Jeremiah 22:13-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbors work for nothing
and does not give them their wages,(A)
14 who says, “I will build myself a spacious house
with large upper rooms,”
and who cuts out windows[a] for it,
paneling it with cedar
and painting it with vermilion.(B)
15 Are you a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.(C)
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
says the Lord.(D)
17 But your eyes and heart
are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.(E)
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
They shall not lament for him, saying,
“Alas, my brother!” or “Alas, sister!”
They shall not lament for him, saying,
“Alas, lord!” or “Alas, his majesty!”(F)
19 With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried:
dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.(G)
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are crushed.(H)
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way from your youth,
for you have not obeyed my voice.(I)
22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and dismayed
because of all your wickedness.(J)
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will groan[b] when pangs come upon you,
pain as of a woman in labor!
Romans 8:12-27
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.(A) 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.(B) 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba![a] Father!”(C) 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness[b] with our spirit that we are children of God,(D) 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.(E)
Future Glory
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.(F) 24 For in[c] hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes[d] with groanings too deep for words.(G) 27 And God,[e] who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit[f] intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.(H)
Read full chapter
John 6:41-51
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”(A) 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.(B) 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.(C) 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.(D) 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.(E) 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”(F)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.