Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation, and [why] do the peoples meditate a vain thing?

² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the princes plot together, against Jehovah and against his anointed:

³ Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us!

⁴ He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.

⁵ Then will he speak to them in his anger, and in his fierce displeasure will he terrify them:

⁶ And *I* have anointed my king upon Zion, the hill of my holiness.

⁷ I will declare the decree: Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; *I* this day have begotten thee.

⁸ Ask of me, and I will give thee nations for an inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth:

⁹ Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter's vessel thou shalt dash them in pieces.

¹⁰ And now, O kings, be ye wise, be admonished, ye judges of the earth.

¹¹ Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹² Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, though his anger burn but a little. Blessed are all who have their trust in him.

¹² But they say, There is no hope; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will each one do [according to] the stubbornness of his evil heart.

¹³ Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, Who hath heard such things? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

¹⁴ Shall the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? Shall the cool flowing waters coming from afar be dried up?

¹⁵ For my people hath forgotten me: they burn incense to vanity; and they have caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, to walk in by-paths of a way not cast up;

¹⁶ to make their land an astonishment, a perpetual hissing: every one that passeth by shall be astonished, and shake his head.

¹⁷ As with an east wind will I scatter them before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

¹⁸ And they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

¹⁹ Jehovah, give heed to me, and listen to the voice of those that contend with me.

²⁰ Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.

²¹ Therefore give up their children to the famine, and deliver them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of children and be widows; and let their men be swept off by death, their young men be smitten by the sword in battle.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet.

²³ And thou, Jehovah, knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee: deal with them in the time of thine anger.

¹⁴ These things I write to thee, hoping to come to thee more quickly;

¹⁵ but if I delay, in order that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God's house, which is [the] assembly of [the] living God, [the] pillar and base of the truth.

¹⁶ And confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh, has been justified in [the] Spirit, has appeared to angels, has been preached among [the] nations, has been believed on in [the] world, has been received up in glory.

4 But the Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times some shall apostatise from the faith, giving their mind to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons

² speaking lies in hypocrisy, cauterised as to their own conscience,

³ forbidding to marry, [bidding] to abstain from meats, which God has created for receiving with thanksgiving for them who are faithful and know the truth.

⁴ For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing [is] to be rejected, being received with thanksgiving;

⁵ for it is sanctified by God's word and freely addressing [him].