Jeremiah 6-8
English Standard Version
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
6 Flee for safety, (A)O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in (B)Tekoa,
and raise a signal on (C)Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms (D)out of the north,
and great destruction.
2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
(E)the daughter of Zion.[a]
3 (F)Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
(G)they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 (H)“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack (I)at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
(J)“Cut down her trees;
(K)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be (L)punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 (M)As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
(N)violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
(O)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you (P)a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
(Q)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 (R)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
(S)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
(T)they cannot listen;
behold, (U)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
(V)I am weary of holding it in.
(W)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
(X)both husband and wife (Y)shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 (Z)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,”
declares the Lord.
13 (AA)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone (AB)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from (AC)prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, (AD)‘Peace, peace,’
(AE)when there is no peace.
15 (AF)Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
(AG)at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.
16 Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for (AH)the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
(AI)and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 (AJ)I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to (AK)the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, (AL)‘We will not pay attention.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
(AM)the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20 (AN)What use to me is (AO)frankincense that comes from (AP)Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
(AQ)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
(AR)‘Behold, I will lay before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
22 Thus says the Lord:
(AS)“Behold, a people is coming (AT)from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from (AU)the farthest parts of the earth.
23 They lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are (AV)cruel and have no mercy;
(AW)the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
set in array as a man for battle,
against you, O daughter of Zion!”
24 We have heard the report of it;
(AX)our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
(AY)pain as of a woman in labor.
25 Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
(AZ)terror is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, (BA)put on sackcloth,
and (BB)roll in ashes;
(BC)make mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27 “I have made you (BD)a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and (BE)test their ways.
28 (BF)They are all stubbornly rebellious,
(BG)going about with slanders;
they are (BH)bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
29 The (BI)bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
(BJ)in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
30 (BK)Rejected silver they are called,
for the Lord has rejected them.”
Evil in the Land
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 (BL)“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: (BM)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 (BN)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 (BO)amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly (BP)execute justice one with another, 6 if you (BQ)do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, (BR)or shed innocent blood in this place, (BS)and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 (BT)then I will let you dwell in this place, (BU)in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 (BV)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, (BW)swear falsely, (BX)make offerings to Baal, (BY)and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, (BZ)which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 (CA)Has this house, (CB)which is called by my name, (CC)become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to (CD)my place that was in Shiloh, (CE)where I made my name dwell at first, and (CF)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 (CG)when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and (CH)when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to (CI)the house (CJ)that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, (CK)as I did to Shiloh. 15 (CL)And I will cast you out of my sight, (CM)as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of (CN)Ephraim.
16 “As for you, (CO)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, (CP)and the women knead dough, to (CQ)make cakes for (CR)the queen of heaven. And (CS)they pour out drink offerings to other gods, (CT)to provoke me to anger. 19 (CU)Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, (CV)to their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, (CW)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; (CX)it will burn and not be quenched.”
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (CY)“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 (CZ)concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: (DA)‘Obey my voice, and (DB)I will be your God, and you shall be my people. (DC)And walk in all the way that I command you, (DD)that it may be well with you.’ 24 (DE)But they did not obey or incline their ear, (DF)but walked in their own counsels and (DG)the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and (DH)went backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, (DI)I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 (DJ)Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, (DK)but stiffened their neck. (DL)They did worse than their fathers.
27 (DM)“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. (DN)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; (DO)truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
29 (DP)“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on (DQ)the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.’
The Valley of Slaughter
30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set (DR)their detestable things in the house (DS)that is called by my name, to (DT)defile it. 31 And they have built the high places of (DU)Topheth, which is in (DV)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, (DW)to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, (DX)which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 (DY)Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called (DZ)Topheth, or (EA)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; (EB)for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. 33 (EC)And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, (ED)and none will frighten them away. 34 (EE)And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (EF)for the land shall become a waste.
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 (EG)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. (EH)And they shall not be gathered or buried. (EI)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. 3 (EJ)Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family (EK)in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.
Sin and Treachery
4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
(EL)When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
5 Why then has this people (EM)turned away
in perpetual (EN)backsliding?
