Today's Reading

¹Thus says the Lord to me, "Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and do not put it in water."

²So I bought a belt according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my waist.

³The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying,

⁴"Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock."

⁵So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶It happened after many days, that the Lord said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there."

⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁹"Thus says the Lord, 'In this way I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.

¹¹For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,' says the Lord; 'that they might be my people, for a name, for praise, and for glory. But they would not listen.

¹²Therefore you shall speak to them this word: 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "Every bottle shall be filled with wine:"' and they shall tell you, 'Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?'

¹³Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

¹⁴I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them."'"

¹⁵"Hear, and give ear; do not be proud; for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is taken captive."

¹⁸"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses have come down, even the crown of your glory.

¹⁹The cities toward the south are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.'"

²⁰"Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?

²¹What will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

²²If you say in your heart, 'Why are these things come on me?' for the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels suffer violence.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴'Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.

²⁵This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,' says the Lord; 'because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.

²⁶Therefore will I also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame shall appear.

²⁷I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?'"

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

²"Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

³Their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.

⁴Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed, they cover their heads.

⁵Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes her young, because there is no grass.

⁶The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage."

⁷"Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name's sake, Lord; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.

⁸You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

⁹Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can't save? Yet you, Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us."

¹⁰Thus says the Lord to this people, "Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."

¹¹The Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people for their good.

¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence."

¹³Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets tell them, 'You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"

¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land:' 'By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.'

¹⁶The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them."

¹⁷"You shall say this word to them, 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

¹⁸If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.'"

¹⁹"Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

²⁰We acknowledge, Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.

²¹Do not abhor us, for your name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, do not break your covenant with us.

²²Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren't you he, Lord our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things."

¹Then the Lord said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

²It shall happen, when they tell you, 'Where shall we go forth?' Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord: "Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

³I will appoint over them four kinds, says the Lord: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

⁴I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

⁵For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?

⁶'You have rejected me,' says the Lord, 'you have gone backward:' therefore have I stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed you; I am weary with repenting.

⁷I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they did not return from their ways.

⁸Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.

⁹She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies," says the Lord.

¹⁰"Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me."

¹¹The Lord said, "Most certainly I will strengthen you for good; most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of distress.

¹²Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze?

¹³Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.

¹⁴I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you."

¹⁵"Lord, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; do not take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, Lord, God of Hosts.

¹⁷I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand; for you have filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?"

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord, "If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.

²⁰I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you," says the Lord.

²¹"I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible."

¹This is a faithful saying: if a man seeks the office of an overseer, he desires a good work.

²The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;

³not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money;

⁴one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;

⁵(but if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)

⁶not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

⁷Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

⁸Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money;

⁹holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

¹⁰Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless.

¹¹Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

¹²Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

¹³For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly;

¹⁵but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

¹⁶Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: He was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.