Jeremiah 8-10

English Standard Version

8 “At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs. ²And they shall be spread ^(A)before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. ^(B)And they shall not be gathered or buried. ^(C)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ³^(D)Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family ^(E)in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.

Sin and Treachery

⁴“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^(F)When men fall, do they not rise again?
    If one turns away, does he not return?
⁵Why then has this people ^(G)turned away
    in perpetual ^(H)backsliding?
^(I)They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return.
⁶^(J)I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    ^(K)like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
⁷Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and ^(L)the turtledove, ^(M)swallow, and crane^[a]
    keep the time of their coming,
^(N)but my people know not
    the rules^[b] of the Lord.

⁸^(O)“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
    and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie.
⁹^(P)The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed ^(Q)and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    so what wisdom is in them?
¹⁰^(R)Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone ^(S)is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹¹They have healed ^(T)the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, ^(U)they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
^(V)Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
    when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
¹³When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
    there are ^(W)no grapes on the vine,
    ^(X)nor figs on the fig tree;
^(Y)even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.”^[c]

¹⁴Why do we sit still?
^(Z)Gather together; ^(AA)let us go into the fortified cities
    and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and has ^(AB)given us ^(AC)poisoned water to drink,
    because we have sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵^(AD)We looked for peace, but no good came;
    for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

¹⁶^(AE)“The snorting of their horses is heard ^(AF)from Dan;
    at the sound of the neighing ^(AG)of their stallions
    ^(AH)the whole land quakes.
They come ^(AI)and devour the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
¹⁷For behold, I am sending among you ^(AJ)serpents,
    adders ^(AK)that cannot be charmed,
    ^(AL)and they shall bite you,”
declares the Lord.

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

¹⁸My joy is gone; grief is upon me;^[d]
    ^(AM)my heart is sick within me.
¹⁹Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
    from ^(AN)the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    ^(AO)Is her King not in her?”
^(AP)“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
    and with their foreign idols?”
²⁰“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
    and we are not saved.”
²¹For the wound of ^(AQ)the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
    ^(AR)I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

²²Is there no ^(AS)balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?
9 ^[e] ^(AT)Oh that my head were waters,
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of ^(AU)the daughter of my people!
²^[f] Oh that I had in the desert
    a travelers' lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all ^(AV)adulterers,
    a company of ^(AW)treacherous men.
³^(AX)They bend their tongue like a bow;
    falsehood and not truth has grown strong^[g] in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    ^(AY)and they do not know me, declares the Lord.

⁴^(AZ)Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
    and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^(BA)brother is a deceiver,
    and every neighbor ^(BB)goes about as a slanderer.
⁵Everyone deceives his neighbor,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
    they weary themselves committing iniquity.
⁶Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
    ^(BC)they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^(BD)I will refine them and ^(BE)test them,
    for what else can I do, ^(BF)because of my people?
⁸^(BG)Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    ^(BH)it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^(BI)each speaks peace to his neighbor,
    but in his heart ^(BJ)he plans an ambush for him.
⁹^(BK)Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

¹⁰“I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
    and a lamentation for ^(BL)the pastures of the wilderness,
^(BM)because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^(BN)both the birds of the air and the beasts
    have fled and are gone.
¹¹^(BO)I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    ^(BP)a lair of jackals,
^(BQ)and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.”

¹²^(BR)Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined ^(BS)and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And the Lord says: ^(BT)“Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, ¹⁴but ^(BU)have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BV)Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^(BW)poisonous water to drink. ¹⁶^(BX)I will scatter them among the nations ^(BY)whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will ^(BZ)send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(CA)“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
    send for the skillful women to come;
¹⁸let them make haste ^(CB)and raise a wailing over us,
    ^(CC)that our eyes may run down with tears
    and our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ^(CD)‘How we are ruined!
    We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
    because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
    and each to her neighbor a dirge.
²¹For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(CE)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.
²²Speak: “Thus declares the Lord,
^(CF)‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
^(CG)like sheaves after the reaper,
    and none shall gather them.’”

²³Thus says the Lord: ^(CH)“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, ²⁴but ^(CI)let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. ^(CJ)For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(CK)I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— ²⁶^(CL)Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(CM)all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(CN)uncircumcised in heart.”

