Jeremiah 8-10

New American Standard Bible

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will ^(A)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. ²They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^(B)heavenly ^[a]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^(C)nor buried; ^(D)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. ³And ^(E)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^(F)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.

⁴“You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Do people ^(G)fall and not get up?
Does one turn away and not ^[b]repent?
⁵Why has this people, Jerusalem,
^(H)Turned away in continual apostasy?
They ^(I)hold on to deceit,
They ^(J)refuse to return.
⁶I ^(K)have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
^(L)No one repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
Like a ^(M)horse charging into the battle.
⁷Even the stork in the sky
^(N)Knows her seasons;
And the ^(O)turtledove, the swallow, and the crane
Keep to the time of their ^[c]migration;
But ^(P)My people do not know
The judgment of the Lord.

⁸“^(Q)How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the Law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
⁹The wise men are ^(R)put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have ^(S)rejected the word of the Lord,
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
¹⁰Therefore I will ^(T)give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is ^(U)greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest,
Everyone practices deceit.
¹¹They have ^(V)healed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
¹²Were they ^(W)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
And they did not know how to be ashamed;
Therefore they will ^(X)fall among those who fall;
At the ^(Y)time of their punishment they will collapse,”
Says the Lord.

¹³“I will ^(Z)certainly snatch them away,” declares the Lord.
“There will be ^(AA)no grapes on the vine
And ^(AB)no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
¹⁴Why are we sitting still?
^(AC)Assemble yourselves, and let’s ^(AD)go into the fortified cities
And perish there,
For the Lord our God has doomed us
And given us ^(AE)poisoned water to drink,
Because ^(AF)we have sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵We ^(AG)waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
¹⁶From ^(AH)Dan there is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his ^(AI)stallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and ^(AJ)devour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
¹⁷“For behold, I am ^(AK)sending serpents among you,
Vipers for which there is ^(AL)no charm;
And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

¹⁸^[d]My ^(AM)sorrow is beyond healing,
My ^(AN)heart is faint within me!
¹⁹Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a ^(AO)distant land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they ^(AP)provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign ^[e]^(AQ)idols?”
²⁰“Harvest is past, summer is over,
And we are not saved.”
²¹I am broken over the ^(AR)brokenness of the daughter of my people.
I ^(AS)mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
²²Is there no ^(AT)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
^(AU)Why then has not the ^[f]health of the daughter of my people ^[g]been restored?

Grief over Zion

9 ^[h]^(AV)Oh, that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For those slain of the ^(AW)daughter of my people!
²^[i]^(AX)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place;
So that I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For all of them are ^(AY)adulterers,
An assembly of ^(AZ)treacherous people.
³“They ^(BA)bend their tongues like their bows;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they ^(BB)proceed from evil to evil,
And they ^(BC)do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
⁴“Let everyone ^(BD)be on guard against his neighbor,
And ^(BE)do not trust any brother;
Because every ^(BF)brother utterly ^[j]betrays,
And every neighbor ^(BG)goes about as a slanderer.
⁵Everyone ^(BH)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They ^(BI)weary themselves committing wrongdoing.
⁶Your ^(BJ)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they ^(BK)refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says:

“Behold, I will refine them and ^(BL)put them to the test;
For ^(BM)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
⁸Their ^(BN)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one ^(BO)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he ^(BP)sets an ambush for him.
⁹^(BQ)Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

¹⁰“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the ^(BR)mountains,
And for the pastures of the ^(BS)wilderness a song of mourning,
Because they are ^(BT)laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the sound of the livestock is not heard;
Both the ^(BU)birds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.
¹¹I will make Jerusalem a ^(BV)heap of ruins,
A haunt of ^(BW)jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a ^(BX)desolation without inhabitant.”

¹²Who is the ^(BY)wise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom ^(BZ)the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? ^(CA)Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through? ¹³The Lord said, “Because they have ^(CB)abandoned My Law which I put before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, ¹⁴but have ^(CC)followed the stubbornness of their heart and the ^(CD)Baals, ^[k]as their ^(CE)fathers taught them,” ¹⁵therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, ^(CF)I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them ^(CG)poisoned water to drink. ¹⁶I will also ^(CH)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^(CI)sword after them until I have put an end to them.”

