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.

19 Thus saith Jehovah: Go and buy a potter's earthen flagon, 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 of the pottery-gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,

³ and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle;

⁴ because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place [from me], 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 they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire as burnt-offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it up into my mind:

⁶ therefore behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor Valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of 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 hand of them that seek their life, and their carcases will I give as food to the fowl of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.

⁸ And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing; every one that passeth by shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

¹⁰ And thou shalt break the flagon in the sight of the men that go with thee,

¹¹ and shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.

¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jehovah, and to the inhabitants thereof, and make this city as Topheth.

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

¹⁴ And Jeremiah came from Topheth, whither Jehovah had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Jehovah's house, and said to all the people,

¹⁵ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her cities all the evil that I have spoken against it; for they have hardened their necks, not to hear my words.

⁶ Laying these things before the brethren, thou wilt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which thou hast fully followed up.

⁷ But profane and old wives' fables avoid, but exercise thyself unto piety;

⁸ for bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but piety is profitable for everything, having promise of life, of the present one, and of that to come.

⁹ The word [is] faithful and worthy of all acceptation;

¹⁰ for, for this we labour and suffer reproach, because we hope in a living God, who is preserver of all men, specially of those that believe.

¹¹ Enjoin and teach these things.

¹² Let no one despise thy youth, but be a model of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

¹³ Till I come, give thyself to reading, to exhortation, to teaching.

¹⁴ Be not negligent of the gift [that is] in thee, which has been given to thee through prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the elderhood.

¹⁵ Occupy thyself with these things; be wholly in them, that thy progress may be manifest to all.

¹⁶ Give heed to thyself and to the teaching; continue in them; for, doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and those that hear thee.