Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

66 Sing to the Lord, all the earth! ² Sing of his glorious name! Tell the world how wonderful he is.

³ How awe-inspiring are your deeds, O God! How great your power! No wonder your enemies surrender! ⁴ All the earth shall worship you and sing of your glories. ⁵ Come, see the glorious things God has done. What marvelous miracles happen to his people! ⁶ He made a dry road through the sea for them. They went across on foot. What excitement and joy there was that day!

⁷ Because of his great power he rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations. O rebel lands, he will deflate your pride.

⁸ Let everyone bless God and sing his praises; ⁹ for he holds our lives in his hands, and he holds our feet to the path. ¹⁰ You have purified us with fire,^[a] O Lord, like silver in a crucible. ¹¹ You captured us in your net and laid great burdens on our backs. ¹² You sent troops to ride across our broken bodies.^[b] We went through fire and flood. But in the end, you brought us into wealth and great abundance.

28 On a December day in that same year—the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah—Hananiah (son of Azzur), a false prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said:

² “The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, declares: I have removed the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks. ³ Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon, ⁴ and I will bring back King Jeconiah,^[a] son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives exiled to Babylon, says the Lord. I will surely remove the yoke put on your necks by the king of Babylon.”

⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, in front of all the priests and people, ⁶ “Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the Lord will do everything you say and bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple, with all our loved ones. ⁷ But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people. ⁸ The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of war, famine, and plague. ⁹ So a prophet who foretells peace has the burden of proof on him to prove that God has really sent him. Only when his message comes true can it be known that he really is from God.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah, the false prophet, took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹ And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, “The Lord has promised that within two years he will release all the nations now in slavery to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.” At that point Jeremiah walked out.

¹² Soon afterwards the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ¹³ Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but these people have yokes of iron on their necks. ¹⁴ The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. And nothing will change this decree, for I have even given him all your flocks and herds.

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, the false prophet, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and the people are believing your lies. ¹⁶ Therefore the Lord says you must die. This very year your life will end because you have rebelled against the Lord.”

¹⁷ And sure enough, two months later Hananiah died.

¹² One day in a certain village he was visiting, there was a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell to the ground before him, face downward in the dust, begging to be healed.

“Sir,” he said, “if you only will, you can clear me of every trace of my disease.”

¹³ Jesus reached out and touched the man and said, “Of course I will. Be healed.” And the leprosy left him instantly! ¹⁴ Then Jesus instructed him to go at once without telling anyone what had happened and be examined by the Jewish priest. “Offer the sacrifice Moses’ law requires for lepers who are healed,” he said. “This will prove to everyone that you are well.” ¹⁵ Now the report of his power spread even faster and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁶ But he often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.