Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 129

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

¹ Many a time and much have they afflicted me from my youth up—let Israel now say—

² Many a time and much have they afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me.

³ The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.

⁴ The Lord is [uncompromisingly] righteous; He has cut asunder the thick cords by which the wicked [enslaved us].

⁵ Let them all be put to shame and turned backward who hate Zion.

⁶ Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

⁷ With which the mower fills not his hand, nor the binder of sheaves his bosom—

⁸ While those who go by do not say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, I am going to ask you something; hide nothing from me.

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, As the Lord lives, Who made our lives, I will not put you to death or give you into the hands of these men who seek your life.

¹⁷ Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will go forth and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then you will live and this city will not be burned with fire; and you will live—you and your house.

¹⁸ But if you will not go forth and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hands of the Chaldeans and they will burn it with fire; and you will not escape out of their hands.

¹⁹ And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the enemy deliver me into their [these former subjects’] hands and they mock me and abuse me.

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, They will not deliver you [to them]. Obey, I beg of you, the voice of the Lord, Who speaks to you through me. Then it will be well with you, and you will live.

²¹ But if you refuse to go forth and surrender to them, this is the word [the vision] that the Lord has shown me:

²² Behold, [in it] all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes and will say [to you, King Zedekiah], Your friends have prevailed against your better judgment and have deceived you. Now when your feet are sunk in the mire [of trouble], they have turned their backs.

²³ All your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you [yourself] will not escape out of their hands, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city [Jerusalem] to be burned with fire.

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of this conversation and you will not die.

²⁵ But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; hide it not from us and we will not put you to death,

²⁶ Then you shall say to them, I was presenting to the king my humble plea that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.

²⁷ Then came all the princes to Jeremiah and asked him [just what King Zedekiah had anticipated they would ask], and he told them all that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for what the conversation [with the king] had been was not discovered.

²⁸ So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken [by the Chaldeans].

6 Does any of you dare, when he has a matter of complaint against another [brother], to go to law before unrighteous men [men neither upright nor right with God, laying it before them] instead of before the saints (the people of God)?

² Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world? And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you, are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters] of the smallest courts of justice?

³ Do you not know also that we [Christians] are to judge the [very] angels and pronounce opinion between right and wrong [for them]? How much more then [as to] matters pertaining to this world and of this life only!

⁴ If then you do have such cases of everyday life to decide, why do you appoint [as judges to lay them before] those who [from the standpoint] of the church count for least and are without standing?

⁵ I say this to move you to shame. Can it be that there really is not one man among you who [in action is governed by piety and integrity and] is wise and competent enough to decide [the private grievances, disputes, and quarrels] between members of the brotherhood,

⁶ But brother goes to law against brother, and that before [Gentile judges who are] unbelievers [without faith or trust in the Gospel of Christ]?

⁷ Why, the very fact of your having lawsuits with one another at all is a defect (a defeat, an evidence of positive moral loss for you). Why not rather let yourselves suffer wrong and be deprived of what is your due? Why not rather be cheated (defrauded and robbed)?

⁸ But [instead it is you] yourselves who wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren [by so treating them]!

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,

¹⁰ Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.

¹¹ And such some of you were [once]. But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin), and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed), and you were justified [pronounced righteous, by trusting] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God.