18 Our God, no one is like you.

We are all that is left

of your chosen people,

and you freely forgive

our sin and guilt.

You don’t stay angry forever;

you’re glad to have pity

1 *You are kind, God!

Please have pity on me.

You are always merciful!

Please wipe away my sins.

2 Wash me clean from all

of my sin and guilt.

6 Please, Lord, remember,

you have always

been patient and kind.

7 Forget each wrong I did

when I was young.

Show how truly kind you are

and remember me.

1 From a sea of troubles

I cry out to you, Lord.

2 Won’t you please listen

as I beg for mercy?

11 You, Lord, never fail

to have pity on me;

your love and faithfulness

always keep me secure.

6 Your kindness and love

will always be with me

each day of my life,

and I will live forever

in your house, Lord.

13 Just as parents are kind

to their children,

the Lord is kind

to all who worship him,

15 But the gift of God’s undeserved grace was very different from Adam’s sin. That one sin brought death to many others. Yet in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God’s gift of undeserved grace to many people.

15 What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God’s gift of undeserved grace and not by the Law? Certainly not!

4,5 But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much he made us alive with Christ, and God’s gift of undeserved grace is what saves you.

9 But he replied, "My gift of undeserved grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am.

13 If you don’t confess your sins,

you will be a failure.

But God will be merciful

if you confess your sins

and give them up.

7 Give up your evil ways

and your evil thoughts.

Return to the Lord our God.

He will be merciful

and forgive your sins.

18 The Lord God is waiting

to show how kind he is

and to have pity on you.

The Lord always does right;

he blesses those who trust him.

13 *Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.’ I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners."

21 *Peter came up to the Lord and asked, "How many times should I forgive someone* who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?"

22 *Jesus answered:

Not just 7 times, but 77 times!*

14 **If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven will forgive you.

31 But you are merciful and kind,

and so you never forgot them

or let them be destroyed.

5 Life will go well for those

who freely lend

and are honest in business.

17 Our Lord and our God,

treat us with kindness

and let all go well for us.

Please let all go well!

16 So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved grace, and we will find help.

1 Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God.

16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.

29 and he has blessed you. Not only do you have faith in Christ, but you suffer for him.

1-4 * Passover wasn’t celebrated in the first month,* which was the usual time, because many of the priests were still unclean and unacceptable to serve, and because not everyone in Judah had come to Jerusalem for the festival. So Hezekiah, his officials, and the people agreed to celebrate Passover in the second month.*

Hezekiah sent a message to everyone in Israel and Judah, including those in the territories of Ephraim and West Manasseh, inviting them to the temple in Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover in honor of the Lord God of Israel. 5 Everyone from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north was invited. This was the largest crowd of people that had ever celebrated Passover, according to the official records.

6 Hezekiah’s messengers went everywhere in Israel and Judah with the following letter:

People of Israel, now that you have survived the invasion of the Assyrian kings,* it’s time for you to turn back to the Lord God our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped. If you do this, he will stop being angry. 7 Don’t follow the example of your ancestors and your Israelite relatives in the north. They were unfaithful to the Lord, and he punished them horribly. 8 Don’t be stubborn like your ancestors. Decide now to obey the Lord our God! Come to Jerusalem and worship him in the temple that will belong to him forever. Then he will stop being angry, 9 and the enemies that have captured your families will show pity and send them back home. The Lord God is kind and merciful, and if you turn back to him, he will no longer turn his back on you.

10 The messengers went to every town in Ephraim and West Manasseh as far north as the territory of Zebulun, but people laughed and insulted them. 11 Only a few people from the tribes of Asher, West Manasseh, and Zebulun were humble and went to Jerusalem. 12 God also made everyone in Judah eager to do what Hezekiah and his officials had commanded.

13 In the second month,* a large crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread.*14 They took all the foreign altars and incense altars in Jerusalem and threw them into Kidron Valley.

15-17 Then, on the fourteenth day of that same month, the Levites began killing the lambs for Passover, because many of the worshipers were unclean and were not allowed to kill their own lambs. Meanwhile, some of the priests and Levites felt ashamed because they had not gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean. They immediately went through that ceremony and went to the temple, where they offered sacrifices to please the Lord.* Then the priests and Levites took their positions, according to the Law of Moses, the servant of God.

