Jeremiah 1

New American Standard Bible

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

1 The words of ^(A)Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in ^(B)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ²to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of ^(C)Josiah the son of ^(D)Amon, king of Judah, in the ^(E)thirteenth year of his reign. ³It came also in the days of ^(F)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of ^(G)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵“Before I ^(H)formed you in the womb I knew you,
And ^(I)before you were born I consecrated you;
I have ^(J)appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
⁶Then ^(K)I said, “Oh, Lord ^[a]God!
Behold, I do not know how to speak,
Because ^(L)I am a youth.”
⁷But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
^(M)Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,
And ^(N)all that I command you, you shall speak.
⁸^(O)Do not be afraid of them,
For ^(P)I am with you to save you,” declares the Lord.

⁹Then the Lord stretched out His hand and ^(Q)touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have ^(R)put My words in your mouth.
¹⁰See, ^(S)I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,
^(T)To root out and to tear down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
^(U)To build and to plant.”

The Almond Branch and Boiling Pot

¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “What do you see, ^(V)Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a branch of an ^[b]almond tree.” ¹²Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for ^(W)I am ^[c]watching over My word to perform it.”

¹³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “^(X)What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling ^(Y)pot, facing away from the north.” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “^(Z)Out of the north the evil ^[d]will be unleashed on all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For, behold, I am calling ^(AA)all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the Lord; “and they will come and ^(AB)place, each one of them, his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls around, and against all the ^(AC)cities of Judah. ¹⁶And I will ^[e]pronounce My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, since they have ^(AD)abandoned Me and have ^[f]^(AE)offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the ^(AF)works of their own hands. ¹⁷Now, ^(AG)belt your garment around your waist and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. ^(AH)Do not be dismayed before them, or I will make you dismayed before them. ¹⁸Now behold, I have made you today like a fortified city and like a pillar of iron and walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its leaders, to its priests, and to the people of the land. ¹⁹And they will fight against you but they will not overcome you, for ^(AI)I am with you to save you,” declares the Lord.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 1:6 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Jeremiah 1:11 Heb shaqed, see note v 12
Jeremiah 1:12 Heb shoqed, a wordplay on almond in v 11 (see note v 11)
Jeremiah 1:14 Lit opened
Jeremiah 1:16 Lit speak
Jeremiah 1:16 Or burned incense

Matthew 15

New American Standard Bible

Tradition and Commandment

15 ^(A)Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus ^(B)from Jerusalem and said, ²“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^(C)do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” ³And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴For God said, ‘^(D)Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘^(E)The one who speaks evil of father or mother is to ^[a]be put to death.’ ⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been ^[b]given to God,” ⁶he is not to ^[c]honor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying:

⁸‘^(F)This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
⁹And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as ^(G)doctrines the commandments of men.’”

¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand! ¹¹^(H)It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.”

¹²Then the disciples came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ^[d]offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³But He answered and said, “^(I)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴Leave them alone; ^(J)they are blind guides ^[e]of blind people. And ^(K)if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Mankind

¹⁵Peter ^[f]said to Him, “^(L)Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶^[g]Jesus said, “Are you also still lacking in understanding? ¹⁷Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is ^[h]eliminated? ¹⁸But ^(M)the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person. ¹⁹^(N)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, and ^[i]slanderous statements. ²⁰These are the things that defile the person; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the person.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

²¹^(O)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the region of ^(P)Tyre and ^(Q)Sidon. ²²And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(R)Son of David; my daughter is severely ^(S)demon-possessed.” ²³But He did not answer her with even a word. And His disciples came up and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ^[j]at us!” ²⁴But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^(T)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵But she came and ^(U)began ^[k]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶Yet He answered and said, “It is not ^[l]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷And she said, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^(V)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed ^[m]at once.

Healing Crowds

²⁹^(W)Departing from there, Jesus went along ^(X)the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰And ^[n]large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(Y)He healed them. ³¹So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs ^[o]restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they ^(Z)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Men Fed

³²^(AA)Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “^(AB)I feel compassion for the ^[p]people, because they ^[q]have remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵And He directed the ^[r]people to ^[s]sit down on the ground; ³⁶and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after ^(AC)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(AD)baskets full. ³⁸And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.