Message at the Temple Gate

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “^(A)Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” ³ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(B)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. ^4 (C)Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘^[a]This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ ⁵ For ^(D)if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(E)practice justice between a person and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the ^[b](F)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed ^(G)innocent blood in this place, nor ^(H)follow other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you ^(I)live in this place, in the ^(J)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸ “Behold, you are trusting in ^(K)deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, ^[c](L)offer sacrifices to Baal, and follow ^(M)other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then ^(N)come and stand before Me in ^(O)this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are saved!’—so that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ Has ^(P)this house, which is called by My name, become a ^(Q)den of robbers in your sight? Behold, ^(R)I Myself have seen it,” declares the Lord.

¹² “But go now to My place which was in ^(S)Shiloh, where I ^(T)made My name dwell at the beginning, and ^(U)see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, ^(V)speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I ^(W)called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the ^(X)house which is called by My name, ^(Y)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I ^(Z)did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will ^(AA)hurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the ^[d]descendants of ^(AB)Ephraim.

¹⁶ “As for you, ^(AC)do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The ^[e]children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(AD)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to ^(AE)provoke Me to anger. ^19 (AF)Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their ^[f]own ^(AG)shame?” ²⁰ Therefore this is what the Lord ^[g]God says: “Behold, My ^(AH)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the ^(AI)trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^(AJ)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^(AK)eat flesh. ²² For I did not ^(AL)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is ^[h]what I commanded them, saying, ‘^(AM)Obey My voice, and ^(AN)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^[i]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^(AO)go well for you.’ ²⁴ Yet they ^(AP)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[j](AQ)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^(AR)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. ²⁶ Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^(AS)stiffened their neck; they ^(AT)did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷ “So you shall ^(AU)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will ^(AV)not answer you. ²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^(AW)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; ^[k](AX)trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

Great Generosity

8 Now, brothers and sisters, we make known to you the grace of God which has been ^(A)given in the churches of ^(B)Macedonia, ² that in a ^[a]great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the ^(C)wealth of their liberality. ³ For I testify that ^(D)according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave voluntarily, ⁴ begging us with much urging for the ^(E)favor ^[b]of participation in the ^[c](F)support of the ^[d]saints, ⁵ and this, not as we had ^[e]expected, but they first ^(G)gave themselves to the Lord and to us by ^(H)the will of God. ⁶ So we ^(I)urged ^(J)Titus that as he had previously ^(K)made a beginning, so he would also complete in you ^(L)this gracious work as well.

⁷ But just as you ^(M)excel ^(N)in everything, in faith, speaking, knowledge, and in all earnestness and in the ^[f]love we inspired in you, see that you also ^(O)excel in this gracious work. ⁸ I ^(P)am not saying this as a command, but as proving, through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love as well. ⁹ For you know ^(Q)the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(R)though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ I ^(S)give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin ^(T)a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ But now finish ^[g]doing it also, so that just as there was the ^(U)willingness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. ¹² For if the willingness is present, it is acceptable ^(V)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For this is not for the relief of others and for your hardship, but by way of equality— ¹⁴ at this present time your abundance will serve as assistance for ^(W)their need, so that their abundance also may ^[h]serve as assistance for ^(X)your need, so that there may be equality; ¹⁵ as it is written: “^(Y)The one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little.”

¹⁶ But ^(Z)thanks be to God who ^(AA)puts the same earnestness in your behalf in the heart of ^(AB)Titus. ¹⁷ For he not only accepted our ^(AC)appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ We have sent along with him ^(AD)the brother whose fame in the things of the ^(AE)gospel has spread through ^(AF)all the churches; ^19 (AG)and not only that, but he has also been ^(AH)appointed by the churches to travel with us in ^(AI)this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our ^(AJ)readiness, ^20 [i]taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; ²¹ for we ^(AK)have regard for what is honorable, not only in ^(AL)the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of other people. ²² We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for ^(AM)Titus, he is my ^(AN)partner and fellow worker ^[j]among you; as for our ^(AO)brothers, they are ^[k](AP)messengers of the churches, ^(AQ)a glory to Christ. ²⁴ Therefore, ^[l]openly before the churches, ^[m]show them the proof of your love and of our ^(AR)reason for boasting about you.

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will ^(A)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. ² They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^(B)heavenly ^[a]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^(C)nor buried; ^(D)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. ³ And ^(E)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^(F)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.

⁴ “You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

God Gives Most

9 For ^(A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ^(B)ministry to the ^[a]saints; ² for I know your willingness, of which I ^(C)boast about you to the ^(D)Macedonians, namely, that ^(E)Achaia has been prepared since ^(F)last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³ But I have sent the brothers, in order that our ^(G)boasting about you may not prove empty in this case, so that, ^(H)as I was saying, you will be prepared; ⁴ otherwise, if any ^(I)Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to mention you—would be put to shame by this confidence. ⁵ So I considered it necessary to urge the ^(J)brothers that they go on ahead to you and arrange in advance your previously promised ^[b](K)generous gift, that the same would be ready as a ^[c](L)generous gift, and not as one grudgingly given due to greediness.

⁶ Now I say this: ^(M)the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows ^[d]generously will also reap ^[e]generously. ⁷ Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not ^(N)reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^(O)God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And ^(P)God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; ⁹ as it is written:

¹⁰ Now He who supplies ^(R)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(S)increase the harvest of your righteousness; ¹¹ you will be ^(T)enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing ^(U)thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying ^(V)the needs of the ^[g]saints, but is also overflowing ^(W)through many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ Because of the proof given by this ^(X)ministry, they will ^(Y)glorify God for your obedience to your ^(Z)confession of the ^(AA)gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your ^[h]contribution to them and to all, ¹⁴ while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. ^15 (AB)Thanks be to God for His indescribable ^(AC)gift!