5 Do not sharply censure or rebuke an older man, but entreat and plead with him as [you would with] a father. Treat younger men like brothers;

² [Treat] older women like mothers [and] younger women like sisters, in all purity.

³ [Always] treat with great consideration and give aid to those who are truly widowed (solitary and without support).

⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, see to it that these are first made to understand that it is their religious duty [to defray their natural obligation to those] at home, and make return to their parents or grandparents [for all their care by contributing to their maintenance], for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

⁵ Now [a woman] who is a real widow and is left entirely alone and desolate has fixed her hope on God and perseveres in supplications and prayers night and day,

⁶ Whereas she who lives in pleasure and self-gratification [giving herself up to luxury and self-indulgence] is dead even while she [still] lives.

⁷ Charge [the people] thus, so that they may be without reproach and blameless.

⁸ If anyone fails to provide for his relatives, and especially for those of his own family, he has disowned the faith [by failing to accompany it with fruits] and is worse than an unbeliever [who performs his obligation in these matters].

⁹ Let no one be put on the roll of widows [who are to receive church support] who is under sixty years of age or who has been the wife of more than one man;

¹⁰ And she must have a reputation for good deeds, as one who has brought up children, who has practiced hospitality to strangers [of the brotherhood], washed the feet of the saints, helped to relieve the distressed, [and] devoted herself diligently to doing good in every way.

¹¹ But refuse [to enroll on this list the] younger widows, for when they become restive and their natural desires grow strong, they withdraw themselves against Christ [and] wish to marry [again].

¹² And so they incur condemnation for having set aside and slighted their previous pledge.

¹³ Moreover, as they go about from house to house, they learn to be idlers, and not only idlers, but gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not say and talking of things they should not mention.

¹⁴ So I would have younger [widows] marry, bear children, guide the household, [and] not give opponents of the faith occasion for slander or reproach.

¹⁵ For already some [widows] have turned aside after Satan.

¹⁶ If any believing woman or believing man has [relatives or persons in the household who are] widows, let him relieve them; let the church not be burdened [with them], so that it may [be free to] assist those who are truly widows (those who are all alone and are dependent).

¹⁷ Let the elders who perform the duties of their office well be considered doubly worthy of honor [and of adequate ^[a]financial support], especially those who labor faithfully in preaching and teaching.

¹⁸ For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain, and again, The laborer is worthy of his hire.^(A)

¹⁹ Listen to no accusation [presented before a judge] against an elder unless it is confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^(B)

²⁰ As for those who are guilty and persist in sin, rebuke and admonish them in the presence of all, so that the rest may be warned and stand in wholesome awe and fear.

²¹ I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the chosen angels that you guard and keep [these rules] without personal prejudice or favor, doing nothing from partiality.

²² Do not be in a hurry in the laying on of hands [giving the sanction of the church too hastily in reinstating expelled offenders or in ordination in questionable cases], nor share or participate in another man’s sins; keep yourself pure.

²³ Drink water no longer exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

²⁴ The sins of some men are conspicuous (openly evident to all eyes), going before them to the judgment [seat] and proclaiming their sentence in advance; but the sins of others appear later [following the offender to the bar of judgment and coming into view there].

²⁵ So also, good deeds are evident and conspicuous, and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden [indefinitely].

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13 Thus the Lord said to me: Go and buy yourself a linen girdle and put it on your loins, but do not put it in water.

² So I bought a girdle or waistcloth, according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins.

³ And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying,

⁴ Take the girdle which you have bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the [river] Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶ And after many days the Lord said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the girdle which I commanded you to hide there.

⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle or waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the girdle was decayed and spoiled; it was good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁹ Thus says the Lord: After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ These evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle or waistcloth, which is profitable for nothing.

¹¹ For as the girdle clings to the loins of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says the Lord, that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they would not listen or obey.

¹² Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every bottle and jar should be filled with wine. [The people] will say to you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle and jar should be filled with wine?

¹³ Then say to them, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit upon David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.

¹⁵ Hear and give ear, do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken [says Jeremiah].

¹⁶ Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark and twilit mountains, and [before], while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it thick darkness.

