Message to Coniah

²⁴ “As I live,” says the Lord, ^(D)“though ^[c]Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, ^(E)were the ^[d]signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; ^25 (F)and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the ^[e]Chaldeans. ^26 (G)So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. ²⁷ But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.

The Branch of Righteousness

23 “Woe ^(L)to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ² Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. ^(M)Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. ³ “But ^(N)I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴ I will set up ^(O)shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

^[j]THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷ “Therefore, behold, ^(U)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country ^(V)and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own ^(W)land.”

^31 (A)Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, ^[a]clamor, and ^(B)evil speaking be put away from you, ^(C)with all malice. ³² And ^(D)be kind to one another, tenderhearted, ^(E)forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Walk in Love

5 Therefore^(F) be imitators of God as dear ^(G)children. ² And ^(H)walk in love, ^(I)as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God ^(J)for a sweet-smelling aroma.

³ But fornication and all ^(K)uncleanness or ^(L)covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; ^4 (M)neither filthiness, nor ^(N)foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, ^(O)which are not fitting, but rather ^(P)giving of thanks. ⁵ For ^[b]this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any ^(Q)inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be ^(R)partakers with them.

Walk in Light

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are ^(S)light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for ^(T)the fruit of the ^[c]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), ^10 (U)finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. ¹¹ And have ^(V)no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather ^[d]expose them. ^12 (W)For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. ¹³ But ^(X)all things that are ^[e]exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. ¹⁴ Therefore He says:

Walk in Wisdom

^15 (Z)See then that you walk ^[f]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ^16 (AA)redeeming the time, ^(AB)because the days are evil.

^17 (AC)Therefore do not be unwise, but ^(AD)understand ^(AE)what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And ^(AF)do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another ^(AG)in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making ^(AH)melody in your heart to the Lord, ^20 (AI)giving thanks always for all things to God the Father ^(AJ)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^21 (AK)submitting to one another in the fear of ^[g]God.

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs

24 The ^(A)Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar ^(B)king of Babylon had carried away captive ^(C)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ² One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so ^(D)bad. ³ Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”

⁴ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I ^[a]acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶ For I will set My eyes on them for good, and ^(E)I will bring them back to this land; ^(F)I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. ⁷ Then I will give them ^(G)a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be ^(H)My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me ^(I)with their whole heart.

⁸ ‘And as the bad ^(J)figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the ^(K)residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and ^(L)those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will deliver them to ^(M)trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, ^(N)to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are ^[b]consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”

Could This Be the Christ?

²⁵ Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to ^(A)kill? ²⁶ But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. ^(B)Do the rulers know indeed that this is ^[a]truly the Christ? ^27 (C)However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, ^(D)“You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and ^(E)I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me ^(F)is true, ^(G)whom you do not know. ^29 [b]But ^(H)I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

³⁰ Therefore ^(I)they sought to take Him; but ^(J)no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. ³¹ And ^(K)many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

Jesus and the Religious Leaders

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. ³³ Then Jesus said ^[c]to them, ^(L)“I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I ^(M)go to Him who sent Me. ³⁴ You ^(N)will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you ^(O)cannot come.”

³⁵ Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to ^(P)the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

^37 (Q)On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ^(R)“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ^38 (S)He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ^(T)out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” ^39 (U)But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those ^[d]believing in Him would receive; for the ^[e]Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet ^(V)glorified.

Who Is He?

⁴⁰ Therefore ^[f]many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is ^(W)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(X)the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? ^42 (Y)Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, ^(Z)where David was?” ⁴³ So ^(AA)there was a division among the people because of Him. ⁴⁴ Now ^(AB)some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Rejected by the Authorities

⁴⁵ Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(AC)“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus ^(AD)(he who came to ^[g]Jesus ^[h]by night, being one of them) said to them, ^51 (AE)“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

⁵² They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for ^(AF)no prophet ^[i]has arisen out of Galilee.”

An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World

^53 [j]And everyone went to his own house.