Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ Why do the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing?

² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,

³ let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

⁴ He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

⁵ Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure.

⁶ Yet I have set my king upon Zion, the mountain of my holiness.

⁷ ¶ I will declare the decree; the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day I have begotten thee.

⁸ Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance and unto the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

⁹ Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

¹⁰ ¶ Understand now therefore, O ye kings: receive chastening, ye judges of the earth.

¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹² Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled in a little while. Blessed are all those that put their trust in him.

¹² And they said, This is useless, for we must walk after our own devices, and we must each one do the imagination of his evil heart.

¹³ Therefore thus hath the LORD said; Ask now among the Gentiles, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

¹⁴ Will anyone leave the snow of the rock of the field that flows from Lebanon? or shall they forsake the singular, cold, flowing waters?

¹⁵ Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not trodden;

¹⁶ to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and wag his head.

¹⁷ I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition.

¹⁸ ¶ Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not consider any of his words.

¹⁹ Consider me, O LORD, and hear the voice of those that contend with me.

²⁰ Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them.

²¹ Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet.

²³ Yet, LORD, thou dost know all their counsel against me to slay me; do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

¹⁴ ¶ These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly

¹⁵ But if I tarry long, that thou may know how it is expedient to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

¹⁶ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

4 ¶ Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, listening to spirits of error and doctrines of demons;

² that in hypocrisy shall speak lies; having their conscience seared as with a hot iron;

³ they shall forbid to marry and shall command men to abstain from foods, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who are faithful and have known the truth.

⁴ For everything that God created is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving,

⁵ for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.