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Jeremiah 3

 ¹ "If a man divorces his wife
       and she leaves him and marries another man,
       should he return to her again?
       Would not the land be completely defiled?
       But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—
       would you now return to me?"
       declares the LORD.

 ² "Look up to the barren heights and see.
       Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
       By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
       sat like a nomad ^[a] in the desert.
       You have defiled the land
       with your prostitution and wickedness.

 ³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,
       and no spring rains have fallen.
       Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
       you refuse to blush with shame.

 ⁴ Have you not just called to me:
       'My Father, my friend from my youth,

 ⁵ will you always be angry?
       Will your wrath continue forever?'
       This is how you talk,
       but you do all the evil you can."

Unfaithful Israel

 ¹¹ The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. ¹² Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
       " 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
       'I will frown on you no longer,
       for I am merciful,' declares the LORD,
       'I will not be angry forever.

 ¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt—
       you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
       you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
       under every spreading tree,
       and have not obeyed me,' "
       declares the LORD.

 ¹⁴ "Return, faithless people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the LORD, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. ¹⁷ At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.

 ¹⁹ "I myself said,
       " 'How gladly would I treat you like sons
       and give you a desirable land,
       the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.'
       I thought you would call me 'Father'
       and not turn away from following me.

 ²⁰ But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
       so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,"
       declares the LORD.

 ²¹ A cry is heard on the barren heights,
       the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,
       because they have perverted their ways
       and have forgotten the LORD their God.

 ²² "Return, faithless people;
       I will cure you of backsliding."
       "Yes, we will come to you,
       for you are the LORD our God.

 ²³ Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills
       and mountains is a deception;
       surely in the LORD our God
       is the salvation of Israel.

 ²⁴ From our youth shameful gods have consumed
       the fruits of our fathers' labor—
       their flocks and herds,
       their sons and daughters.

 ²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,
       and let our disgrace cover us.
       We have sinned against the LORD our God,
       both we and our fathers;
       from our youth till this day
       we have not obeyed the LORD our God."

Jeremiah 4

 ¹ "If you will return, O Israel,
       return to me,"
       declares the LORD.
       "If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
       and no longer go astray,

 ² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
       you swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
       then the nations will be blessed by him
       and in him they will glory."

 ³ This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
       "Break up your unplowed ground
       and do not sow among thorns.

 ⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
       circumcise your hearts,
       you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem,
       or my wrath will break out and burn like fire
       because of the evil you have done—
       burn with no one to quench it.

Disaster From the North

 ⁶ Raise the signal to go to Zion!
       Flee for safety without delay!
       For I am bringing disaster from the north,
       even terrible destruction."

 ⁷ A lion has come out of his lair;
       a destroyer of nations has set out.
       He has left his place
       to lay waste your land.
       Your towns will lie in ruins
       without inhabitant.

 ⁸ So put on sackcloth,
       lament and wail,
       for the fierce anger of the LORD
       has not turned away from us.

 ⁹ "In that day," declares the LORD,
       "the king and the officials will lose heart,
       the priests will be horrified,
       and the prophets will be appalled."

 ¹⁰ Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, 'You will have peace,' when the sword is at our throats."

 ¹¹ At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; ¹² a wind too strong for that comes from me. ^[b] Now I pronounce my judgments against them."

 ¹³ Look! He advances like the clouds,
       his chariots come like a whirlwind,
       his horses are swifter than eagles.
       Woe to us! We are ruined!

 ¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
       How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?

 ¹⁵ A voice is announcing from Dan,
       proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

 ¹⁶ "Tell this to the nations,
       proclaim it to Jerusalem:
       'A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
       raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.

 ¹⁷ They surround her like men guarding a field,
       because she has rebelled against me,' "
       declares the LORD.

 ¹⁸ "Your own conduct and actions
       have brought this upon you.
       This is your punishment.
       How bitter it is!
       How it pierces to the heart!"

 ¹⁹ Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
       I writhe in pain.
       Oh, the agony of my heart!
       My heart pounds within me,
       I cannot keep silent.
       For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
       I have heard the battle cry.

 ²⁰ Disaster follows disaster;
       the whole land lies in ruins.
       In an instant my tents are destroyed,
       my shelter in a moment.

 ²¹ How long must I see the battle standard
       and hear the sound of the trumpet?

 ²² "My people are fools;
       they do not know me.
       They are senseless children;
       they have no understanding.
       They are skilled in doing evil;
       they know not how to do good."

 ²³ I looked at the earth,
       and it was formless and empty;
       and at the heavens,
       and their light was gone.

 ²⁴ I looked at the mountains,
       and they were quaking;
       all the hills were swaying.

