Evil in the Land

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ^2 (A)“Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(B)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ^4 (C)Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

⁵ “For if you truly ^(D)amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(E)execute justice one with another, ⁶ if you ^(F)do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, ^(G)or shed innocent blood in this place, ^(H)and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, ^7 (I)then I will let you dwell in this place, ^(J)in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

⁸ “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ^9 (K)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, ^(L)swear falsely, ^(M)make offerings to Baal, ^(N)and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, ^(O)which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? ^11 (P)Has this house, ^(Q)which is called by my name, ^(R)become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. ¹² Go now to ^(S)my place that was in Shiloh, ^(T)where I made my name dwell at first, and ^(U)see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and ^(V)when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and ^(W)when I called you, you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to ^(X)the house ^(Y)that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, ^(Z)as I did to Shiloh. ^15 (AA)And I will cast you out of my sight, ^(AB)as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of ^(AC)Ephraim.

¹⁶ “As for you, ^(AD)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, ^(AE)and the women knead dough, to ^(AF)make cakes for ^(AG)the queen of heaven. And ^(AH)they pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^(AI)to provoke me to anger. ^19 (AJ)Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, ^(AK)to their own shame? ²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(AL)my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; ^(AM)it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AN)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. ²² For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them ^(AO)concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this command I gave them: ^(AP)‘Obey my voice, and ^(AQ)I will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^(AR)And walk in all the way that I command you, ^(AS)that it may be well with you.’ ^24 (AT)But they did not obey or incline their ear, ^(AU)but walked in their own counsels and ^(AV)the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and ^(AW)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, ^(AX)I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. ^26 (AY)Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, ^(AZ)but stiffened their neck. ^(BA)They did worse than their fathers.

^27 (BB)“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. ^(BC)You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. ²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; ^(BD)truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

Encouragement to Give Generously

8 We want you to know, brothers,^[a] about the grace of God that has been ^(A)given among the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and ^(B)their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For they gave ^(C)according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly ^(D)for the favor^[b] of taking part in ^(E)the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they ^(F)gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. ⁶ Accordingly, ^(G)we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you ^(H)this act of grace. ⁷ But as ^(I)you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you^[c]—^(J)see that you excel in this act of grace also.

^8 (K)I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(L)though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter ^(M)I give my judgment: ^(N)this benefits you, who ^(O)a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable ^(P)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness ¹⁴ your abundance at the present time should supply ^(Q)their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵ As it is written, ^(R)“Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

Commendation of Titus

¹⁶ But ^(S)thanks be to God, ^(T)who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. ¹⁷ For ^(U)he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going^[d] to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ With him we are sending^{[e] (V)}the brother who is famous among ^(W)all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. ¹⁹ And not only that, but he has been ^(X)appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of ^(Y)grace that is being ministered by us, ^(Z)for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. ²⁰ We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, ²¹ for ^(AA)we aim at what is honorable ^(AB)not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man. ²² And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for Titus, he is ^(AC)my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers^[f] of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴ So give proof before the churches of your love and of ^(AD)our boasting about you to these men.

8 “At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs. ² And they shall be spread ^(A)before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. ^(B)And they shall not be gathered or buried. ^(C)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ^3 (D)Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family ^(E)in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.

Sin and Treachery

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

9 Now ^(A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about ^(B)the ministry for the saints, ² for I know your readiness, ^(C)of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready ^(D)since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³ But ^(E)I am sending^[a] the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, ^(F)as I said you would be. ⁴ Otherwise, if some Macedonians ^(G)come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the ^(H)gift^[b] you have promised, so that it may be ready ^(I)as a willing gift, ^(J)not as an exaction.^[c]

The Cheerful Giver

⁶ The point is this: ^(K)whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[d] will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, ^(L)not reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^(M)God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And ^(N)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

¹⁰ He who supplies ^(P)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(Q)increase the harvest of your righteousness. ^11 (R)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^(S)through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ^(T)the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ By their approval of this service, ^(U)they^[f] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your ^(V)confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴ while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ^15 (W)Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!