Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹⁷ MEM. Oh how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

⁹⁸ Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me.

⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation.

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, because I have observed thy precepts.

¹⁰¹ I have refrained my feet from every evil path, that I might keep thy word.

¹⁰² I have not departed from thy judgments; for it is thou that hast taught me.

¹⁰³ How sweet are thy words unto my taste! more than honey to my mouth!

¹⁰⁴ From thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false path.

¹⁶ And the princes and all the people said unto the priests and to the prophets, This man is not worthy to die; for he hath spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God.

¹⁷ And there rose up certain of the elders of the land and spoke to all the congregation of the people, saying,

¹⁸ Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be ploughed [as] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear Jehovah, and supplicate Jehovah, and Jehovah repented him of the evil that he had pronounced against them? And we should be doing a great evil against our souls.

²⁰ And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim: and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah;

²¹ and Jehoiakim the king, and all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death; but Urijah heard it, and he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt.

²² And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and men with him, into Egypt;

²³ and they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; and he slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the children of the people.

²⁴ —Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

¹⁴ Of these things put in remembrance, testifying earnestly before the Lord not to have disputes of words, profitable for nothing, to the subversion of the hearers.

¹⁵ Strive diligently to present thyself approved to God, a workman that has not to be ashamed, cutting in a straight line the word of truth.

¹⁶ But profane, vain babblings shun, for they will advance to greater impiety,

¹⁷ and their word will spread as a gangrene; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

¹⁸ [men] who as to the truth have gone astray, saying that the resurrection has taken place already; and overthrow the faith of some.

¹⁹ Yet the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, [The] Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of [the] Lord withdraw from iniquity.

²⁰ But in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

²¹ If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, [in separating himself from them], he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work.

²² But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.

²³ But foolish and senseless questionings avoid, knowing that they beget contentions.

²⁴ And a bondman of [the] Lord ought not to contend, but be gentle towards all; apt to teach; forbearing;

²⁵ in meekness setting right those who oppose, if God perhaps may sometime give them repentance to acknowledgment of [the] truth,

²⁶ and that they may awake up out of the snare of the devil, [who are] taken by him, for *his* will.