(EO)They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 (EP)I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
(EQ)like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and (ER)the turtledove, (ES)swallow, and crane[b]
keep the time of their coming,
(ET)but my people know not
the rules[c] of the Lord.
8 (EU)“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9 (EV)The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed (EW)and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
10 (EX)Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone (EY)is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have healed (EZ)the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, (FA)they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
(FB)Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
13 When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are (FC)no grapes on the vine,
(FD)nor figs on the fig tree;
(FE)even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.”[d]
14 Why do we sit still?
(FF)Gather together; (FG)let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has (FH)given us (FI)poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 (FJ)We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
16 (FK)“The snorting of their horses is heard (FL)from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing (FM)of their stallions
(FN)the whole land quakes.
They come (FO)and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
17 For behold, I am sending among you (FP)serpents,
adders (FQ)that cannot be charmed,
(FR)and they shall bite you,”
declares the Lord.
Jeremiah Grieves for His People
18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;[e]
(FS)my heart is sick within me.
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
from (FT)the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
(FU)Is her King not in her?”
(FV)“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
and with their foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the wound of (FW)the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
(FX)I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no (FY)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 6:2 Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture
- Jeremiah 8:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
- Jeremiah 8:7 Or just decrees
- Jeremiah 8:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
- Jeremiah 8:18 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
John 7
English Standard Version
Jesus at the Feast of Booths
7 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because (A)the Jews[a] were seeking to kill him. 2 Now (B)the Jews' Feast of (C)Booths was at hand. 3 (D)So his brothers[b] said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, (E)show yourself to the world.” 5 (F)For not even (G)his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, (H)“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but (I)it hates me because I testify about it that (J)its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not[c] going up to this feast, for (K)my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after (L)his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 (M)The Jews (N)were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much (O)muttering about him among the people. (P)While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, (Q)he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet (R)for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up (S)into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore (T)marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,[d] when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, (U)“My teaching is not mine, but his (V)who sent me. 17 (W)If anyone's will is to do God's[e] will, (X)he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I (Y)am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority (Z)seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 (AA)Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. (AB)Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, (AC)“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did (AD)one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 (AE)Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but (AF)from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, (AG)are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? 24 (AH)Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Can This Be the Christ?
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom (AI)they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, (AJ)speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that (AK)the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But (AL)we know (AM)where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, (AN)no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, (AO)as he taught in the temple, (AP)“You know me, and you know where I come from. But (AQ)I have not come of my own accord. (AR)He who sent me is true, (AS)and him you do not know. 29 (AT)I know him, for I come (AU)from him, and (AV)he sent me.” 30 (AW)So they were seeking to arrest him, but (AX)no one laid a hand on him, (AY)because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet (AZ)many of the people believed in him. They said, (BA)“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd (BB)muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent (BC)officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, (BD)“I will be with you a little longer, and then (BE)I am going to him who sent me. 34 (BF)You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? (BG)Does he intend to go to (BH)the Dispersion among (BI)the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, (BJ)‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Rivers of Living Water
37 (BK)On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, (BL)“If anyone thirsts, let him (BM)come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, (BN)as[f] the Scripture has said, (BO)‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of (BP)living water.’” 39 Now (BQ)this he said about the Spirit, (BR)whom those who believed in him were to receive, (BS)for as yet the Spirit had not been (BT)given, (BU)because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Division Among the People
40 When they heard these words, (BV)some of the people said, “This really is (BW)the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is (BX)the Christ.” But some said, (BY)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes (BZ)from the offspring of David, and comes (CA)from Bethlehem, the village (CB)where David was?” 43 So there was (CC)a division among the people over him. 44 (CD)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 (CE)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, (CF)“No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, (CG)“Have you also been deceived? 48 (CH)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 (CI)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 (CJ)“Does our law judge a man without first (CK)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, (CL)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that (CM)no prophet arises from Galilee.”
[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.][g]
The Woman Caught in Adultery
53 [[They went each to his own house,
Footnotes
- John 7:1 Or Judeans; Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time
- John 7:3 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10
- John 7:8 Some manuscripts add yet
- John 7:15 Or this man knows his letters
- John 7:17 Greek his
- John 7:38 Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As
- John 7:53 Some manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11; others add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations in the text
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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