Sunday 23 March 2036

14Moreover all the chiefs of the priestsand the people trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations;and they polluted the Lord’s housewhich he had made holy in Jerusalem.

15The Lord, the God of their fathers,sent to them by his messengers,rising up early and sending,because he had compassion on his peopleand on his dwelling place;16but they mocked the messengers of God,despised his words,and scoffed at his prophets,until the Lord’s wrath arose against his people,until there was no remedy.· · · verses 17–18 are not read19They burned God’s house,broke down the wall of Jerusalem,burned all its palaces with fire,and destroyed all of its valuable vessels.20He carried thosewho had escaped from the sword away to Babylon,and they were servants to himand his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,21to fulfill the Lord’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth,until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths.As long as it lay desolate,it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

22Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,that the Lord’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished,the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,and put it also in writing, saying,23“Cyrus king of Persia says,‘The Lord, the God of heaven,has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me;and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem,which is in Judah.Whoever there is among you of all his people,the Lord his God be with him,and let him go up.’”

1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.2On the willows in that land,we hung up our harps.

3For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs.Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy:“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?5If I forget you, Jerusalem,let my right hand forget its skill.

6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you,if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

4But God, being rich in mercy,for his great love with which he loved us,5even when we were dead through our trespasses,made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6and raised us up with him,and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;8for by grace you have been saved through faith,and that not of yourselves;it is the gift of God,9not of works, that no one would boast.10For we are his workmanship,created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

14As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,15that whoever believes in him should not perish,but have eternal life.16For God so loved the world,that he gave his only born Son,that whoever believes in him should not perish,but have eternal life.17For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world,but that the world should be saved through him.18He who believes in him is not judged.He who doesn’t believe has been judged already,because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God.19This is the judgment,that the light has come into the world,and men loved the darkness rather than the light,for their works were evil.20For everyone who does evil hates the lightand doesn’t come to the light,lest his works would be exposed.21But he who does the truth comes to the light,that his works may be revealed,that they have been done in God.”