Today's Reading

¹It happened the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

²"Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon:

⁴and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon,' says the Lord; 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord,

⁶even the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen: Lord do so; the Lord perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon to this place.

⁷Nevertheless hear you now this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people:

⁸The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

⁹The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall happen, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord has truly sent him."

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it.

¹¹Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations.'" The prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

¹³"Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron.

¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the animals of the field also."'"

¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Hear now, Hananiah: the Lord has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth: this year you shall die, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.'"

¹⁷So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

¹Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

²(after that Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem),

³by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,

⁴"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵'Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.

⁶Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not be diminished.

⁷Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.'

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Do not let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them,' says the Lord.

¹⁰"For thus says the Lord, 'After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

¹¹For I know the plans that I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans for your welfare, and not for calamity, to give you hope and a future.

¹²You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

¹³You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will be found by you,' says the Lord, 'and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,' says the Lord; 'and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.'

¹⁵"Because you have said, 'The Lord has raised us up prophets in Babylon';

¹⁶thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven't gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷thus says the Lord of hosts; 'Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.

¹⁸I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

¹⁹because they have not listened to my words,' says the Lord, 'with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,' says the Lord.

²⁰'Hear therefore the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.'

²¹"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: 'Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes;

²²and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "The Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire";

²³because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness,' says the Lord."

²⁴"Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

²⁵'Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, "Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶'The Lord has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

²⁷Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,

²⁸because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, "The captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit?"'"'

²⁹Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹"Send to all them of the captivity, saying, 'Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;

³²therefore," thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to my people, says the Lord, because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord."'"

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²"Thus speaks the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

³For, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,' says the Lord; 'and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.'"

⁴These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

⁵For thus says the Lord: "We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

⁶Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

⁷Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

⁸It shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord of hosts, "that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bondservant;

⁹but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

¹⁰Therefore do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord; neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

¹¹For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished."

¹²For thus says the Lord, "Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous.

¹³There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines.

¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.

¹⁵Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.

¹⁶Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; and those who despoil you shall be a spoil, and all who prey on you will I give for a prey.

¹⁷For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds," says the Lord; "because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.'"

¹⁸Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited in its own way.

¹⁹Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

²⁰Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them.

²¹Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from their midst; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says the Lord.

²²You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

²³Behold, the storm of the Lord, his wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.

²⁴The fierce anger of the Lord will not return, until he has executed, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.

¹You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

²The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

³You therefore must share in hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁴No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

⁵Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he has competed by the rules.

⁶The farmers who labor must be the first to get a share of the crops.

⁷Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my Good News,

⁹in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God's word is not chained.

¹⁰Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones' sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

¹¹This saying is faithful: "For if we died with him, we will also live with him.

¹²If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.

¹³If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself."

¹⁴Remind them of these things, charging them in the presence of God, that they do not argue about words, to no profit, to the subverting of those who hear.

¹⁵Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.

¹⁶But shun empty chatter, for they will proceed further in ungodliness,

¹⁷and their word will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

¹⁸men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some.

¹⁹However God's firm foundation stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness."

²⁰Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.

²¹If anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master's use, prepared for every good work.

²²Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

²³But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.

²⁴The Lord's servant must not quarrel, but be gentle towards all, able to teach, patient,

²⁵in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

²⁶and they may recover themselves out of the devil's snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.

¹Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

²A good man shall obtain favor from the Lord, but he will condemn a man of wicked devices.

³A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

⁴A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, but a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.

⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown, and are no more, but the house of the righteous shall stand.

⁸A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he who has a warped mind shall be despised.

⁹Better is he who is lightly esteemed, and has a servant, than he who honors himself, and lacks bread.

¹⁰A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

¹¹He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.

¹²The wicked desires the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.

¹³An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.

¹⁴A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth. The work of a man's hands shall be rewarded to him.

¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel.

¹⁶A fool shows his annoyance the same day, but one who overlooks an insult is prudent.

¹⁷He who is truthful testifies honestly, but a false witness lies.

¹⁸There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.

¹⁹Truth's lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.

²⁰Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but joy comes to the promoters of peace.

²¹No mischief shall happen to the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil.

²²Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who do the truth are his delight.

²³A prudent man keeps his knowledge, but the hearts of fools proclaim foolishness.

²⁴The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

²⁵Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad.

²⁶A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷The slothful man doesn't roast his game, but the possessions of diligent men are prized.

²⁸In the way of righteousness is life; in its path there is no death.