Jeremiah 1:11-19

English Standard Version

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

¹³The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see ^(B)a boiling pot, facing away ^(C)from the north.” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, ^(D)“Out of the north disaster^[b] shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For behold, ^(E)I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, ^(F)and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶And ^(G)I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil ^(H)in forsaking me. ^(I)They have made offerings to other gods and ^(J)worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷But you, ^(K)dress yourself for work;^[c] arise, and ^(L)say to them everything that I command you. ^(M)Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸And I, behold, I make you this day ^(N)a fortified city, ^(O)an iron pillar, and ^(P)bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ¹⁹^(Q)They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for ^(R)I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 1:11 Almond sounds like the Hebrew for watching (compare verse 12)
Jeremiah 1:14 The Hebrew word can mean evil, harm, or disaster, depending on the context; so throughout Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1:17 Hebrew gird up your loins

2 Corinthians 1:1-2:11

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and ^(C)Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, ^(D)with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

²^(E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

³^(F)Blessed be the ^(G)God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and ^(H)God of all comfort, ⁴^(I)who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵For as we share abundantly in ^(J)Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.^[a] ⁶^(K)If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you ^(L)share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[b] of ^(M)the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us ^(N)rely not on ourselves ^(O)but on God ^(P)who raises the dead. ¹⁰^(Q)He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. ^(R)On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹^(S)You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf ^(T)for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul's Change of Plans

¹²For our boast is this, ^(U)the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity^[c] and ^(V)godly sincerity, ^(W)not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. ¹³For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— ¹⁴just as you did ^(X)partially understand us—that ^(Y)on the day of our Lord Jesus ^(Z)you will boast of us as ^(AA)we will boast of you.

¹⁵Because I was sure of this, ^(AB)I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ^(AC)a second ^(AD)experience of grace. ¹⁶I wanted to visit you ^(AE)on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans ^(AF)according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸As surely as ^(AG)God is faithful, ^(AH)our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹For ^(AI)the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, ^(AJ)Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but ^(AK)in him it is always Yes. ²⁰For ^(AL)all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our ^(AM)Amen to God for his glory. ²¹And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and ^(AN)has anointed us, ²²and who has also ^(AO)put his seal on us and ^(AP)given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.^[d]

²³But ^(AQ)I call God to witness against me—it was ^(AR)to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we ^(AS)lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm ^(AT)in your faith.

2 For I made up my mind ^(AU)not to make another painful visit to you. ²For ^(AV)if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? ³And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, ^(AW)for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. ⁴For ^(AX)I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Forgive the Sinner

⁵Now ^(AY)if anyone has caused pain, ^(AZ)he has caused it not to me, but ^(BA)in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. ⁶For such a one, ^(BB)this punishment by the majority is enough, ⁷so ^(BC)you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹For this is why I wrote, that I might ^(BD)test you and know ^(BE)whether you are obedient in everything. ¹⁰Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, ¹¹so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for ^(BF)we are not ignorant of his designs.

Footnotes

2 Corinthians 1:5 Or For as the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ
2 Corinthians 1:8 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters
2 Corinthians 1:12 Some manuscripts holiness
2 Corinthians 1:22 Or down payment

Jeremiah 2:1-13

English Standard Version

Israel Forsakes the Lord

2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,

“I remember the devotion of ^(A)your youth,
    your love ^(B)as a bride,
^(C)how you followed me in the wilderness,
    ^(D)in a land not sown.
³^(E)Israel was holy to the Lord,
    ^(F)the firstfruits of his harvest.
^(G)All who ate of it incurred guilt;
    disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.”

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says the Lord:

^(H)“What wrong did your fathers find in me
    that they went far from me,
^(I)and went after ^(J)worthlessness, and became worthless?
⁶They did not say, ^(K)‘Where is the Lord
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us ^(L)in the wilderness,
    in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    in a land that none passes through,
    where no man dwells?’
⁷^(M)And I brought you into a plentiful land
    to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, ^(N)you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.
⁸The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
    ^(O)Those who handle the law did not know me;
^(P)the shepherds^[a] transgressed against me;
    ^(Q)the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after ^(R)things that do not profit.

⁹“Therefore ^(S)I still contend with you,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(T)with your children's children I will contend.
¹⁰For cross to the coasts of ^(U)Cyprus and see,
    or send to ^(V)Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has been such a thing.
¹¹^(W)Has a nation changed its gods,
    ^(X)even though they are no gods?
But my people ^(Y)have changed their glory
    for ^(Z)that which does not profit.
¹²Be appalled, ^(AA)O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
¹³for my people have committed two evils:
^(AB)they have forsaken ^(AC)me,
    the fountain of ^(AD)living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water.