Jeremiah 5:20-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.(A)
22 Do you not fear me? says the Lord;
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.(B)
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.(C)
24 They do not say in their hearts,
“Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.”(D)
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have deprived you of good.(E)
26 For the wicked are found among my people.
They lie in wait like hunters;
destroyers,[a] they catch humans.(F)
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of treachery;
therefore they have become great and rich;(G)
28 they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no limits in deeds of wickedness;
they do not judge with justice
the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.(H)
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord,
and shall I not bring retribution
on a nation such as this?(I)
30 An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:(J)
31 the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule as the prophets direct;[b]
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?(K)
2 Corinthians 5:20-7:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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.(A) 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.(B)
6 As we work together with him,[a] we entreat you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.(C) 2 For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!(D) 3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,(E) 4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: in great endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;(F) 6 in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;(G) 8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors and yet are true, 9 as unknown and yet are well known, as dying and look—we are alive, as punished and yet not killed,(H) 10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. 12 There is no restriction in our affections but only in yours. 13 In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.(I)
The Temple of the Living God
14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common? Or what partnership is there between light and darkness?(J) 15 What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we[b] are the temple of the living God, as God said,
“I will live in them[c] and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.(K)
17 Therefore come out from them,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch nothing unclean;
then I will welcome you,(L)
18 and I will be your father,
and you shall be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”(M)
7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.(N)
Jeremiah 6:1-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion
6 Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for evil looms out of the north
and great destruction.(A)
2 I have likened daughter Zion
to the loveliest pasture.[a](B)
3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.
They shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, all in their places.(C)
4 “Prepare war against her;
up, and let us attack at noon!”
“Woe to us, for the day declines;
the shadows of evening lengthen!”(D)
5 “Up, and let us attack by night,
and destroy her palaces!”(E)
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees;
cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;[b]
there is nothing but oppression within her.(F)
7 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.(G)
8 Take warning, O Jerusalem,
or I shall turn from you in disgust
and make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land.(H)
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean[c] thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again
over its branches.(I)
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed;[d]
they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.(J)
11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am weary of holding it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and those full of days.(K)
12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,
says the Lord.(L)
13 For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(M)
14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.(N)
15 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
yet they were not ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
16 Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”(O)
17 Also I raised up sentinels for you:
“Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!”
But they said, “We will not give heed.”(P)
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words,
and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.(Q)
20 Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.(R)
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
See, I am laying before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
parents and children together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.(S)
2 Corinthians 7:2-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Paul’s Joy at the Church’s Repentance
2 Make room in your hearts[a] for us; we have wronged no one; we have corrupted no one; we have taken advantage of no one.(A) 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I have already said that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.(B) 4 I am being completely frank with you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with consolation; I am overjoyed in all our affliction.(C)
5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—disputes without and fears within.(D) 6 But God, who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Titus,(E) 7 and not only by his arrival but also by the consolation with which he was consoled about you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 8 For although I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it (for[b] I see that that letter caused you grief, though only briefly), 9 now I rejoice, not because you were grieved but because your grief led to repentance, for you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.(F) 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God.(G) 13 In this we have found consolation.
In addition to our own consolation, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by all of you.(H) 14 For if I have been somewhat boastful about you to him, I was not put to shame, but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved true as well.(I) 15 And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of all of you and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.(J) 16 I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you.(K)
Read full chapterNew 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.