Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³ He burned the temple of the Lord, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every important building. ¹⁴ The whole Chaldean army under his command broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried off some of the poorest of the people, some of the survivors left in the city, some of the people who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and farms.

¹⁷ The Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars that were in the Lord’s temple, along with the carts for water and the bronze Sea, and carried away all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers,^[a] the bowls, the dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. ¹⁹ The commander of the guard took away the bowls, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes, and the drink offering bowls—the best of the gold and the best of the silver.

²⁰ The two pillars, the Sea, and the twelve bronze bulls under the basins, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, were made of more bronze than could be weighed.

²¹ As for the pillars, each pillar was twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet in circumference. Each was four fingers thick and hollow. ²² Each had a bronze capital, seven and a half feet high, with a network and pomegranate decorations on the capital all around, all of bronze. The other pillar with its pomegranates was just like it. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. There was a total of one hundred pomegranates above the surrounding network.

²⁴ The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵ From the people left in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men and seven royal advisors he found in the city. He also took the scribe of the military officer who conscripted the people of the land, along with sixty of his men who were found in the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ The king of Babylon struck them down and executed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.

So Judah was carried away into exile from its native soil.

²⁸ This is a tally of people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away into exile:

Letter to the Church in Pergamum

¹² To the messenger of the church in Pergamum write:

The one who has the sharp, two-edged sword says this:

¹³ I know^[a] where you live—where the throne of Satan is. And I know that you hold fast to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me even in the days when Antipas, my faithful witness,^[b] was put to death near you, the place where Satan lives.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block in front of the children of Israel so that they would eat things offered to idols and commit sexual immorality. ¹⁵ Likewise, you also have some people who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Therefore,^[c] repent! If not, I will come to you soon, and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁷ Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give some of the hidden manna.^[d] I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, which no one will know except the one who receives it.

Letter to the Church in Thyatira

¹⁸ To the messenger of the church in Thyatira write:

The Son of God, whose eyes are like fiery flames and whose feet are like polished bronze, says this:

¹⁹ I know your works and love and faith and service, as well as your patient endurance, and that you are doing more now than you did at first.

²⁰ But I have this against you: You allow that woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, to deceive my servants and to teach them to commit sexual immorality and eat things offered to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. ²² Look, I am going to throw her onto a bed and throw those who commit adultery with her into great suffering, if they do not repent of her^[e] works. ²³ And I will put her children to death. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches hearts and minds, and that I will give to each of you according to your works.

²⁴ To the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who do not know Satan’s “deep things,” as they call them, I say that I will not lay any other burden on you. ²⁵ Only hold fast to what you have until I come.

²⁶ To the one who is victorious and continues to do my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, ²⁷ and he will rule them with an iron staff and shatter them like clay pots, ²⁸ just as I myself have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.

²⁹ Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.