Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
70 as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets of long ago,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
72 to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
73 the oath which He swore to our father Abraham,
74 to grant us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
might serve Him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.
76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people
by the remission of their sins,
78 through the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise from on high has visited us;
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Zedekiah’s Request Denied
21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malkijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 “Please inquire of the Lord for us. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, so that the enemy withdraws from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4 Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5 I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterwards, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them or have pity or mercy.
8 To this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: See, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. 9 He who abides in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. But he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he will live, and he will have his own life as booty. 10 For I have set My face against this city for disaster and not for good, says the Lord. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
Message to the House of David
11 Concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David; thus says the Lord:
Execute justice each morning,
and deliver him who has been robbed
from the hand of the oppressor,
lest My fury go out like fire
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.
13 See, I am against you,
O inhabitant of the valley,
O rocky plain,
says the Lord,
you men who say,
“Who shall come down against us?
Or who shall enter our dwellings?”
14 But I will punish you
according to the fruit of your deeds,
says the Lord,
and I will kindle a fire in the forest,
and it will devour all things around it.
Christ’s Sacrifice Takes Away Sin
23 It was therefore necessary that the replicas of heavenly things be cleansed with these sacrifices, but that the heavenly things themselves be cleansed with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, which are patterned after the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. 25 Nor did He enter to offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 For then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the world was created, but now He has appeared once at the end of the ages to put away sin by sacrificing Himself. 27 As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this comes the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to save those who eagerly wait for Him.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.