Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Deliverance

Zedekiah Rules in Judah^(A)

¹¹ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He practiced what the Lord his God considered to be evil and never humbled himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the Lord. ¹³ Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear allegiance in the name of^[a] God. Instead, he stiffened his resolve,^[b] and hardened his heart, and would not return to the Lord God of Israel.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Third Capture of Jerusalem^(B)

¹⁴ Meanwhile, all the officials who supervised the priests and the people remained unfaithful, following the detestable example of the surrounding nations. They polluted the Lord’s Temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The Lord God of their ancestors pleaded with them time and again through his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on the place of his residence, ¹⁶ but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the Lord that arose to punish^[c] his people. ¹⁷ Therefore he brought up the king of the Chaldeans against them, who executed their young men in the holy Temple, showing no compassion on young man or young virgin, adult men or the aged. God gave them all into the king’s control, ¹⁸ who took back to Babylon every article in God’s Temple, whether large or small, including the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple, the king’s assets, and those of his officers. ¹⁹ After this, they set fire to God’s Temple, demolished the wall around Jerusalem, burned all of its fortified buildings, and destroyed everything of value. ²⁰ Nebuchadnezzar^[d] carried off to Babylon those who survived the executions, and they served him and his descendants until the kingdom of Persia came to power. ²¹ All of this fulfilled what the Lord had predicted through Jeremiah. And so the land enjoyed its Sabbaths, and the length of the land’s desolation lasted until a 70-year long Sabbath had been completed.

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathaniel

⁴³ The next day, Jesus decided to go away to Galilee, where he found Philip and told him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathaniel and told him, “We have found the man about whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote—Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶ Nathaniel asked him, “From Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?”

Philip told him, “Come and see!”

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said about him, “Look, a genuine Israeli, in whom there is no deceit!”

⁴⁸ Nathaniel asked him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

⁴⁹ Nathaniel replied to him, “Rabbi,^[a] you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰ Jesus told him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that.” ⁵¹ Then he told him, “Truly, I tell all of you^[b] emphatically, you will see heaven standing open and the angels of God going up and coming down to the Son of Man.”