Today's Reading

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

³"From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.

⁴The Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear)

⁵saying, 'Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forevermore;

⁶and do not go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm.

⁷Yet you have not listened to me,' says the Lord; 'that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.'

⁸Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Because you have not heard my words,

⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the Lord, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

¹⁰Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

¹¹This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

¹²It shall happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.

¹³I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.'"

¹⁵For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

¹⁶They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them."

¹⁷Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the Lord had sent me:

¹⁸Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

²⁰and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

²¹Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;

²²and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;

²³Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off;

²⁴and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness;

²⁵and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

²⁶and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷"You shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."'

²⁸It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "You shall surely drink.

²⁹For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,"' says the Lord of hosts.

³⁰Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and tell them, 'The Lord will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,' says the Lord.

³²'Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.'

³³The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in dust, you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.

³⁵The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

³⁶A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! For the Lord lays waste their pasture.

³⁷The peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

³⁸He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of his fierce anger."

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying,

²"Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not diminish a word.

³It may be they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may relent of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.

⁴You shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

⁵to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;

⁶then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.'"

⁷The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

⁸It happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, "You shall surely die.

⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?'" All the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house.

¹¹Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, "This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears."

¹²Then spoke Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people, saying, "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you.

¹⁴But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in your eyes.

¹⁵Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for of a truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears."

¹⁶Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: "This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God."

¹⁷Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸"Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."'

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord, and entreat the favor of the Lord, and the Lord relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our own souls.

²⁰"There was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

²¹and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt:

²²and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt;

²³and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people."

²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²"Thus says the Lord to me: Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck;

³and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah;

⁴and give them a command to their masters, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, You shall tell your masters:

⁵"I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me.

⁶Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him.

⁷All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondservant.

⁸It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

⁹But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon':

¹⁰for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish.

¹¹But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, says the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein."'"

¹²I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

¹³Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴Do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon'; for they prophesy a lie to you.

¹⁵'For I have not sent them,' says the Lord, 'but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.'"

¹⁶Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you.

¹⁷Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation?'

¹⁸But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.

¹⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city,

²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

²¹yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem:

²²'They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them,' says the Lord; 'then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.'"

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus,

²to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day

⁴longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy;

⁵having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in you; which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.

⁶For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

⁷For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

⁸Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,

⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,

¹⁰but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News.

¹¹For this, I was appointed as a proclaimer, an apostle, and a teacher.

¹²For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.

¹³Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

¹⁵This you know, that all who are in Asia turned away from me; of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,

¹⁷but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me

¹⁸(the Lord grant to him to find the Lord's mercy in that day); and in how many things he served at Ephesus, you know very well.

¹A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but accurate weights are his delight.

²When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them.

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires.

⁷When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.

⁸A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.

⁹With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but the righteous will be delivered through knowledge.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. When the wicked perish, there is shouting.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²One who despises his neighbor is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding holds his peace.

¹³One who brings gossip betrays a confidence, but one who is of a trustworthy spirit is one who keeps a secret.

¹⁴Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.

¹⁵He who is collateral for a stranger will suffer for it, but he who refuses pledges of collateral is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman obtains honor, but violent men obtain riches.

¹⁷The merciful man does good to his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

¹⁸Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.

¹⁹He who is truly righteous gets life. He who pursues evil gets death.

²⁰Those who are perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those whose ways are blameless are his delight.

²¹Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous will be delivered.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig's snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

²³The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.

²⁴There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.

²⁵The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.

²⁶People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

²⁷He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him.

²⁸He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.

²⁹He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. The foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.

³¹Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!