²⁷ “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that ^(A)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸ And it shall come to pass, that as I have ^(B)watched over them ^(C)to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them ^(D)to build and to plant, says the Lord. ^29 (E)In those days they shall say no more:

^30 (F)But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

A New Covenant

³¹ “Behold, the ^(G)days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— ³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that ^(H)I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, ^[a]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ^33 (I)But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: ^(J)I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their ^[b]hearts; ^(K)and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for ^(L)they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For ^(M)I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

³⁷ Thus says the Lord:

³⁸ “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord ^(T)from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ^39 (U)The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. ⁴⁰ And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, ^(V)to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(W)shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(X)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up ^(Y)in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. ³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you ^(Z)prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(AA)“Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴ and Zedekiah king of Judah ^(AB)shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him ^[c]face to face, and see him ^(AC)eye to eye; ⁵ then he shall ^(AD)lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be ^(AE)until I visit him,” says the Lord; ^(AF)“though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?”

⁶ And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the ^(AG)right of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’ ⁸ Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and ^(AH)weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ And I signed the ^[d]deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. ¹¹ So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; ¹² and I gave the purchase deed to ^(AI)Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the ^(AJ)witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

¹³ “Then I charged ^(AK)Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be ^(AL)possessed again in this land.” ’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(AM)You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. ^(AN)There is nothing too ^[e]hard for You. ¹⁸ You show ^(AO)lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, ^(AP)the Mighty God, whose name is ^(AQ)the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹ You are ^(AR)great in counsel and mighty in ^[f]work, for Your ^(AS)eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, ^(AT)to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. ²⁰ You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself ^(AU)a name, as it is this day. ²¹ You ^(AV)have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²² You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—^(AW)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ²³ And they came in and took possession of it, but ^(AX)they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.

²⁴ ‘Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of ^(AY)the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! ²⁵ And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, the ^(AZ)God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? ²⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹ And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and ^(BA)set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses ^(BB)on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; ³⁰ because the children of Israel and the children of Judah ^(BC)have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,’ says the Lord. ³¹ ‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; ^(BD)so I will remove it from before My face ³² because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—^(BE)they, their kings, their princes, their priests, ^(BF)their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³ And they have turned to Me the ^(BG)back, and not the face; though I taught them, ^(BH)rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴ But they ^(BI)set their abominations in ^[g]the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³⁵ And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to ^(BJ)cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to ^(BK)Molech, ^(BL)which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’

³⁶ “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: ³⁷ Behold, I will ^(BM)gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them ^(BN)to dwell safely. ³⁸ They shall be ^(BO)My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹ then I will ^(BP)give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. ⁴⁰ And ^(BQ)I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but ^(BR)I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. ⁴¹ Yes, ^(BS)I will rejoice over them to do them good, and ^(BT)I will ^[h]assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’

⁴² “For thus says the Lord: ^(BU)‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³ And fields will be bought in this land ^(BV)of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in ^(BW)the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the ^[i]lowland, and in the cities of the ^[j]South; for ^(BX)I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”

Qualifications of Overseers

3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a ^[a]bishop, he desires a good work. ² A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; ³ not ^[b]given to wine, not violent, ^[c]not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not ^[d]covetous; ⁴ one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence ⁵ (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); ⁶ not a ^[e]novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. ⁷ Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the ^(A)snare of the devil.

Qualifications of Deacons

⁸ Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, ^(B)not given to much wine, not greedy for money, ⁹ holding the ^[f]mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰ But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. ¹¹ Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not ^[g]slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. ¹² Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. ¹³ For those who have served well as deacons ^(C)obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The Great Mystery

¹⁴ These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; ¹⁵ but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ^[h]ground of the truth. ¹⁶ And without controversy great is the ^[i]mystery of godliness:

A Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath Leannoth.” A ^[a]Contemplation of ^(A)Heman the Ezrahite.