Idols and the Living God

10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord:

“Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
³^(CO)for the customs of the peoples are vanity.^[h]
^(CP)A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
⁴^(CQ)They decorate it with silver and gold;
    ^(CR)they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
⁵Their idols^[i] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and ^(CS)they cannot speak;
^(CT)they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    ^(CU)for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

⁶^(CV)There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
⁷^(CW)Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is none like you.
⁸^(CX)They are both ^(CY)stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
⁹^(CZ)Beaten silver is brought from ^(DA)Tarshish,
    and gold from ^(DB)Uphaz.
^(DC)They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    ^(DD)they are all the work of skilled men.
¹⁰^(DE)But the Lord is the true God;
    ^(DF)he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹¹Thus shall you say to them: ^(DG)“The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth ^(DH)shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”^[j]

¹²^(DI)It is he who ^(DJ)made the earth by his power,
    ^(DK)who established the world by his wisdom,
    and ^(DL)by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
¹³^(DM)When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    ^(DN)and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
^(DO)He makes lightning ^(DP)for the rain,
    ^(DQ)and he brings forth the wind ^(DR)from his storehouses.
¹⁴^(DS)Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    ^(DT)every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    ^(DU)and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶Not like these is he who is ^(DV)the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
^(DW)and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    ^(DX)the Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁷^(DY)Gather up your bundle from the ground,
    O you who dwell under siege!
¹⁸For thus says the Lord:
^(DZ)“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
    at this time,
^(EA)and I will bring distress on them,
    that they may feel it.”

¹⁹Woe is me because of my hurt!
    ^(EB)My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
    and I must bear it.”
²⁰^(EC)My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
    ^(ED)and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again
    and ^(EE)to set up my curtains.
²¹^(EF)For the shepherds ^(EG)are stupid
    and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
    ^(EH)and all their flock is scattered.

²²A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
^(EI)a great commotion out of the north country
to make ^(EJ)the cities of Judah a desolation,
^(EK)a lair of jackals.

²³^(EL)I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
²⁴^(EM)Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

²⁵^(EN)Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
    and on the peoples that call not on your name,
^(EO)for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him,
    and have laid waste his habitation.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 8:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Jeremiah 8:7 Or just decrees
Jeremiah 8:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Jeremiah 8:18 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Jeremiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew
Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew
Jeremiah 9:3 Septuagint; Hebrew and not for truth they have grown strong
Jeremiah 10:3 Or vapor, or mist
Jeremiah 10:5 Hebrew They
Jeremiah 10:11 This verse is in Aramaic

1 Peter 3

English Standard Version

Wives and Husbands

3 Likewise, wives, ^(A)be subject to your own husbands, so that ^(B)even if some do not obey the word, ^(C)they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, ²when they see your ^(D)respectful and pure conduct. ³^(E)Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴but let your adorning be ^(F)the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. ⁵For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, ^(G)calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and ^(H)do not fear anything that is frightening.

⁷Likewise, ^(I)husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker ^(J)vessel, since they are heirs with you^[a] of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Suffering for Righteousness' Sake

⁸Finally, all of you, ^(K)have unity of mind, sympathy, ^(L)brotherly love, ^(M)a tender heart, and ^(N)a humble mind. ⁹^(O)Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, ^(P)bless, for ^(Q)to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For

^(R)“Whoever desires to love life
    and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit;
¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good;
    let him seek peace and pursue it.
¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

¹³Now ^(S)who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴^(T)But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. ^(U)Have no fear of them, ^(V)nor be troubled, ¹⁵but ^(W)in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, ^(X)always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and ^(Y)respect, ¹⁶^(Z)having a good conscience, so that, ^(AA)when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷For ^(AB)it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also ^(AC)suffered^[b] ^(AD)once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, ^(AE)that he might bring us to God, being put to death ^(AF)in the flesh but made alive ^(AG)in the spirit, ¹⁹in which^[c] he went and ^(AH)proclaimed^[d] to the spirits in prison, ²⁰because^[e] they formerly did not obey, ^(AI)when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, ^(AJ)while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, ^(AK)eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹Baptism, which corresponds to this, ^(AL)now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but ^(AM)as an appeal to God for a good conscience, ^(AN)through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and ^(AO)is at the right hand of God, ^(AP)with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.