Jeremiah 4:1-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 If you return, O Israel,
says the Lord,
if you return to me,
if you remove your abominations from my presence
and do not waver,(A)
2 and if you swear, “As the Lord lives!”
in truth, in justice, and in uprightness,
then nations shall be blessed[a] by you,[b]
and by you[c] they shall boast.(B)
3 For thus says the Lord to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
Break up your fallow ground,
and do not sow among thorns.(C)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire
and burn with no one to quench it,
because of the evil of your doings.(D)
Invasion and Desolation of Judah Threatened
5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:
Blow the trumpet through the land;
shout aloud[d] and say,
“Gather together, and let us go
into the fortified cities!”(E)
6 Raise a standard toward Zion;
flee for safety; do not delay,
for I am bringing evil from the north
and a great destruction.(F)
7 A lion has gone up from its thicket;
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
without inhabitant.(G)
8 Because of this put on sackcloth,
lament and wail:
“The fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.”(H)
9 On that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.(I) 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ even while the sword is at the throat!”(J)
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights[e] in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,(K) 12 a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.(L)
13 Look! He comes up like clouds,
his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles—
woe to us, for we are ruined!(M)
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
lodge within you?(N)
15 For a voice declares from Dan
and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
16 Tell the nations, “Here they are!”
Proclaim against Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.(O)
17 They have closed in around her like watchers of a field
because she has rebelled against me,
says the Lord.(P)
18 Your ways and your doings
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom; how bitter it is!
It has reached your very heart.”(Q)
2 Corinthians 4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Treasure in Clay Jars
4 Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.(A) 2 We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.(B) 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.(C) 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing clearly the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.(D) 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake.(E) 6 For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.(F)
7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.(G) 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, 9 persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, 10 always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.(H) 11 For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us but life in you.
13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak,(I) 14 because we know that the one who raised Jesus[a] will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence.(J) 15 Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
Living by Faith
16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.(K) 17 For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,(L) 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.(M)
Footnotes
- 4.14 Other ancient authorities read Lord Jesus
Jeremiah 5:1-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Utter Corruption of God’s People
5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and take note!
Search its squares and see
if you can find one person
who acts justly
and seeks truth—
so that I may pardon Jerusalem.[a](A)
2 Although they say, “As the Lord lives,”
yet they swear falsely.(B)
3 O Lord, do your eyes not look for truth?
You have struck them,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to turn back.(C)
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the law of their God.(D)
5 Let me go to the rich[b]
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
the law of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.(E)
6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them;
a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.
A leopard is watching against their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many;
their faithlessness is great.(F)
7 How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery
and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.(G)
8 They were well-fed lusty stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.(H)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord,
and shall I not bring retribution
on a nation such as this?(I)
10 Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
but do not make a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord’s.(J)
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly faithless to me,
says the Lord.(K)
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, “He will do nothing.
No evil will come upon us,
and we shall not see sword or famine.”(L)
13 The prophets are nothing but wind,
for the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!(M)
14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
Because you have spoken this word,
I am now making my words in your mouth a fire
and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.(N)
15 I am going to bring upon you
a nation from far away, O house of Israel,
says the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor can you understand what they say.(O)
16 Their quiver is like an open tomb;
all of them are mighty warriors.(P)
17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they shall destroy with the sword
your fortified cities in which you trust.(Q)
18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.(R) 19 And when your people say, “Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?” you shall say to them, “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”(S)
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2 Corinthians 5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 For we know that, if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.(A) 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be further clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 for surely when we have been clothed in it[a] we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan under our burden because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.(B) 5 The one who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a down payment.(C)
6 So we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.(D) 8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil.(E)
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.(F) 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.(G) 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.(H) 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.(I) 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;[b] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,[c] we no longer know him in that way.(J) 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there[d] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;(L) 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[f] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.(M) 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.(N) 21 For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.(O)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.