Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁸⁹ Forever, O Lord, Your Word will never change in heaven. ⁹⁰ You are faithful to all people for all time. You have made the earth, and it stands. ⁹¹ They stand today by Your Law, for all things serve You. ⁹² I would have been lost in my troubles if Your Law had not been my joy. ⁹³ I will never forget Your Word for by it You have given me new life. ⁹⁴ I am Yours. Save me, for I have looked to Your Law. ⁹⁵ The sinful wait to destroy me, but I will think about Your Word. ⁹⁶ I have seen that all things have an end, even if they are perfect, but Your Word is without end.

The Book Is Read to the Leaders

¹¹ When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord from the book, ¹² he went down to the king’s house, into the writer’s room. And he saw that all the leaders were sitting there. There was Elishama the writer, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other leaders. ¹³ And Micaiah told them all that he had heard Baruch read to the people from the book. ¹⁴ Then all the leaders sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take the book you have read to the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the book in his hand and went to them. ¹⁵ They told him, “Sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they had heard all the words, they turned in fear to one another and said to Baruch, “For sure we will tell all these words to the king.” ¹⁷ And they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write all this? Did Jeremiah tell it to you?” ¹⁸ Baruch said to them, “He told me all these words, and I wrote them down in the book.” ¹⁹ Then the leaders said to Baruch, “Go and hide, both you and Jeremiah. And do not let anyone know where you are.”

The King Burns Jeremiah’s Book

²⁰ So they went to the king in the open space, but they had put the book in the room of Elishama the writer. And they told all the words to the king. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the book, and he took it out of the room of Elishama the writer. And Jehudi read it to the king and to all the leaders who stood beside him. ²² It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house with a fire burning in the fireplace in front of him. ²³ When Jehudi had read three or four parts, the king cut them with a small knife and threw them into the fire in the fireplace. He did this until the book was destroyed in the fire. ²⁴ The king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and they did not tear their clothes. ²⁵ Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the book, but he would not listen to them. ²⁶ And the king told Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to take hold of Baruch the writer and Jeremiah the man of God. But the Lord had hidden them.

His Love for the Corinthians

² Receive us into your hearts. We have done no wrong to anyone. We have not led anyone in the wrong way. We have not used anyone for our good. ³ I do not say this to tell you that you are wrong. As I have said before, you have a place in our hearts and always will. If we live or die, we will be together. ⁴ I trust you and am proud of you. You give me much comfort and joy even when I suffer.

⁵ When we arrived in the country of Macedonia, we had no rest. We had all kinds of trouble. There was fighting all around us. Our hearts were afraid. ⁶ But God gives comfort to those whose hearts are heavy. He gave us comfort when Titus came. ⁷ Not only did his coming comfort us, but the comfort you had given him made me happy also. He told us how much you wanted to see us. He said that you were sad because of my trouble and that you wanted to help me. This made me happy.

⁸ I am not sorry now if my letter made you sad. I know it made you sad, but it was only for awhile. ⁹ I am happy now. It is not because you were hurt by my letter, but because it turned you from sin to God. God used it and you were not hurt by what we did. ¹⁰ The sorrow that God uses makes people sorry for their sin and leads them to turn from sin so they can be saved from the punishment of sin. We should be happy for that kind of sorrow, but the sorrow of this world brings death. ¹¹ See how this sorrow God allowed you to have has worked in you. You had a desire to be free of that sin I wrote about. You were angry about it. You were afraid. You wanted to do something about it. In every way you did what you could to make it right. ¹² I sent this. It was not written only because of the man who did the wrong or because of the one who suffered.