Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer of an Old Man

71 I have a safe place in you, O Lord. Let me never be ashamed. ² Because You are right and good, take me out of trouble. Turn Your ear to me and save me. ³ Be a rock to me where I live, where I may always come and where I will be safe. For You are my rock and my safe place. ⁴ O my God, take me from the hand of the sinful, from the hand of the wrong-doer and the man without pity. ⁵ For You are my hope, O Lord God. You are my trust since I was young. ⁶ You have kept me safe from birth. It was You Who watched over me from the day I was born. My praise is always of You.

Zedekiah Rules Judah

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord his God. He had much pride in front of Jeremiah the man of God who spoke for the Lord. ¹³ And he turned against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him make a promise by God. He was strong-willed and made his heart hard against turning to the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁴ Also none of the rulers of the religious leaders and people were faithful. They followed all the sinful things of the nations. And they brought sinful things into the Lord’s house, which the Lord had made holy in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Is Taken

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent men to speak for Him again and again, because He had loving-pity on His people and on His house. ¹⁶ But the people always made fun of the men sent by God. They hated God’s words and laughed at His men who spoke for God, until the Lord was very angry with His people. And there was no way for things to be better. ¹⁷ So God brought the king of the Babylonians against them, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of God. He had no pity on anyone, young or old, men or women or the sick. He gave them all into the king’s hand. ¹⁸ And he brought to Babylon all the things of the house of God, great and small, and the riches of the Lord’s house, and the riches of the king and of his rulers. ¹⁹ Then they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all of its buildings built for battles, and destroyed all of its objects of great worth. ²⁰ He carried away to Babylon those who had not been killed by the sword. They were made to work for him and his sons until the rule of the nation of Persia. ²¹ This was done so the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah came true. For the seventy years that the land was not being used, the Day of Rest was kept. So the Days of Rest were enjoyed that had not been kept before.

Jesus Calls Philip And Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus wanted to go to the country of Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” ⁴⁴ Philip was from the town of Bethsaida. Andrew and Peter were from this town also. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law. He is the One the early preachers wrote about. He is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of the town of Nazareth?” Philip said, “Come and see.”

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said, “See! There is a true Jew. There is nothing false in him.” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to Jesus, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip talked to you, I saw you under the fig tree.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael said to Him, “Teacher, You are the Son of God. You are the King of the Jews.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Do you believe because I said I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that. ⁵¹ For sure, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and God’s angels going up and coming and down on the Son of Man.”