Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?

² The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ.

³ Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.

⁴ He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.

⁵ Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.

⁶ But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.

⁷ The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.

⁸ Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.

⁹ Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

¹⁰ And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.

¹¹ Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.

¹² Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.

¹³ When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

¹² And they said: We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart.

¹³ Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?

¹⁴ Shall the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?

¹⁵ Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden:

¹⁶ That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag his head.

¹⁷ As a burning will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.

¹⁸ And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.

¹⁹ Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.

²⁰ Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, so speak good for them, and turn away thy indignation from them.

²¹ Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle.

²² Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet.

²³ But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath do thou destroy them.

¹⁴ These things I write to thee, hoping that I shall come to thee shortly.

¹⁵ But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

¹⁶ And evidently great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the spirit, appeared unto angels, hath been preached unto the Gentiles, is believed in the world, is taken up in glory.

4 Now the Spirit manifestly saith, that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils,

² Speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience seared,

³ Forbidding to marry, to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, and by them that have known the truth.

⁴ For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving:

⁵ For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.