Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 Why do the heathen rage, and the people murmur in vain?
2 The kings of the Earth stand together. And the Princes are assembled together against the LORD, and against His Christ.
3 Let us break their bands and cast their cords from us.
4 But he who dwells in the heavens shall laugh. The LORD shall hold them in derision.
5 Then shall He speak to them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure, saying,
6 “I have set My King upon Zion, My Holy Mountain.”
7 “I will declare the decree. The LORD has said to me, ‘You are My Son. This day have I begotten You.
8 “Ask of Me, and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the ends of the Earth for Your possession.
9 “You shall crush them with a scepter of iron; and break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”
10 Be wise now, therefore, you kings. Be learned, you judges of the Earth.
11 Serve the LORD in fear; and rejoice in trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish on the way when His wrath shall suddenly burn. Blessed are all who trust in Him. A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
12 ‘But they said desperately, “Surely we will walk after our own imaginations. And every man will follow the stubbornness of his wicked heart.”
13 ‘Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Ask now who has heard such things among the heathen. The virgin of Israel has done very filthily.
14 “Will a man forsake the snow of Lebanon, which comes from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold, flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
15 “Because My people have forgotten Me and have burnt incense to worthless idols, causing them to stumble in their ways from the ancient ways and to walk in the pathway that is not built up,
16 “and making their land desolate and a perpetual derision, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and wag his head.
17 “I will scatter them with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them My Back, and not My Face, in the day of their destruction.”
18 ‘Then they said, “Come, and let us imagine some device against Jeremiah! 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 not consider any of his words!”’”
19 Listen to me, O LORD, and hear the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You, to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, deliver up their children to famine, and let them drop away by the force of the sword. Let their wives be robbed of their children and be widows. And let their husbands be put to death. Let their young men be killed by the sword in the battle.
22 Let the cry be heard from their houses when You shall suddenly bring an army upon them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, LORD, You know all their deadly counsel against me. Do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from Your sight. But let them be overthrown before You. Deal with them in the time of Your anger!
14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you very shortly;
15 but if I am delayed, so that you may still know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God (which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth).
16 And admittedly, the mystery of godliness is great: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in Glory.
4 Now the Spirit clearly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith and shall consider spirits of error and doctrines of demons.
2 They speak lies through hypocrisy and have their consciences burned with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good. And nothing ought to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving.
5 For it is sanctified by the Word of God, and prayer.
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