Jeremiah 9-10
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
9 [a] O that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 [b] O that I had in the desert
a wayfarers’ lodging place,
that I might leave my people
and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
a company of treacherous men.
3 They bend their tongue like a bow;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong[c] in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know me, says the Lord.
4 Let every one beware of his neighbor,
and put no trust in any brother;
for every brother is a supplanter,
and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
5 Every one deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.[d]
6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
they refuse to know me, says the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, I will refine them and test them,
for what else can I do, because of my people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth each speaks peaceably to his neighbor,
but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10 “Take up[e] weeping and wailing for the mountains,
and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
both the birds of the air and the beasts
have fled and are gone.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a lair of jackals;
and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant.”
12 Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13 And the Lord says: “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accord with it, 14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Ba′als, as their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink. 16 I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
The People Mourn in Judgment
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
send for the skilful women to come;
18 let them make haste and raise a wailing over us,
that our eyes may run down with tears,
and our eyelids gush with water.
19 For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How we are ruined!
We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
20 Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
and each to her neighbor a dirge.
21 For death has come up into our windows,
it has entered our palaces,
cutting off the children from the streets
and the young men from the squares.
22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord:
‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves after the reaper,
and none shall gather them.’”
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; 24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”[f]
25 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert that cut the corners of their hair; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
Idolatry Has Brought Ruin on Israel
10 Hear the word which the Lord
speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:
“Learn not the way of the nations,
nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them,
3 for the customs of the peoples are false.
A tree from the forest is cut down,
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
4 Men deck it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
5 Their idols[g] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Be not afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
6 There is none like thee, O Lord;
thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations?
For this is thy due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like thee.
8 They are both stupid and foolish;
the instruction of idols is but wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is violet and purple;
they are all the work of skilled men.
10 But the Lord is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”[h]
12 It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
13 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
The Coming Exile
17 Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O you who dwell under siege!
18 For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
that they may feel it.”
19 Woe is me because of my hurt!
My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
and I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed,
and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again,
and to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid,
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.
22 Hark, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
a great commotion out of the north country
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
a lair of jackals.
23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24 Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure;
not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not,
and upon the peoples that call not on thy name;
for they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him and consumed him,
and have laid waste his habitation.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 9:1 Ch 8.23 in Heb
- Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9.1 in Heb
- Jeremiah 9:3 Gk: Heb and not for truth they have grown strong
- Jeremiah 9:5 Cn Compare Gk: Heb your dwelling
- Jeremiah 9:10 Gk Syr: Heb I will take up
- 9.23-24 The basis of true religion.
- Jeremiah 10:5 Heb They
- Jeremiah 10:11 This verse is in Aramaic
Sirach 11:1-17
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Deceptiveness of Appearances
11 The wisdom of a humble man will lift up his head,
and will seat him among the great.
2 Do not praise a man for his good looks,
nor loathe a man because of his appearance.
3 The bee is small among flying creatures,
but her product is the best of sweet things.
4 Do not boast about wearing fine clothes,
nor exalt yourself in the day that you are honored;
for the works of the Lord are wonderful,
and his works are concealed from men.
5 Many kings have had to sit on the ground,
but one who was never thought of has worn a crown.
6 Many rulers have been greatly disgraced,
and illustrious men have been handed over to others.
Deliberation and Caution
7 Do not find fault before you investigate;
first consider, and then reprove.
8 Do not answer before you have heard,
nor interrupt a speaker in the midst of his words.
9 Do not argue about a matter which does not concern you,
nor sit with sinners when they judge a case.
10 My son, do not busy yourself with many matters;
if you multiply activities you will not go unpunished,
and if you pursue you will not overtake,
and by fleeing you will not escape.
11 There is a man who works, and toils, and presses on,
but is so much the more in want.
12 There is another who is slow and needs help,
who lacks strength and abounds in poverty;
but the eyes of the Lord look upon him for his good;
he lifts him out of his low estate
13 and raises up his head,
so that many are amazed at him.
14 Good things and bad, life and death,
poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.[a]
17 The gift of the Lord endures for those who are godly,
and what he approves will have lasting success.
Footnotes
- Sirach 11:14 Other authorities add as verses 15 and 16, 15 Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of the law come from the Lord; affection and the ways of good works come from him. 16 Error and darkness were created with sinners; evil will grow old with those who take pride in malice.
Jude
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Salutation
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Occasion of the Letter
3 Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.[a]
Judgment on False Teachers
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he[b] who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day;[c] 7 just as Sodom and Gomor′rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in like manner these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.[d] 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”[e] 10 But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error, and perish in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are blemishes[f] on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever.
14 It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions, loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.
Warnings and Exhortations
17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And convince some, who doubt; 23 save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.[g]
Benediction
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.
Footnotes
- Jude 1:4 Or the only Master and our Lord Jesus Christ
- Jude 1:5 Ancient authorities read Jesus or the Lord or God
- 6 It is not clear to what Jude refers. Perhaps Gen 6.2 or the apocryphal Enoch 6–15.
- Jude 1:8 Greek glories
- 9 Apparently a reference to another apocryphal work, the Assumption of Moses.
- Jude 1:12 Or reefs
- Jude 1:23 The Greek text in this sentence is uncertain at several points
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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