As the Levites killed the lambs, they handed some of the blood to the priests, who splattered it on the altar.

18,19 Most of the people that came from Ephraim, West Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean, but they ignored God’s Law and ate the Passover lambs anyway. Hezekiah found out what they had done and prayed, "Lord God, these people are unclean according to the laws of holiness. But they are worshiping you, just as their ancestors did. So, please be kind and forgive them." 20 The Lord answered Hezekiah’s prayer and did not punish them.

21 The worshipers in Jerusalem were very happy and celebrated the Festival for seven days. The Levites and priests sang praises to the Lord every day and played their instruments. 22 Hezekiah thanked the Levites for doing such a good job, leading the celebration.

The worshipers celebrated for seven days by offering sacrifices, by eating the sacred meals, and by praising the Lord God of their ancestors. 23 Everyone was so excited that they agreed to celebrate seven more days.

24 So Hezekiah gave the people 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to be offered as sacrifices and to be used as food for the sacred meals. His officials gave 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep, and many more priests agreed to go through the ceremony to make themselves clean. 25 Everyone was very happy, including those from Judah and Israel, the priests and Levites, and the foreigners living in Judah and Israel. 26 It was the biggest celebration in Jerusalem since the days of King Solomon, the son of David. 27 The priests and Levites asked God to bless the people, and from his home in heaven, he did.

1 The Lord said to the people of Israel:

If a divorced woman marries,

can her first husband

ever marry her again?

No, because this

would pollute the land.

But you have more gods

than a prostitute has lovers.

Why should I take you back?

2 Just try to find one hilltop

where you haven’t gone

to worship other gods

by having sex.*

You sat beside the road

like a robber in ambush,

except you offered yourself

to every passerby.

Your sins of unfaithfulness

have polluted the land.

3 So I, the Lord, refused

to let the spring rains fall.

But just like a prostitute,

you still have no shame

for what you have done.

4 You call me your father

or your long-lost friend;

5 you beg me to stop being angry,

but you won’t stop sinning.

6 * When Josiah* was king, the Lord said:

Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel* was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees.*7,8 I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn’t, so I divorced her and sent her away.

Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn’t worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister. 9 The kingdom of Judah wasn’t sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn’t care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood. 10 And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. 11 Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend.

12 Jeremiah, shout toward the north:

Israel, I am your Lord—

come back to me!

You were unfaithful

and made me furious,

but I am merciful,

and so I will forgive you.

13 Just admit that you rebelled

and worshiped foreign gods

under large trees everywhere.

14 You are unfaithful children,

but you belong to me.

Come home!

I’ll take one or two of you

from each town and clan

and bring you to Zion.

15 Then I’ll appoint wise rulers

who will obey me,

and they will care for you

like shepherds.

16 You will increase in numbers,

and there will be no need

to remember the sacred chest

or to make a new one.*

17 The whole city of Jerusalem

will be my throne.*

All nations will come here

to worship me,

and they will no longer follow

their stubborn, evil hearts.

18 Then, in countries to the north,

you people of Judah and Israel

will be reunited,

and you will return to the land

I gave your ancestors.

19 I have always wanted

to treat you as my children

and give you the best land,

the most beautiful on earth.

I wanted you to call me "Father"

and not turn from me.

20 But instead, you are like a wife

who broke her wedding vows.

You have been unfaithful to me.

I, the Lord, have spoken.

21 Listen to the noise

on the hilltops!

It’s the people of Israel,

weeping and begging me

to answer their prayers.

They forgot about me

and chose the wrong path.

22 I will tell them, "Come back,

and I will cure you

of your unfaithfulness."

They will answer,

"We will come back, because you

are the Lord our God.

23 On hilltops, we worshiped idols

and made loud noises,

but it was all for nothing—

only you can save us.

24 Since the days of our ancestors

when our nation was young,

that shameful god Baal* has taken

our crops and livestock,

our sons and daughters.

25 We have rebelled against you

just like our ancestors,

and we are ashamed of our sins."