Jeremiah 1-2

English Standard Version

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one ^(A)of the priests who were in ^(B)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ²to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of ^(C)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in ^(D)the thirteenth year of his reign. ³It came also in the days of ^(E)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and ^(F)until the end of the eleventh year of ^(G)Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^(H)until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

The Call of Jeremiah

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵^(I)“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born ^(J)I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet ^(K)to the nations.”

⁶Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(L)I do not know how to speak, ^(M)for I am only a youth.” ⁷But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and ^(N)whatever I command you, you shall speak.
⁸^(O)Do not be afraid of them,
^(P)for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”

⁹^(Q)Then the Lord put out his hand and ^(R)touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have put ^(S)my words in your mouth.
¹⁰See, I have set you this day ^(T)over nations and over kingdoms,
^(U)to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^(V)“Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond^[a] branch.” ¹²Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

¹³The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see ^(W)a boiling pot, facing away ^(X)from the north.” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, ^(Y)“Out of the north disaster^[b] shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For behold, ^(Z)I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, ^(AA)and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶And ^(AB)I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil ^(AC)in forsaking me. ^(AD)They have made offerings to other gods and ^(AE)worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷But you, ^(AF)dress yourself for work;^[c] arise, and ^(AG)say to them everything that I command you. ^(AH)Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸And I, behold, I make you this day ^(AI)a fortified city, ^(AJ)an iron pillar, and ^(AK)bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ¹⁹^(AL)They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for ^(AM)I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Israel Forsakes the Lord

2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,

“I remember the devotion of ^(AN)your youth,
    your love ^(AO)as a bride,
^(AP)how you followed me in the wilderness,
    ^(AQ)in a land not sown.
³^(AR)Israel was holy to the Lord,
    ^(AS)the firstfruits of his harvest.
^(AT)All who ate of it incurred guilt;
    disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.”

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says the Lord:

^(AU)“What wrong did your fathers find in me
    that they went far from me,
^(AV)and went after ^(AW)worthlessness, and became worthless?
⁶They did not say, ^(AX)‘Where is the Lord
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us ^(AY)in the wilderness,
    in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    in a land that none passes through,
    where no man dwells?’
⁷^(AZ)And I brought you into a plentiful land
    to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, ^(BA)you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.
⁸The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
    ^(BB)Those who handle the law did not know me;
^(BC)the shepherds^[d] transgressed against me;
    ^(BD)the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after ^(BE)things that do not profit.

⁹“Therefore ^(BF)I still contend with you,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(BG)with your children's children I will contend.
¹⁰For cross to the coasts of ^(BH)Cyprus and see,
    or send to ^(BI)Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has been such a thing.
¹¹^(BJ)Has a nation changed its gods,
    ^(BK)even though they are no gods?
But my people ^(BL)have changed their glory
    for ^(BM)that which does not profit.
¹²Be appalled, ^(BN)O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
¹³for my people have committed two evils:
^(BO)they have forsaken ^(BP)me,
    the fountain of ^(BQ)living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water.

¹⁴^(BR)“Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
    Why then has he become a prey?
¹⁵^(BS)The lions have roared against him;
    they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
    his cities are in ruins, ^(BT)without inhabitant.
¹⁶Moreover, the men of ^(BU)Memphis and ^(BV)Tahpanhes
    ^(BW)have shaved^[e] the crown of your head.
¹⁷^(BX)Have you not brought this upon yourself
    by forsaking the Lord your God,
    when ^(BY)he led you in the way?
¹⁸^(BZ)And now what do you gain by going to Egypt
    to drink the waters of ^(CA)the Nile?
^(CB)Or what do you gain by going to Assyria
    to drink the waters of ^(CC)the Euphrates?^[f]
¹⁹^(CD)Your evil will chastise you,
    and ^(CE)your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and ^(CF)bitter
    for ^(CG)you to forsake the Lord your God;
    the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord God of hosts.

²⁰“For long ago I ^(CH)broke your yoke
    and burst your bonds;
    but you said, ^(CI)‘I will not serve.’
Yes, ^(CJ)on every high hill
    and under every green tree
    you bowed down ^(CK)like a whore.
²¹^(CL)Yet I planted you a choice vine,
    wholly of pure seed.
^(CM)How then have you turned degenerate
    and become a wild vine?
²²Though you wash yourself with lye
    and use much soap,
    ^(CN)the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord God.
²³^(CO)How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
    I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way ^(CP)in the valley;
    know what you have done—
a restless young camel running here and there,
²⁴    ^(CQ)a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
    Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
    in her month they will find her.
²⁵Keep ^(CR)your feet from going unshod
    and ^(CS)your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
    ^(CT)for I have loved foreigners,
    and after them I will go.’