¹⁷ But if you will not hear and obey, I will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother, Humble yourselves and take a lowly seat, for down from your head has come your beautiful crown (the crown of your glory).

¹⁹ The cities of the South (the Negeb) have been shut up, and there is no one to open them; all Judah has been carried away captive, it has been wholly taken captive and into exile.

²⁰ Lift up your eyes and behold those [the eruption of a hostile army] who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you [to shepherd], your beautiful flock?

²¹ What will you say [O Jerusalem] when He [the Lord] sets over you as head those [tyrannical foreign nations] whom you yourselves [at intervals] have taught to be lovers (allies) with you [instructing them, even your friends, to be head over you]? Will not pangs take hold of you like that of a woman in travail?

²² And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come upon me?—[the answer is], Because of the greatness of your iniquity has your long robe been pulled aside [showing you in the garb of a menial] and have you [barefooted and treated like a slave] suffered violence.

²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also can you do good who are accustomed and taught [even trained] to do evil.

²⁴ Therefore I will scatter you like chaff driven away by the wind from the desert.

²⁵ This is your lot, the portion measured to you from Me, says the Lord, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood [false gods and alliances with idolatrous nations].

²⁶ Therefore I Myself will [retaliate], throwing your skirts up over your face, that your shame [of being clad like a slave] may be exposed.

²⁷ I have seen your detestable acts, even your adulteries and your lustful neighings [after idols], and the lewdness of your harlotry on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! For how long a time yet will you not [meet My conditions and] be made clean?

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

² Judah mourns and her gates languish; [her people] sit in black [mourning garb] upon the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

³ And their nobles send their little ones and their inferiors for water; they come to the cisterns and find no water. They return with empty vessels; they are put to shame and confounded and cover their heads.

⁴ Because the ground is cracked and the tillers are dismayed, since there has been no rain on the land, the plowmen are put to shame, and they cover their heads.

⁵ Yes, even the hind gives birth to her calf in the field and forsakes it, because there is no grass or herbage.

⁶ And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals or crocodiles; their eyesight fails because there is no grass.

⁷ O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us [prays Jeremiah], deal and work with us for Your own name’s sake [that the heathen may witness Your might and faithfulness]! For our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You.

⁸ O Hope of Israel, her Savior in time of trouble, why should You be like a sojourner in the land and like a wayfaring man who turns aside and spreads his tent to tarry [only] for a night?

⁹ Why should You be [hesitant and inactive] like a man stunned and confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name; do not leave us!

¹⁰ [And the Lord replied to Jeremiah] Thus says the Lord to this people [Judah]: In the manner and to the degree already pointed out have they loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now [seriously] remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins.

¹¹ The Lord said to me, Do not pray for this people for their good.

¹² Though they fast, I will not hear their cry; and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering [without heartfelt surrender to Me, or by offering it too late], I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

¹³ Then said I, Alas, Lord God! Behold, the [false] prophets say to them, You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine; but I [the Lord] will give you assured peace (peace that lasts, the peace of truth) in this place.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, The [false] prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false or pretended vision, a worthless divination [conjuring or practicing magic, trying to call forth the responses supposed to be given by idols], and the deceit of their own minds.

¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the [false] prophets who prophesy in My name—although I did not send them—and who say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword; and they shall have none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them [and not on their false teachers only, for the people could not have been deceived except by their own consent].

¹⁷ Therefore [Jeremiah] you shall say to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people has been smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.

¹⁸ If I go out into the field, then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, then behold, those tormented with the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest go about not knowing what to do or as beggars [exiled] in a land that they know not, and they have no knowledge.

¹⁹ [O Lord] have You utterly rejected Judah? Do You loathe Zion? Why have You smitten us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace and completeness, but no good came, and for a time of healing, but behold, dismay, disaster, and terror!

²⁰ We know and acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.

²¹ Do not abhor, condemn, and spurn us, for Your name’s sake; do not dishonor, debase, and lightly esteem Your glorious throne; [earnestly] remember, break not Your covenant or solemn pledge with us.

²² Are there any among the false gods of the nations who can cause rain? Or can the heavens [of their own will] give showers? Are You [alone] not He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait [expectantly] for You, for You have made all these things [the heavens and the rain].