 ²⁵ I looked, and there were no people;
       every bird in the sky had flown away.

 ²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
       all its towns lay in ruins
       before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

 ²⁷ This is what the LORD says:
       "The whole land will be ruined,
       though I will not destroy it completely.

 ²⁸ Therefore the earth will mourn
       and the heavens above grow dark,
       because I have spoken and will not relent,
       I have decided and will not turn back."

 ²⁹ At the sound of horsemen and archers
       every town takes to flight.
       Some go into the thickets;
       some climb up among the rocks.
       All the towns are deserted;
       no one lives in them.

 ³⁰ What are you doing, O devastated one?
       Why dress yourself in scarlet
       and put on jewels of gold?
       Why shade your eyes with paint?
       You adorn yourself in vain.
       Your lovers despise you;
       they seek your life.

 ³¹ I hear a cry as of a woman in labor,
       a groan as of one bearing her first child—
       the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
       stretching out her hands and saying,
       "Alas! I am fainting;
       my life is given over to murderers."

Jeremiah 5

Not One Is Upright

 ² Although they say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
       still they are swearing falsely."

 ³ O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
       You struck them, but they felt no pain;
       you crushed them, but they refused correction.
       They made their faces harder than stone
       and refused to repent.

 ⁴ I thought, "These are only the poor;
       they are foolish,
       for they do not know the way of the LORD,
       the requirements of their God.

 ⁵ So I will go to the leaders
       and speak to them;
       surely they know the way of the LORD,
       the requirements of their God."
       But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
       and torn off the bonds.

 ⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
       a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
       a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
       to tear to pieces any who venture out,
       for their rebellion is great
       and their backslidings many.

 ⁷ "Why should I forgive you?
       Your children have forsaken me
       and sworn by gods that are not gods.
       I supplied all their needs,
       yet they committed adultery
       and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.

 ⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
       each neighing for another man's wife.

 ⁹ Should I not punish them for this?"
       declares the LORD.
       "Should I not avenge myself
       on such a nation as this?

 ¹⁰ "Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
       but do not destroy them completely.
       Strip off her branches,
       for these people do not belong to the LORD.

 ¹¹ The house of Israel and the house of Judah
       have been utterly unfaithful to me,"
       declares the LORD.

 ¹² They have lied about the LORD;
       they said, "He will do nothing!
       No harm will come to us;
       we will never see sword or famine.

 ¹³ The prophets are but wind
       and the word is not in them;
       so let what they say be done to them."

 ¹⁴ Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says:
       "Because the people have spoken these words,
       I will make my words in your mouth a fire
       and these people the wood it consumes.

 ¹⁵ O house of Israel," declares the LORD,
       "I am bringing a distant nation against you—
       an ancient and enduring nation,
       a people whose language you do not know,
       whose speech you do not understand.

 ¹⁶ Their quivers are like an open grave;
       all of them are mighty warriors.

 ¹⁷ They will devour your harvests and food,
       devour your sons and daughters;
       they will devour your flocks and herds,
       devour your vines and fig trees.
       With the sword they will destroy
       the fortified cities in which you trust.

 ¹⁸ "Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not destroy you completely. ¹⁹ And when the people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.'

 ²⁰ "Announce this to the house of Jacob
       and proclaim it in Judah:

 ²¹ Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
       who have eyes but do not see,
       who have ears but do not hear:

 ²² Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD.
       "Should you not tremble in my presence?
       I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
       an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
       The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
       they may roar, but they cannot cross it.

 ²³ But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
       they have turned aside and gone away.

 ²⁴ They do not say to themselves,
       'Let us fear the LORD our God,
       who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
       who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.'

 ²⁵ Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
       your sins have deprived you of good.

 ²⁶ "Among my people are wicked men
       who lie in wait like men who snare birds
       and like those who set traps to catch men.

 ²⁷ Like cages full of birds,
       their houses are full of deceit;
       they have become rich and powerful

 ²⁸ and have grown fat and sleek.
       Their evil deeds have no limit;
       they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it,
       they do not defend the rights of the poor.

 ²⁹ Should I not punish them for this?"
       declares the LORD.
       "Should I not avenge myself
       on such a nation as this?

 ³⁰ "A horrible and shocking thing
       has happened in the land:

 ³¹ The prophets prophesy lies,
       the priests rule by their own authority,
       and my people love it this way.
       But what will you do in the end?

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1 Timothy 4

Instructions to Timothy

 ⁶If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. ⁷Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. ⁸For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

 ⁹This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance ¹⁰(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

 ¹¹Command and teach these things. ¹²Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. ¹³Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

 ¹⁵Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.