Trusting in Lying Words(A)

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, (B)“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (C)“Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. (D)Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’

“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly (E)execute [a]judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, (F)or walk after other gods to your hurt, (G)then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in (H)the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

“Behold, you trust in (I)lying words that cannot profit. (J)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and (K)walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 (L)and then come and stand before Me in this house (M)which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has (N)this house, which is called by My name, become a (O)den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.

12 “But go now to (P)My place which was in Shiloh, (Q)where I set My name at the first, and see (R)what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, (S)rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I (T)called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to (U)Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of My sight, (V)as I have cast out all your brethren—(W)the whole posterity of Ephraim.

16 “Therefore (X)do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; (Y)for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 (Z)The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they (AA)pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19 (AB)Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”

20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (AC)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 (AD)For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, (AE)‘Obey My voice, and (AF)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 (AG)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but (AH)followed[b] the counsels and the [c]dictates of their evil hearts, and (AI)went[d] backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even (AJ)sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 (AK)Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but (AL)stiffened their neck. (AM)They did worse than their fathers.

27 “Therefore (AN)you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

Judgment on Obscene Religion

28 “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God (AO)nor receive correction. (AP)Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29 (AQ)Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. (AR)“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to [e]pollute it. 31 And they have built the (AS)high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to (AT)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, (AU)which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

32 “Therefore behold, (AV)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; (AW)for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33 The (AX)corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to (AY)cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For (AZ)the land shall be desolate.

Jeremiah Mourns for His People

“At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and (BA)which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered (BB)nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. Then (BC)death shall be chosen rather than life by all the [f]residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.

The Peril of False Teaching

“Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
Why has this people (BD)slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
(BE)They hold fast to deceit,
(BF)They refuse to return.
(BG)I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
(BH)No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.

“Even (BI)the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But (BJ)My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
(BK)And the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
(BL)The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
So (BM)what wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore (BN)I will give their wives to others,
And their fields to those who will inherit them;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is given to (BO)covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
11 For they have (BP)healed the hurt of the daughter of My people [g]slightly,
Saying, (BQ)‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
12 Were they (BR)ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed,
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
In the time of their punishment
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

13 “I will surely [h]consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be (BS)on the vine,
Nor figs on the (BT)fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall (BU)pass away from them.” ’ ”

14 “Why do we sit still?
(BV)Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the Lord our God has put us to silence
And given us (BW)water[i] of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.

15 We (BX)looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
16 The snorting of His horses was heard from (BY)Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His (BZ)strong ones;
For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”

17 “For behold, I will send serpents among you,
Vipers which cannot be (CA)charmed,
And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.

The Prophet Mourns for the People

18 I would comfort myself in sorrow;
My heart is faint in me.
19 Listen! The voice,
The cry of the daughter of my people
From (CB)a far country:
Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked Me to anger
With their carved images—
With foreign idols?”

20 “The harvest is past,
The summer is ended,
And we are not saved!”

21 (CC)For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am (CD)mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no (CE)balm in Gilead,
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery
For the health of the daughter of my people?

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 7:5 justice
  2. Jeremiah 7:24 walked in
  3. Jeremiah 7:24 stubbornness or imagination
  4. Jeremiah 7:24 Lit. they were
  5. Jeremiah 7:30 defile
  6. Jeremiah 8:3 remnant
  7. Jeremiah 8:11 Superficially
  8. Jeremiah 8:13 Or take them away
  9. Jeremiah 8:14 Bitter or poisonous water

Praise to God for His Everlasting Mercy

118 Oh, (A)give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
(B)For His mercy endures forever.

(C)Let Israel now say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron now say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord now say,
“His mercy endures forever.”

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(A)Open rebuke is better
Than love carefully concealed.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are (B)deceitful.

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Not Philosophy but Christ

For I want you to know what a great (A)conflict[a] I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, [b]both of the Father and of Christ, (B)in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Now this I say (C)lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For (D)though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing [c]to see (E)your good order and the (F)steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

(G)As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, (H)rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding [d]in it with thanksgiving.

Beware lest anyone [e]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to (I)the tradition of men, according to the (J)basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For (K)in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead [f]bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the (L)head of all [g]principality and power.

Not Legalism but Christ

11 In Him you were also (M)circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by (N)putting off the body [h]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 (O)buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through (P)faith in the working of God, (Q)who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 (R)having wiped out the [i]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 (S)Having disarmed (T)principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

16 So let no one (U)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [j]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 (V)which are a shadow of things to come, but the [k]substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has [l]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to (W)the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, (X)grows with the increase that is from God.

20 [m]Therefore, if you (Y)died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, (Z)why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 (AA)“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—(AB)according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 (AC)These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and [n]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Footnotes

  1. Colossians 2:1 struggle
  2. Colossians 2:2 NU omits both of the Father and
  3. Colossians 2:5 Lit. and seeing
  4. Colossians 2:7 NU omits in it
  5. Colossians 2:8 Lit. plunder you or take you captive
  6. Colossians 2:9 in bodily form
  7. Colossians 2:10 rule and authority
  8. Colossians 2:11 NU omits of the sins
  9. Colossians 2:14 certificate of debt with its
  10. Colossians 2:16 feast day
  11. Colossians 2:17 Lit. body
  12. Colossians 2:18 NU omits not
  13. Colossians 2:20 NU, M omit Therefore
  14. Colossians 2:23 severe treatment, asceticism

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