Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of degrees.

129 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth—oh let Israel say—

² Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me.

³ The ploughers ploughed upon my back; they made long their furrows.

⁴ Jehovah is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

⁵ Let them be ashamed and turned backward, all that hate Zion;

⁶ Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, which withereth before it is plucked up,

⁷ Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom;

⁸ Neither do the passers-by say, The blessing of Jehovah be upon you; we bless you in the name of Jehovah!

¹⁴ And king Zedekiah sent and took the prophet Jeremiah unto him, into the third entry that is in the house of Jehovah; and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing: hide nothing from me.

¹⁵ And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare [it] unto thee, wilt thou not certainly put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

¹⁶ And king Zedekiah swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, [As] Jehovah liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.

¹⁷ And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, Thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If thou wilt freely go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thy house.

¹⁸ But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.

¹⁹ And king Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me over into their hand, and they mock me.

²⁰ And Jeremiah said, They shall not give [thee] over. Hearken, I beseech thee, unto the voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak unto thee; so shall it be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.

²¹ But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word which Jehovah hath shewn me:

²² Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes; and they shall say, Thy familiar friends have set thee on, and have prevailed over thee; thy feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back.

²³ And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand; for thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.

²⁴ And Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.

²⁵ And if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; and what hath the king said unto thee?

²⁶ then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.

²⁷ —And all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. And they withdrew quietly from him; for the matter was not reported.

²⁸ And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

6 Dare any one of you, having a matter against another, prosecute his suit before the unjust, and not before the saints?

² Do ye not then know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy of [the] smallest judgments?

³ Do ye not know that we shall judge angels? and not then matters of this life?

⁴ If then ye have judgments as to things of this life, set those [to judge] who are little esteemed in the assembly.

⁵ I speak to you [to put you] to shame. Thus there is not a wise person among you, not even one, who shall be able to decide between his brethren!

⁶ But brother prosecutes his suit with brother, and that before unbelievers.

⁷ Already indeed then it is altogether a fault in you that ye have suits between yourselves. Why do ye not rather suffer wrong? why are ye not rather defrauded?

⁸ But *ye* do wrong, and defraud, and this [your] brethren.

⁹ Do ye not know that unrighteous [persons] shall not inherit [the] kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men,

¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor abusive persons, nor [the] rapacious, shall inherit [the] kingdom of God.

¹¹ And these things were some of you; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.