²⁶“As a thief is shamed when caught,
    so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
^(CU)they, their kings, their officials,
    their priests, and their prophets,
²⁷who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
    and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to me,
    and not their face.
But ^(CV)in the time of their trouble they say,
    ‘Arise and save us!’
²⁸But ^(CW)where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, ^(CX)if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
for ^(CY)as many as your cities
    are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹“Why do you contend with me?
    You have all transgressed against me,
declares the Lord.
³⁰In vain have I ^(CZ)struck your children;
    they took no correction;
^(DA)your own sword devoured your prophets
    like a ravening lion.
³¹And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
    or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
    we will come no more to you’?
³²^(DB)Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
    or a bride her attire?
Yet ^(DC)my people have forgotten me
    days without number.

³³“How well you direct your course
    to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
    you have taught your ways.
³⁴Also on your skirts is found
    ^(DD)the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them ^(DE)breaking in.
    Yet in spite of all these things
³⁵you say, ‘I am innocent;
    surely his anger has turned from me.’
^(DF)Behold, I will bring you to judgment
    for ^(DG)saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
³⁶^(DH)How much you go about,
    changing your way!
You shall be ^(DI)put to shame by Egypt
    as you were put to shame by Assyria.
³⁷From it too you will come away
    with ^(DJ)your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
    and you will not prosper by them.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 1:11 Almond sounds like the Hebrew for watching (compare verse 12)
Jeremiah 1:14 The Hebrew word can mean evil, harm, or disaster, depending on the context; so throughout Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1:17 Hebrew gird up your loins
Jeremiah 2:8 Or rulers
Jeremiah 2:16 Hebrew grazed
Jeremiah 2:18 Hebrew the River

Galatians 1

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^(A)apostle—^(B)not from men nor through man, but ^(C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, ^(D)who raised him from the dead— ²and all ^(E)the brothers^[a] who are with me,

To ^(F)the churches of Galatia:

³^(G)Grace to you and peace ^(H)from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴^(I)who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present ^(J)evil age, according to the will of ^(K)our God and Father, ⁵to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

⁶I am astonished that you are ^(L)so quickly deserting ^(M)him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to ^(N)a different gospel— ⁷^(O)not that there is another one, but ^(P)there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or ^(Q)an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, ^(R)let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, ^(S)let him be accursed.

¹⁰For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying ^(T)to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a ^(U)servant^[b] of Christ.

Paul Called by God

¹¹For ^(V)I would have you know, brothers, that ^(W)the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.^[c] ¹²^(X)For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it ^(Y)through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³For you have heard of ^(Z)my former life in Judaism, how ^(AA)I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely ^(AB)zealous was I for ^(AC)the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵But when he ^(AD)who had set me apart ^(AE)before I was born,^[d] and who ^(AF)called me by his grace, ¹⁶was pleased to reveal his Son to^[e] me, in order ^(AG)that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;^[f] ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸Then ^(AH)after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James ^(AI)the Lord's brother. ²⁰(In what I am writing to you, ^(AJ)before God, I do not lie!) ²¹^(AK)Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was still unknown in person to ^(AL)the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

Footnotes

Galatians 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verse 11
Galatians 1:10 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
Galatians 1:11 Greek not according to man
Galatians 1:15 Greek set me apart from my mother's womb
Galatians 1:16 Greek in
Galatians 1:16 Greek with flesh and blood

Psalm 109:6-12

English Standard Version

⁶^(A)Appoint a wicked man ^(B)against him;
    let an accuser stand ^(C)at his right hand.
⁷When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
    let his ^(D)prayer be counted as sin!
⁸May his ^(E)days be few;
    may ^(F)another take his ^(G)office!
⁹May his ^(H)children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow!
¹⁰May his children ^(I)wander about and beg,
    ^(J)seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
¹¹May ^(K)the creditor seize all that he has;
    may ^(L)strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
¹²Let there be none to ^(M)extend kindness to him,
    nor any to ^(N)pity his fatherless children!