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Jeremiah 15

 ¹ Then the LORD said to me: "Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! ² And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, 'This is what the LORD says:
       " 'Those destined for death, to death;
       those for the sword, to the sword;
       those for starvation, to starvation;
       those for captivity, to captivity.'

 ³ "I will send four kinds of destroyers against them," declares the LORD, "the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

 ⁵ "Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
       Who will mourn for you?
       Who will stop to ask how you are?

 ⁶ You have rejected me," declares the LORD.
       "You keep on backsliding.
       So I will lay hands on you and destroy you;
       I can no longer show compassion.

 ⁷ I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
       at the city gates of the land.
       I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
       for they have not changed their ways.

 ⁸ I will make their widows more numerous
       than the sand of the sea.
       At midday I will bring a destroyer
       against the mothers of their young men;
       suddenly I will bring down on them
       anguish and terror.

 ⁹ The mother of seven will grow faint
       and breathe her last.
       Her sun will set while it is still day;
       she will be disgraced and humiliated.
       I will put the survivors to the sword
       before their enemies,"
       declares the LORD.

 ¹⁰ Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,
       a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
       I have neither lent nor borrowed,
       yet everyone curses me.

 ¹¹ The LORD said,
       "Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;
       surely I will make your enemies plead with you
       in times of disaster and times of distress.

 ¹² "Can a man break iron—
       iron from the north—or bronze?

 ¹³ Your wealth and your treasures
       I will give as plunder, without charge,
       because of all your sins
       throughout your country.

 ¹⁴ I will enslave you to your enemies
       in ^[a] a land you do not know,
       for my anger will kindle a fire
       that will burn against you."

 ¹⁵ You understand, O LORD;
       remember me and care for me.
       Avenge me on my persecutors.
       You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
       think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.

 ¹⁶ When your words came, I ate them;
       they were my joy and my heart's delight,
       for I bear your name,
       O LORD God Almighty.

 ¹⁷ I never sat in the company of revelers,
       never made merry with them;
       I sat alone because your hand was on me
       and you had filled me with indignation.

 ¹⁸ Why is my pain unending
       and my wound grievous and incurable?
       Will you be to me like a deceptive brook,
       like a spring that fails?

 ¹⁹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:
       "If you repent, I will restore you
       that you may serve me;
       if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
       you will be my spokesman.
       Let this people turn to you,
       but you must not turn to them.

 ²⁰ I will make you a wall to this people,
       a fortified wall of bronze;
       they will fight against you
       but will not overcome you,
       for I am with you
       to rescue and save you,"
       declares the LORD.

 ²¹ "I will save you from the hands of the wicked
       and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."

Jeremiah 16

Day of Disaster

 ⁵ For this is what the LORD says: "Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people," declares the LORD. ⁶ "Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut himself or shave his head for them. ⁷ No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

 ⁸ "And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. ⁹ For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.

 ¹⁰ "When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?' ¹¹ then say to them, 'It is because your fathers forsook me,' declares the LORD, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. ¹² But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. ¹³ So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'

 ¹⁴ "However, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when men will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' ¹⁵ but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers.

 ¹⁶ "But now I will send for many fishermen," declares the LORD, "and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. ¹⁷ My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸ I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols."

 ¹⁹ O LORD, my strength and my fortress,
       my refuge in time of distress,
       to you the nations will come
       from the ends of the earth and say,
       "Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods,
       worthless idols that did them no good.

 ²⁰ Do men make their own gods?
       Yes, but they are not gods!"

 ²¹ "Therefore I will teach them—
       this time I will teach them
       my power and might.
       Then they will know
       that my name is the LORD.

Jeremiah 17

 ¹ "Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool,
       inscribed with a flint point,
       on the tablets of their hearts
       and on the horns of their altars.

 ² Even their children remember
       their altars and Asherah poles ^[b]
       beside the spreading trees
       and on the high hills.

 ³ My mountain in the land
       and your ^[c] wealth and all your treasures
       I will give away as plunder,
       together with your high places,
       because of sin throughout your country.

 ⁴ Through your own fault you will lose
       the inheritance I gave you.
       I will enslave you to your enemies
       in a land you do not know,
       for you have kindled my anger,
       and it will burn forever."

 ⁵ This is what the LORD says:
       "Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
       who depends on flesh for his strength
       and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

 ⁶ He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
       he will not see prosperity when it comes.
       He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
       in a salt land where no one lives.

 ⁷ "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
       whose confidence is in him.

 ⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water
       that sends out its roots by the stream.
       It does not fear when heat comes;
       its leaves are always green.
       It has no worries in a year of drought
       and never fails to bear fruit."

 ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
       and beyond cure.
       Who can understand it?

 ¹⁰ "I the LORD search the heart
       and examine the mind,
       to reward a man according to his conduct,
       according to what his deeds deserve."

 ¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
       is the man who gains riches by unjust means.
       When his life is half gone, they will desert him,
       and in the end he will prove to be a fool.

 ¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
       is the place of our sanctuary.

 ¹³ O LORD, the hope of Israel,
       all who forsake you will be put to shame.
       Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
       because they have forsaken the LORD,
       the spring of living water.

 ¹⁴ Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
       save me and I will be saved,
       for you are the one I praise.

 ¹⁵ They keep saying to me,
       "Where is the word of the LORD ?
       Let it now be fulfilled!"

 ¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd;
       you know I have not desired the day of despair.
       What passes my lips is open before you.

 ¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me;
       you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

 ¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame,
       but keep me from shame;
       let them be terrified,
       but keep me from terror.
       Bring on them the day of disaster;
       destroy them with double destruction.

Keeping the Sabbath Holy

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2 Timothy 2

 ¹You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. ³Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. ⁵Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. ⁷Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

 ⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, ⁹for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

 ¹¹Here is a trustworthy saying:
   If we died with him,
      we will also live with him;
 ¹²if we endure,
      we will also reign with him.
   If we disown him,
      he will also disown us;
 ¹³if we are faithless,
      he will remain faithful,
      for he cannot disown himself.

A Workman Approved by God

 ²⁰In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. ²¹If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

 ²²Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. ²⁴And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. ²⁵Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.