Jeremiah 22:1-23:20
Authorized (King James) Version
22 Thus saith the Lord; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 2 and say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates: 3 Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. 5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus saith the Lord unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. 7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? 9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. 11 For thus saith the Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: 12 but he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; 14 that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord. 17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. 18 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah;
They shall not lament for him,
saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister!
they shall not lament for him,
saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,
drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry;
and lift up thy voice in Bashan,
and cry from the passages:
for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity;
but thou saidst, I will not hear.
This hath been thy manner from thy youth,
that thou obeyedst not my voice.
22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors,
and thy lovers shall go into captivity:
surely then shalt thou be ashamed
and confounded for all thy wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
that makest thy nest in the cedars,
how gracious shalt thou be
when pangs come upon thee,
the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; 25 and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. 27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? 29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. 30 Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
23 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. 2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9 Mine heart within me is broken
because of the prophets;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
and like a man whom wine hath overcome,
because of the Lord,
and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
for because of swearing the land mourneth;
the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up,
and their course is evil,
and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane;
yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them
as slippery ways in the darkness:
they shall be driven on, and fall therein:
for I will bring evil upon them,
even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria;
they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing:
they commit adultery, and walk in lies:
they strengthen also the hands of evildoers,
that none doth return from his wickedness:
they are all of them unto me as Sodom,
and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord,
and hath perceived and heard his word?
who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury,
even a grievous whirlwind:
it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord shall not return,
until he have executed,
and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart:
in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
2 Thessalonians 1
Authorized (King James) Version
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; 4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: 5 which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 6 seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Psalm 83
Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 83
A Song or Psalm of Asaph.
1 Keep not thou silence, O God:
hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:
and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,
and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;
that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent:
they are confederate against thee:
6 the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites;
of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assur also is joined with them:
they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites;
as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
10 which perished at Endor:
they became as dung for the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb:
yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
12 who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
13 O my God, make them like a wheel;
as the stubble before the wind.
14 As the fire burneth a wood,
and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
15 so persecute them with thy tempest,
and make them afraid with thy storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame;
that they may seek thy name, O Lord.
17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever;
yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
18 that men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
art the most high over all the earth.
Proverbs 25:11-14
Authorized (King James) Version
11 A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold,
so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest,
so is a faithful messenger to them that send him:
for he refresheth the soul of his masters.
14 Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift
is like clouds and wind without rain.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.