Jeremiah 18

English Standard Version

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Arise, and go down to ^(A)the potter's house, and there I will let you hear^[a] my words.” ³So I went down to ^(B)the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was ^(C)spoiled in the potter's hand, and ^(D)he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^(E)can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^(F)Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^(G)pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^(H)turns from its evil, ^(I)I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^(J)build and plant it, ¹⁰and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^(K)Return, every one from his evil way, and ^(L)amend your ways and your deeds.’

¹²“But they say, ^(M)‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to ^(N)the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(O)Ask among the nations,
    Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
    has done ^(P)a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave
    the crags of Sirion?^[b]
Do the mountain waters run dry,^[c]
    the cold flowing streams?
¹⁵^(Q)But my people have forgotten me;
    they make offerings to ^(R)false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
    ^(S)in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
    ^(T)not the highway,
¹⁶making their land ^(U)a horror,
    a thing ^(V)to be hissed at forever.
^(W)Everyone who passes by it is horrified
    ^(X)and shakes his head.
¹⁷^(Y)Like the east wind ^(Z)I will scatter them
    before the enemy.
^(AA)I will show them my back, not my face,
    in the day of their calamity.”

¹⁸Then they said, ^(AB)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^(AC)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^(AD)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

¹⁹Hear me, O Lord,
    and ^(AE)listen to the voice of my adversaries.
²⁰^(AF)Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet ^(AG)they have dug a pit for my life.
^(AH)Remember how I stood before you
    to speak good for them,
    to turn away your wrath from them.
²¹Therefore ^(AI)deliver up their children to famine;
    give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless ^(AJ)and widowed.
    May their men meet death by pestilence,
    their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
²²^(AK)May a cry be heard from their houses,
    when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For ^(AL)they have dug a pit to take me
    ^(AM)and laid snares for my feet.
²³Yet ^(AN)you, O Lord, know
    all their plotting to kill me.
^(AO)Forgive not their iniquity,
    nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 18:2 Or will cause you to hear
Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew of the field
Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew Are foreign waters plucked up

Psalm 40:9-17

English Standard Version

⁹I have told the glad news of deliverance^[a]
    in ^(A)the great congregation;
behold, I have not ^(B)restrained my lips,
    ^(C)as you know, O Lord.
¹⁰I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.

¹¹As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
    your mercy from me;
your ^(D)steadfast love and your faithfulness will
    ever preserve me!
¹²For evils have ^(E)encompassed me
    beyond number;
my ^(F)iniquities have overtaken me,
    and I cannot ^(G)see;
they are ^(H)more than the hairs of my head;
    my heart ^(I)fails me.

¹³^(J)Be pleased, O Lord, to ^(K)deliver me!
    O Lord, ^(L)make haste to help me!
¹⁴^(M)Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be ^(N)turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
¹⁵Let those be appalled because of their shame
    who ^(O)say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

¹⁶But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
    ^(P)say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
¹⁷As for me, I am ^(Q)poor and needy,
    but ^(R)the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    do not delay, O my God!

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Footnotes

Psalm 40:9 Hebrew righteousness; also verse 10

1 John 4-5

English Standard Version

Test the Spirits

4 Beloved, ^(A)do not believe every spirit, but ^(B)test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for ^(C)many ^(D)false prophets ^(E)have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(F)every spirit that confesses that ^(G)Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³and every spirit ^(H)that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and ^(I)now is in the world already. ⁴Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for ^(J)he who is in you is greater than ^(K)he who is in the world. ⁵^(L)They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and ^(M)the world listens to them. ⁶We are from God. ^(N)Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ^(O)the Spirit of truth and ^(P)the spirit of error.

God Is Love

⁷Beloved, ^(Q)let us love one another, for love is from God, and ^(R)whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸^(S)Anyone who does not love does not know God, because ^(T)God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that ^(U)God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, ^(V)not that we have loved God ^(W)but that he loved us and sent his Son to be ^(X)the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²^(Y)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ^(Z)his love is perfected in us.

¹³^(AA)By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And ^(AB)we have seen and testify that ^(AC)the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of ^(AD)the world. ¹⁵^(AE)Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶So ^(AF)we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ^(AG)God is love, and ^(AH)whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷By this ^(AI)is love perfected with us, so that ^(AJ)we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because ^(AK)as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but ^(AL)perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not ^(AM)been perfected in love. ¹⁹^(AN)We love because he first loved us. ²⁰^(AO)If anyone says, “I love God,” and ^(AP)hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot^[a] love God ^(AQ)whom he has not seen. ²¹And ^(AR)this commandment we have from him: ^(AS)whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Overcoming the World

5 ^(AT)Everyone who believes that ^(AU)Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and ^(AV)everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. ²^(AW)By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For ^(AX)this is the love of God, that we ^(AY)keep his commandments. And ^(AZ)his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For ^(BA)everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—^(BB)our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes ^(BC)that Jesus is the Son of God?

Testimony Concerning the Son of God

⁶This is he who came ^(BD)by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And ^(BE)the Spirit is the one who testifies, because ^(BF)the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. ⁹^(BG)If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God ^(BH)that he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God ^(BI)has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God ^(BJ)has made him a liar, ^(BK)because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony, that God gave us ^(BL)eternal life, and ^(BM)this life is in his Son. ¹²^(BN)Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

That You May Know

¹³I write ^(BO)these things to you who ^(BP)believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴And this is ^(BQ)the confidence that we have toward him, that ^(BR)if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and ^(BS)God^[b] will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. ^(BT)There is sin that leads to death; ^(BU)I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷^(BV)All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

¹⁸We know that ^(BW)everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but ^(BX)he who was born of God ^(BY)protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are from God, and ^(BZ)the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and ^(CA)has given us understanding, so that we may know ^(CB)him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and ^(CC)eternal life. ²¹Little children, ^(CD)keep yourselves from idols.