Jeremiah 19-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Broken Earthenware Jug
19 Thus said the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jug. Take with you[a] some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, 2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.(A) 3 You shall say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.(B) 4 Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent(C) 5 and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind,(D) 6 therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of Slaughter.(E) 7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.(F) 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.(G) 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.(H)
10 Then you shall break the jug in the sight of those who go with you 11 and shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. In Topheth they shall bury until there is no more room to bury.(I) 12 Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth—all the houses upon whose roofs offerings have been made to the whole host of heaven and libations have been poured out to other gods.(J)
14 When Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people:(K) 15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am now bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear my words.(L)
Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur
20 Now the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.(M) 2 Then Pashhur struck the prophet Jeremiah and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord.(N) 3 The next morning when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has named you not Pashhur but ‘Terror-all-around.’ 4 For thus says the Lord: I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon and shall kill them with the sword.(O) 5 I will give all the wealth of this city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.(P) 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, shall go into captivity, and to Babylon you shall go; there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”(Q)
Jeremiah Denounces His Persecutors
7 O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.(R)
8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out;
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.(S)
9 If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.(T)
10 For I hear many whispering:
“Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.
“Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him
and take our revenge on him.”(U)
11 But the Lord is with me like a terrifying warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.(V)
12 O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous;
you see the heart and the mind;
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.(W)
13 Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.(X)
14 Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!(Y)
15 Cursed be the man
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A child is born to you, a son,”
making him very glad.(Z)
16 Let that man be like the cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,(AA)
17 because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave
and her womb forever pregnant.(AB)
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
to see toil and sorrow
and spend my days in shame?(AC)
Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadrezzar
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, saying,(AD) 2 “Please inquire of the Lord on our behalf, for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the Lord will perform a wonderful deed for us, as he has often done, and Nebuchadrezzar[b] will withdraw.”(AE)
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: 4 Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I am going to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls, and I will bring them together into the center of this city.(AF) 5 I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and mighty arm, in anger, in fury, and in great wrath.(AG) 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both humans and animals; they shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward, says the Lord, I will give King Zedekiah of Judah and his servants and the people in this city—those who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine—into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword; he shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.(AH)
8 And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.(AI) 9 Those who stay in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but those who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have their lives as a prize of war.(AJ) 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord; it shall be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.(AK)
Message to the House of David
11 To the house of the king of Judah say: Hear the word of the Lord,(AL) 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
Execute justice in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
anyone who has been robbed,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire
and burn, with no one to quench it,
because of their evil doings.(AM)
13 See, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
O rock of the plain,
says the Lord;
you who say, “Who can come down against us,
or who can enter our places of refuge?”(AN)
14 I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,
says the Lord;
I will kindle a fire in its forest,
and it shall devour all that is around it.(AO)
1 Thessalonians 5:4-28
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;(A) 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober,(B) 7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.(C) 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.(D) 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,(E) 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.(F) 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction
12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you;(G) 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.(H) 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.(I) 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good;(J) 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound[a] and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.(K) 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.(L)
25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us.(M)
26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters.(N)
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.[b]
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Psalm 82
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 82
A Plea for Justice
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:(A)
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah(B)
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.(C)
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”(D)
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding;
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.(E)
6 I say, “You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you;(F)
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
and fall like any prince.”[a](G)
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you!(H)
Footnotes
- 82.7 Or fall as one man, O princes
Proverbs 25:9-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 Argue your case with your neighbor directly,
and do not disclose another’s secret,(A)
10 or else someone who hears you will bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute will have no end.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.