²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, ^(E)as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

³⁰ “Therefore behold, ^(G)I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. ³¹ Behold, I am ^(H)against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their ^(I)lies and by ^(J)their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not ^(K)profit this people at all,” says the Lord.

³³ “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is ^(L)the ^[a]oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ^[b]‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord. ³⁴ “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The ^[c]oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵ Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ And the ^[d]oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have ^(M)perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But since you say, ‘The ^[e]oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ³⁹ therefore behold, I, even I, ^(N)will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. ⁴⁰ And I will bring ^(O)an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual ^(P)shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs

24 The ^(Q)Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar ^(R)king of Babylon had carried away captive ^(S)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ² One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so ^(T)bad. ³ Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”

⁴ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I ^[f]acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶ For I will set My eyes on them for good, and ^(U)I will bring them back to this land; ^(V)I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. ⁷ Then I will give them ^(W)a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be ^(X)My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me ^(Y)with their whole heart.

⁸ ‘And as the bad ^(Z)figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the ^(AA)residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and ^(AB)those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will deliver them to ^(AC)trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, ^(AD)to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are ^[g]consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”

Seventy Years of Desolation

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ^(AE)in the fourth year of ^(AF)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ^3 (AG)“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, ^(AH)but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, ^(AI)rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. ⁵ They said, ^(AJ)‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might ^(AK)provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, ⁹ behold, I will send and take ^(AL)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(AM)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and ^(AN)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰ Moreover I will ^[h]take from them the ^(AO)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(AP)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy ^(AQ)years.

¹² ‘Then it will come to pass, ^(AR)when ^[i]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ^(AS)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. ¹³ So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. ^14 (AT)(For many nations ^(AU)and great kings shall ^(AV)be served by them also; ^(AW)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Judgment on the Nations

¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this ^(AX)wine cup of ^[j]fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. ¹⁶ And ^(AY)they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them ^(AZ)a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and ^(BA)a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; ²⁰ all the mixed multitude, all the kings of ^(BB)the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(BC)Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and ^(BD)the remnant of Ashdod); ^21 (BE)Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; ²² all the kings of ^(BF)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the ^(BG)sea; ^23 (BH)Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the ^(BI)mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(BJ)Elam, and all the kings of the ^(BK)Medes; ^26 (BL)all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of ^[k]Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷ “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BM)“Drink, ^(BN)be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ ²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(BO)I begin to bring calamity on the city ^(BP)which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for ^(BQ)I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰ “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

³² Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^33 (BY)And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be ^(BZ)lamented, ^(CA)or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

The Great Apostasy

2 Now, brethren, ^(A)concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ^(B)and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ^2 (C)not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of ^[a]Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come ^(D)unless the falling away comes first, and ^(E)the man of ^[b]sin is revealed, ^(F)the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and ^(G)exalts himself ^(H)above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits ^[c]as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For ^(I)the ^[d]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[e]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, ^(J)whom the Lord will consume ^(K)with the breath of His mouth and destroy ^(L)with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is ^(M)according to the working of Satan, with all power, ^(N)signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among ^(O)those who perish, because they did not receive ^(P)the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And ^(Q)for this reason God will send them strong delusion, ^(R)that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but ^(S)had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Fast

¹³ But we are ^[f]bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God ^(T)from the beginning ^(U)chose you for salvation ^(V)through ^[g]sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴ to which He called you by our gospel, for ^(W)the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ Therefore, brethren, ^(X)stand fast and hold ^(Y)the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our ^[h]epistle.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, ^(Z)who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and ^(AA)good hope by grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts ^(AB)and ^[i]establish you in every good word and work.

The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God

To the Chief Musician. ^(A)On^[a] an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.