In Egypt Jeremiah Warns of Judgment

43 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent to them, had ^(A)finished telling all the people all the words of the Lord their God—that is, all these words— ² Azariah the ^(B)son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are ^(C)telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; ³ but ^(D)Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us in order to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon!” ⁴ So ^(E)Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, ^(F)did not obey the voice of the Lord to ^(G)stay in the land of Judah. ⁵ Instead, Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took the ^(H)entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been scattered, in order to reside in the land of Judah— ⁶ the men, the women, the ^[a]children, the ^(I)king’s daughters, and ^(J)every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam ^[b]and grandson of Shaphan, together with ^(K)Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah— ⁷ and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the Lord) and went in as far as ^(L)Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in ^(M)Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹ “Take some large stones in your ^[c]hands and hide them in the ^[d]mortar in the brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s ^[e]palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of ^[f]some of the Jews; ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to send men and get ^(N)My servant ^(O)Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and I am going to set his throne over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his ^[g](P)canopy over them. ¹¹ He will also come and ^(Q)strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and ^(R)those for the sword to the sword. ¹² And ^[h]I shall set fire to the temples of the ^(S)gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will ^[i](T)wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd ^[j]wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. ¹³ He will also smash to pieces the ^[k]obelisks of ^[l]Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”

²⁴ “Now the one who had received the one ^(A)talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’

²⁶ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You ^[a]worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have ^[b]put my money in the bank, and ^[c]on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ²⁸ Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹ “^(B)For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ³⁰ And throw the worthless slave into ^(C)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Judgment

³¹ “But when ^(D)the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then ^(E)He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² And all the nations will be ^(F)gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, ^(G)just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep ^(H)on His right, but the goats ^(I)on the left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, ^(J)inherit the kingdom prepared for you ^(K)from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For ^(L)I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; ^(M)I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ^36 (N)naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you ^(O)visited Me; ^(P)I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸ And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And ^(Q)the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, ^(R)to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘^(S)Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the ^(T)eternal fire which has been prepared for ^(U)the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not ^[d]take care of You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ ⁴⁶ These will go away into ^(V)eternal punishment, but the righteous into ^(W)eternal life.”

Wisdom’s Invitation