hours, an important officer of the city caused the crowd to be quiet. He said, ‘People of Ephesus! Everybody knows about our god Artemis who has her temple here in Ephesus. People come here to worship her. Her special stone that fell from the sky is also here in Ephesus. We take care of all her things. Everybody knows that! 36 Nobody can say that this is not true. So be careful! Do not quickly do anything that is silly. 37 You have brought Gaius and Aristarchus here to the city officers' meeting place. But what bad thing have they done? They have not robbed the house of Artemis. They have not said bad things against her. 38 Perhaps Demetrius and his workers think that someone has done a bad thing to them. If they think that, they should let a judge decide. There are officers for the government who will do this. If someone has done a wrong thing, people should tell a judge.
39 So, if you want to argue about these problems any more, do it properly. Go to the place where the judges meet. 40 Today, there is a crowd of people who are shouting and fighting. The Roman rulers may hear about what has happened. They will say that we have done bad things. We could not explain to them the reason why there is all this trouble.’ 41 When the officer had said all this, he said to the crowd, ‘All of you should go home now.’
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