Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
This psalm is a song for the music leader.
Praise God![a]
66 Everyone on earth, shout aloud to praise God,
because you are very happy.
2 Sing to praise his great name!
Praise him in the way that he deserves.
3 Say to God, ‘You do great things!
Your great power makes your enemies afraid.
They come to you and they bend down to the ground.
4 The whole world bends down to worship you.
Everyone sings to praise your name.’
Selah.
5 Come and see the great things that God has done.
He has done wonderful miracles for people!
6 He caused the Red Sea to become dry land.
Then his people walked across the Jordan River![b]
So we praise him for what he did there!
7 He has the power to rule for ever.
He watches everything that the nations do.
Wicked people should not be proud and turn against him.
Selah.
8 You people from every nation,
agree that our God is great!
Praise him with loud voices,
so that everyone can hear!
9 He keeps our lives safe.
He does not let us fall to the ground.
10 You have tested us, God.
You wanted to make us pure,
as they make silver pure in a hot fire.
11 You caused a trap to catch us,
so that we had much pain and trouble.
12 You gave people power to hurt us.
We went through dangerous fire and water.
But then you brought us into a safe, open place.[c]
Hananiah, the false prophet
28 In the same year, the prophet Hananiah spoke to me. It happened in the fifth month of the fourth year that King Zedekiah ruled Judah. Hananiah was the son of Azzur, who came from Gibeon. He spoke to me in the Lord's temple, where the priests and all the people could hear him. 2 He said, ‘Israel's God, the Lord Almighty, says this: “I will break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put around your necks. 3 King Nebuchadnezzar took with him to Babylon many valuable things from this temple. In less than two years, I will bring all those things back here. 4 I will also bring back Jehoiakim's son, King Jeconiah of Judah. And I will bring back all the people of Judah that King Nebuchadnezzar took as prisoners to Babylon.” The Lord says, “I will break the king of Babylon's yoke.” ’[a]
5 Jeremiah replied to Hananiah, the prophet, in the Lord's temple. The priests and all the people who were standing there could hear him. 6 The prophet Jeremiah said, ‘Amen! I agree! I pray that the Lord would do that! I pray that what you have prophesied really happens. May the Lord bring back from Babylon all the valuable things that belong in his temple. May he bring back all the people that King Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon as prisoners. 7 But listen to what I say to you, and to all the people here. 8 From long ago, there have been prophets, before you and I became prophets. They often prophesied that war, famine and disease would bring great trouble to many countries and kingdoms. 9 But it is different if a prophet says that people will live safely in peace. We would only agree that the Lord has really sent him if his message becomes true.’
10 Then the prophet Hananiah removed the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah.[b] He broke it into pieces. 11 He said in front of all the people, ‘The Lord says, “That shows how I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He has put his yoke around the necks of all the nations. In less than two years I will break his yoke and I will remove it from their necks.” ’
After Hananiah said that, the prophet Jeremiah went away from the temple.
12 Soon after Hananiah had broken the yoke that was on Jeremiah's neck, the Lord spoke again to Jeremiah. 13 He said, ‘Go to Hananiah and tell him that the Lord says, “It is true that you have broken a wooden yoke. But instead of that you will get a yoke that is made from iron! 14 Yes, the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this: I have put an iron yoke around the necks of all those nations. They will have to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as his slaves. Everything will be under his power, even the wild animals.” ’[c]
15 Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, ‘Listen to me, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you as his prophet. You have spoken lies to these people and they have believed you. 16 So the Lord says to you, “I will remove you from this earth. You have taught people to turn against me, the Lord. You will certainly die this year.” ’
17 In the seventh month of that same year, the prophet Hananiah died.
A man with a bad disease of his skin
12 One day, Jesus was in a certain town. A man with a bad disease of the skin was there.[a]
When the man saw Jesus, he threw himself down on the ground in front of him. He said, ‘Sir, you can make me well again if you want to do that. Please do it.’
13 Jesus put out his hand towards the man and he touched him. He said, ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again!’ Immediately, the disease left the man. 14 ‘Do not tell anyone about this,’ Jesus said to him. ‘Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God when they are clean again after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’
15 After this, more and more people started to hear the news about Jesus. Crowds were coming to hear him teach. Sick people also wanted him to make them well. 16 But Jesus would often go away from the crowd to pray in quiet places.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.