This translation is from the New American Bible. The bolded hyperlinks will take you to additional translations. The entire chapter is included to provide context.
Other bolded hyperlinks will take to collections of or meditations on other scriptures related to the principles underlying today’s readings.
Information about the meaning the original Hebrew or Greek of what seem to be key words is provided in blue. They are provided beneath the reading they relate to.
Excerpts collected in yellow at the end of this post tell us something about God’s nature or our relationship to Him.
Excerpts collected in green at the end of this post tell us about something God wants us to do.
Excerpts collected in red at the end of this post tell us what God does not want us to do
Reading I
In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy. Their enemies burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects. Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons until the kingdom of the Persians came to power. All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!”
Compassion = חָמַל = ḥāmal
to spare, pity, have compassion on; to commiserate; to be gentle;
Responsorial Psalm
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us the lyrics of our songs, and our despoilers urged us to be joyous: “Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —, raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them
mercy =ἔλεος = eleos
kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them; compassion (human or divine, especially active); readiness to help those in trouble
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
pity, compassion
love = ἀγαπάω = agapaō
to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly; to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing; to have a preference for, wish well to, regard the welfare of; to take pleasure in the thing, prize it above other things, be unwilling to abandon it or do without it; to welcome with desire, long for
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
greet with affection,show affection for; to be regarded with affection;caress, pet; to be fond of, prize, desire; highly prized, precious; to be well pleased, contented; to be fond of, wont to do, like
grace = χάρις = charis
good will, loving-kindness, favour; the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues; that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness; benefit, gift; liberality; kindness which bestows upon one what he has not deserved;that kindness by which God bestow: favors even upon the ill-deserving, and grants to sinners the pardon of their offences
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
kindness, goodwill, for or towards one; partiality, favour
kindness = χρηστότης = chrēstotēs
moral goodness, integrity; benignity, kindness; gentleness, good(-ness)
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
goodness, honesty, uprightness; goodness of heart
Verse Before the Gospel
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
Gospel
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”
loved = ἀγαπάω = agapaō
to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly; to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing; to have a preference for, wish well to, regard the welfare of; to take pleasure in the thing, prize it above other things, be unwilling to abandon it or do without it; to welcome with desire, long for
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
greet with affection,show affection for; to be regarded with affection;caress, pet; to be fond of, prize, desire; highly prized, precious; to be well pleased, contented; to be fond of, wont to do, like
believe = πιστεύω = pisteuō
"to be persuaded of," and hence, "to place confidence in, to trust," signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence; to entrust, commit to"; to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in; the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul; to entrust a thing to one, i.e. his fidelity; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to);a conviction, full of joyful trust
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
trust, put faith in, rely on; entertain a confident opinion; to be trusted; comply; feel confident that a thing is, will be, has been; have faith
***
Scriptures addressing similar principles are collected at Wisdom Principles—God Loves and Calls Us to Him, In Spite of our Sin
What these readings tell us about God/His Ways:
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them
he had compassion on his people
fulfill the word of the LORD
the LORD, the God of heaven
God, who is rich in mercy
the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions
brought us to life with Christ
by grace you have been saved
raised us up with him
the immeasurable riches of his grace
his kindness to us in Christ Jesus
by grace you have been saved
it is the gift of God
we are his handiwork
created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance
God so loved the world
everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
the light came into the world
What these readings tell us to do:
we remembered Zion.
good works
we should live in them
believes in him
believes in him
believes in him
believed in the name of the only Son of God.
whoever lives the truth comes to the light
What these readings tell us not to do:
added infidelity to infidelity
practicing all the abominations of the nations
polluting the LORD’s temple
mocked the messengers of God
despised his warnings
scoffed
forget you
forget you
forget you
forget you
forget you
no one may boast
does not believe
preferred darkness to light
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