¹⁷This is what the Lord of armies says:

“Consider and call for the ^(CJ)mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the ^[l]^(CK)skillful women, that they may come!
¹⁸Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us,
So that our ^(CL)eyes may shed tears,
And our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹For a voice of ^(CM)wailing is heard from Zion:
‘^(CN)How devastated we are!
We are put to great shame,
For we have ^(CO)abandoned the land
Because they have torn down our homes.’”
²⁰Now hear the word of the Lord, you ^(CP)women,
And let your ears receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.
²¹For ^(CQ)death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To eliminate the ^(CR)children from the streets,
The young men from the public squares.
²²Speak, “This is what the Lord says:
‘The corpses of people will fall ^(CS)like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them.’”

²³This is what the Lord says: “^(CT)Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the ^(CU)mighty man boast of his might, nor a ^(CV)rich man boast of his riches; ²⁴but let the one who boasts ^(CW)boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who ^(CX)exercises ^[m]mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I ^(CY)delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^(CZ)uncircumcised— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(DA)all those inhabiting the desert who trim the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(DB)uncircumcised of heart.”

A Satire on Idolatry

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, house of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says:

“^(DC)Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens,
Although the nations are terrified by them;
³For the customs of the peoples are ^(DD)futile;
For ^(DE)it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
⁴They ^(DF)decorate the idol with silver and gold;
They ^(DG)fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not totter.
⁵They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
And they ^(DH)cannot speak;
They must be ^(DI)carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they ^(DJ)can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”

⁶^(DK)There is none like You, Lord;
You are ^(DL)great, and Your name is great in might.
⁷^(DM)Who would not fear You, O ^(DN)King of the nations?
For it is Your due!
For among all the ^(DO)wise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
⁸But they are altogether ^(DP)stupid and foolish;
The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!
⁹Beaten ^(DQ)silver is brought from ^(DR)Tarshish,
And ^(DS)gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Their clothing is of violet and purple;
They are all the ^(DT)work of skilled people.
¹⁰But the Lord is the ^(DU)true God;
He is the ^(DV)living God and the ^(DW)everlasting King.
The ^(DX)earth quakes at His wrath,
And the nations cannot ^(DY)endure His indignation.

¹¹^[n]This is what you shall say to them: “The ^(DZ)gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will ^(EA)perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²It is ^(EB)He who made the earth by His power,
Who ^(EC)established the world by His wisdom;
And by His understanding He has ^(ED)stretched out the heavens.
¹³When He utters His ^(EE)voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
And He makes the ^(EF)clouds ascend from the end of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain,
And brings out the ^(EG)wind from His storehouses.
¹⁴Every person is ^(EH)stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
For his cast metal images are deceitful,
And there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are ^(EI)worthless, a work of mockery;
At the ^(EJ)time of their punishment they will perish.
¹⁶The ^(EK)Portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the ^[o]^(EL)Maker of everything,
And ^(EM)Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
The ^(EN)Lord of armies is His name.

¹⁷^(EO)Pick up your bundle from the ground,
You who live under siege!
¹⁸For this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am ^(EP)slinging out the inhabitants of the land
At this time,
And I will cause them distress,
So that they may ^[p]be found.”

¹⁹^(EQ)Woe to me, because of my ^[q]injury!
My ^(ER)wound is incurable.
But I said, “This certainly is a sickness,
And I ^(ES)must endure it.”
²⁰My ^(ET)tent is destroyed,
And all my ropes are broken.
My ^(EU)sons have gone from me and are no more.
There is ^(EV)no one to stretch out my tent again
Or to set up my curtains.
²¹For the shepherds have become stupid
And ^(EW)have not sought the Lord.
Therefore they have not prospered,
And ^(EX)all their flock is scattered.
²²The sound of a ^(EY)report! Behold, it is coming—
A great roar ^(EZ)from the land of the north—
To ^(FA)make the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

