Jeremiah 14

New American Standard Bible

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

14 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah regarding the ^(A)drought:

²“Judah mourns
And ^(B)her gates languish;
Her people sit on the ground ^(C)in mourning garments,
And the ^(D)cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
³Their nobles have ^(E)sent their ^[a]servants for water;
They have come to the ^(F)cisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their containers empty;
They have been ^(G)put to shame and humiliated,
And they ^(H)cover their heads,
⁴Because the ^(I)ground is ^[b]cracked,
For there has been ^(J)no rain on the land.
The ^(K)farmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
⁵For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is ^(L)no grass.
⁶The ^(M)wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
Because there is ^(N)no vegetation.
⁷Though our ^(O)wrongdoings testify against us,
Lord, act ^(P)for the sake of Your name!
Our ^(Q)apostasies have indeed been many,
We have ^(R)sinned against You.
⁸^(S)Hope of Israel,
Its ^(T)Savior in ^(U)time of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land,
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
⁹Why are You like a confused person,
Like a warrior who ^(V)cannot save?
Yet ^(W)You are in our midst, Lord,
And we are ^(X)called by Your name;
Do not leave us!”

¹⁰This is what the Lord says to this people: “So much they have ^(Y)loved to wander; they have not ^(Z)restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does ^(AA)not accept them; now He will ^(AB)remember their wrongdoing and call their sins to account.” ¹¹So the Lord said to me, “^(AC)Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people. ¹²When they fast, I am ^(AD)not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer ^(AE)burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to ^(AF)put an end to them by the ^(AG)sword, famine, and plague.”

False Prophets

¹³But I said, “Oh, Lord ^[c]God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You ^(AH)will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting ^(AI)peace in this place.’” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “The ^(AJ)prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. ^(AK)I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a ^(AL)false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own ^[d]minds. ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—^(AM)by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! ¹⁶And the people to whom they are prophesying will be ^(AN)thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to ^(AO)bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will ^(AP)pour out their own wickedness upon them.

¹⁷You will say this word to them,
‘^(AQ)Let my eyes stream down tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin ^(AR)daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely ^(AS)infected wound.
¹⁸If I ^(AT)go out to the country,
There are those killed by the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
There are diseases from famine!
For ^(AU)both prophet and priest
Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’”

¹⁹Have You completely ^(AV)rejected Judah?
Or have ^[e]You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we ^(AW)are beyond healing?
We ^(AX)waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
²⁰We ^(AY)know our wickedness, Lord,
The wrongdoing of our fathers, for ^(AZ)we have sinned against You.
²¹Do not despise us, ^(BA)for the sake of Your own name;
Do not disgrace the ^(BB)throne of Your glory.
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
²²Are there any among the ^[f]^(BC)idols of the nations who ^(BD)give rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, Lord our God?
Therefore we ^(BE)wait for You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 14:3 Lit little ones
Jeremiah 14:4 Lit shattered
Jeremiah 14:13 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Jeremiah 14:14 Lit heart
Jeremiah 14:19 Lit Your soul
Jeremiah 14:22 Lit futilities

2 Corinthians 12:1-13

New American Standard Bible

Paul’s Vision

12 ^(A)Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and ^(B)revelations ^[a]of the Lord. ²I know a man ^(C)in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, ^(D)God knows—such a man was ^(E)caught up to the ^(F)third heaven. ³And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, ^(G)God knows— ⁴was ^(H)caught up into ^(I)Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. ⁵^(J)In behalf of such a man I will boast; but in my own behalf I will not boast, except regarding my ^(K)weaknesses. ⁶For if I do wish to boast I will not be ^(L)foolish, ^(M)for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

A Thorn in the Flesh

⁷Because of the extraordinary greatness of the ^(N)revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a ^(O)thorn in the flesh, a ^(P)messenger of Satan to ^[b]torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! ⁸Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord ^(Q)three times that it might leave me. ⁹And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for ^(R)power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather ^(S)boast ^[c]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰Therefore ^(T)I delight in weaknesses, in ^[d]insults, in ^(U)distresses, in ^(V)persecutions, in ^(W)difficulties, ^(X)in behalf of Christ; for ^(Y)when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have become ^(Z)foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, since I was ^(AA)in no respect inferior to the ^[e]most eminent apostles, even though ^(AB)I am a nobody. ¹²The ^(AC)distinguishing marks ^[f]of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by ^[g]signs, wonders, and ^[h]miracles. ¹³For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that ^(AD)I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me ^(AE)this wrong!

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Footnotes

2 Corinthians 12:1 Or from
2 Corinthians 12:7 Lit beat
2 Corinthians 12:9 Lit in
2 Corinthians 12:10 Or mistreatment
2 Corinthians 12:11 Or super-apostles
2 Corinthians 12:12 Lit of the apostle
2 Corinthians 12:12 Or confirming miracles
2 Corinthians 12:12 Or works of power

Jeremiah 15

New American Standard Bible

Judgment Must Come

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even ^(A)if ^(B)Moses and ^(C)Samuel were to ^(D)stand before Me, My ^[a]heart would not be ^[b]with this people. ^(E)Send them away from My presence and have them go! ²And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Those destined ^(F)for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’

³And I will ^(G)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the ^(H)dogs to drag away, and the ^(I)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will ^(J)make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of ^(K)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“Indeed, who will have ^(L)pity on you, Jerusalem,
Or who will ^(M)mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
⁶You who have ^(N)forsaken Me,” declares the Lord,
“You keep ^(O)going backward.
So I will ^(P)stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am ^(Q)tired of relenting!
⁷I will ^(R)winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will ^(S)bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
^(T)They did not ^[c]repent of their ways.
⁸Their ^(U)widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A ^(V)destroyer at noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
⁹She who ^(W)gave birth to seven sons withers away;
^[d]Her breathing is labored.
Her ^(X)sun has set while it was still day;
She has been ^(Y)shamed and humiliated.
So I will ^(Z)turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰^(AA)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a ^(AB)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not ^(AC)lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
¹¹The Lord said, “I will certainly ^(AD)set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the ^(AE)enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

¹²“Can anyone smash iron,
^(AF)Iron from the north, or bronze?
¹³I will give your ^(AG)wealth and your treasures
As plunder ^(AH)without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
¹⁴Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a ^(AI)land that you do not know;
For a ^(AJ)fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

¹⁵^(AK)You know, Lord;
Remember me, take notice of me,
And ^(AL)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that ^(AM)for Your sake I endure reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found and I ^(AN)ate them,
And Your ^(AO)words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been ^(AP)called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
¹⁷I ^(AQ)did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat ^(AR)alone,
For You ^(AS)filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why has my pain been endless
And my ^(AT)wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me ^(AU)like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?

¹⁹Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“^(AV)If you return, then I will restore you—
^(AW)You will stand before Me;
And ^(AX)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become ^[e]My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
²⁰Then I will ^(AY)make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For ^(AZ)I am with you to save you
And rescue you,” declares the Lord.
²¹“So I will ^(BA)rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will ^(BB)redeem you from the ^[f]grasp of the violent.”