Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ Why do the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing?

² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,

³ let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

⁴ He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

⁵ Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure.

⁶ Yet I have set my king upon Zion, the mountain of my holiness.

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

⁸ Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance and unto the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

⁹ Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

¹⁰ ¶ Understand now therefore, O ye kings: receive chastening, ye judges of the earth.

¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹² Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled in a little while. Blessed are all those that put their trust in him.

19 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;

² and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry by the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.

³ Therefore thou shalt say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I bring evil upon this place, such that whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle.

⁴ Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place; and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

⁵ and have built high places unto Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto this same Baal, which I did not command, nor speak, neither did it come into my mind.

⁶ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of the slaughter.

⁷ And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those that seek their souls and I will give their carcasses to be food for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

⁸ And I will make this city desolate and a hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, with which their enemies and those that seek their souls shall straiten them.

¹⁰ ¶ Then thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

¹¹ and shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Even so will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be restored again; and they shall bury them in Tophet, for there shall be no other place to bury.

¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to its inhabitants and even make this city as Tophet:

¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet, defiled, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heaven and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah returned from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’s house and said to all the people,

¹⁵ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel said: Behold, I bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have spoken against her because they have hardened their necks that they might not hear my words.

⁶ ¶ If thou put these things before the brethren, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, unto which thou hast attained.

⁷ But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

⁸ For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

⁹ The Word is faithful and worthy of acceptation by all.

¹⁰ For this we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

¹¹ Command and teach this.

¹² Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the faithful in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

¹³ Until I come, occupy thyself reading, exhorting, teaching.

¹⁴ Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which is given unto thee to prophesy, through the laying on of the hands of the elders.

¹⁵ Occupy thyself in these things with care, for in this is everything, that thy profiting may be manifest unto all.

¹⁶ Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; be diligent in this, for in doing so thou shalt both save thyself and those that hear thee.