²³I know, Lord, that ^(FB)a person’s way is not in himself,
^(FC)Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps.
²⁴^(FD)Correct me, Lord, but with justice;
Not with Your anger, or You will ^[r]bring me to nothing.
²⁵^(FE)Pour out Your wrath on the nations that ^(FF)do not know You,
And on the families who ^(FG)do not call upon Your name;
For they have devoured Jacob;
They have ^(FH)devoured him and consumed him,
And have laid waste his ^[s]settlement.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 8:2 Lit host
Jeremiah 8:4 Lit turn back
Jeremiah 8:7 Lit coming
Jeremiah 8:18 As in LXX and ancient versions
Jeremiah 8:19 Lit futilities
Jeremiah 8:22 Or healing
Jeremiah 8:22 Lit gone up
Jeremiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Heb
Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Heb
Jeremiah 9:4 I.e., like Jacob (a play on words)
Jeremiah 9:14 Lit which
Jeremiah 9:17 I.e., professional mourners
Jeremiah 9:24 Or faithfulness
Jeremiah 10:11 This verse is in Aram
Jeremiah 10:16 Lit Fashioner
Jeremiah 10:18 Lit find
Jeremiah 10:19 Lit breaking
Jeremiah 10:24 Lit diminish me
Jeremiah 10:25 Or pasture

2 Corinthians 11

New American Standard Bible

Paul Defends His Apostleship

11 I wish that you would ^(A)bear with me in a little ^(B)foolishness; but ^[a]indeed you are bearing with me. ²For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I ^(C)betrothed you to one husband, to ^(D)present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that, as the ^(E)serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if ^[b]one comes and preaches ^(F)another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a ^(G)different spirit which you have not received, or a ^(H)different gospel which you have not accepted, this you ^(I)tolerate ^(J)very well! ⁵For I consider myself ^(K)not in the least inferior to the ^[c]most eminent apostles. ⁶But even if I am ^(L)unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in ^(M)knowledge; in fact, in every way we have ^(N)made this evident to you in all things.

⁷Or ^(O)did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the ^(P)gospel of God to you ^(Q)without charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by ^(R)taking wages from them to serve you; ⁹and when I was present with you and was in need, I was ^(S)not a burden to anyone; for when ^(T)the brothers came from ^(U)Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from ^(V)being a burden to you, ^[d]and will continue to do so. ¹⁰^(W)As the truth of Christ is in me, ^(X)this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of ^(Y)Achaia. ¹¹Why? ^(Z)Because I do not love you? ^(AA)God knows that I do!

¹²But what I am doing I will also continue to do, ^(AB)so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be ^[e]regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. ¹³For such men are ^(AC)false apostles, ^(AD)deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴No wonder, for even ^(AE)Satan disguises himself as an ^(AF)angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, ^(AG)whose end will be according to their deeds.

¹⁶^(AH)Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying, I am not saying ^[f]^(AI)as the Lord would, but as ^(AJ)in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. ¹⁸Since ^(AK)many boast ^(AL)according to the flesh, I will boast also. ¹⁹For you, ^(AM)being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. ²⁰For you tolerate it if anyone ^(AN)enslaves you, if anyone ^(AO)devours you, if anyone ^(AP)takes advantage of you, if anyone ^(AQ)exalts himself, if anyone ^(AR)hits you in the face. ²¹To my ^(AS)shame I must say that we have been ^(AT)weak by comparison.

But in whatever respect anyone else ^(AU)is bold—I am ^(AV)speaking in foolishness—I too am bold. ²²Are they ^(AW)Hebrews? ^(AX)So am I. Are they ^(AY)Israelites? ^(AZ)So am I. Are they ^[g]^(BA)descendants of Abraham? ^(BB)So am I. ²³Are they ^(BC)servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in ^(BD)far more labors, in ^(BE)far more imprisonments, ^[h]^(BF)beaten times without number, often in danger of ^(BG)death. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews ^(BH)thirty-nine lashes. ²⁵Three times I was ^(BI)beaten with rods, once I was ^(BJ)stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. ²⁶I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my ^(BK)countrymen, dangers from the ^(BL)Gentiles, dangers in the ^(BM)city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among ^(BN)false brothers; ²⁷I have been in ^(BO)labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in ^(BP)hunger and thirst, often ^(BQ)without food, in cold and ^[i]^(BR)exposure. ²⁸Apart from such ^[j]external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for ^(BS)all the churches. ²⁹Who is ^(BT)weak without my being weak? Who is ^[k]led into sin ^[l]without my intense concern?

³⁰If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my ^(BU)weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(BV)He who is blessed forever, ^(BW)knows that I am not lying. ³²In ^(BX)Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was ^(BY)guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, ³³and I was let down in a basket ^(BZ)through a window ^[m]in the wall, and so escaped his hands.