Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 God says, “Listen, my people, and I will speak.
I will be a witness against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8 I don’t bring charges against you because of your sacrifices.
I don’t bring charges because of the burnt offerings you always bring me.
9 I don’t need a bull from your barn.
I don’t need goats from your pens.
10 Every animal in the forest already belongs to me.
And so do the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I own every bird in the mountains.
The insects in the fields belong to me.
12 If I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you.
The world belongs to me. And so does everything in it.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?
14 Bring me thank offerings, because I am your God.
Carry out the promises you made to me, because I am the Most High God.
15 Call out to me when trouble comes.
I will save you. And you will honor me.”
7 Jerusalem’s people are suffering and wandering.
They remember all the treasures
they used to have.
But they fell into the hands of their enemies.
And no one was there to help them.
Their enemies looked at them.
They laughed because Jerusalem had been destroyed.
8 Her people have committed many sins.
They have become impure.
All those who honored Jerusalem now look down on her.
They all look at her as if she were a naked woman.
The city groans and turns away in shame.
9 Her skirts are dirty.
She didn’t think about how things might turn out.
Her fall from power amazed everyone.
And no one was there to comfort her.
She said, “Lord, please pay attention to how much I’m suffering.
My enemies have won the battle over me.”
10 Jerusalem’s enemies took away
all her treasures.
Her people saw outsiders
enter her temple.
The Lord had commanded them
not to do that.
11 All Jerusalem’s people groan
as they search for bread.
They trade their treasures for food
just to stay alive.
Jerusalem says, “Lord, look at me.
Think about my condition.
Everyone looks down on me.”
17 These people are like springs without water. They are like mists driven by a storm. The blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 They speak empty, bragging words. They make their appeal to the evil desires that come from sin’s power. They tempt new believers who are just escaping from the company of sinful people. 19 They promise to give freedom to these new believers. But they themselves are slaves to sinful living. That’s because “people are slaves to anything that controls them.” 20 They may have escaped the sin of the world. They may have come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But what if they are once again caught up in sin? And what if it has become their master? Then they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 Suppose they had not known the way of godliness. This would have been better than to know godliness and then turn away from it. The way of godliness is the sacred command passed on to them. 22 What the proverbs say about them is true. “A dog returns to where it has thrown up.” (Proverbs 26:11) And, “A pig that is washed goes back to rolling in the mud.”
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