Jeremiah 11-13
Christian Standard Bible
Reminder of the Covenant
11 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the words of this covenant(A) and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,(B) 4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,(C) out of the iron furnace.”(D) I declared, “Obey me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God,”(E) 5 in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors,(F) to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’”
I answered, “Amen, Lord.”(G)
6 The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.’ 7 For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again,[a](H) ‘Obey me.’ 8 Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart.(I) So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.”
9 The Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah(J) and the residents of Jerusalem. 10 They have returned to the iniquities of their ancestors(K) who refused to obey my words and have followed other gods to worship them.(L) The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant I made with their ancestors.
11 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape.(M) They will cry out to me, but I will not hear them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.(N) 13 Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah,(O) and the altars you have set up to Shame[b](P)—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.
14 “As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf,(Q) for I will not be listening when they call out to me at the time of their disaster.
15 What right does my beloved have
to be in my house,(R)
having carried out so many evil schemes?
Can holy meat[c](S) prevent your disaster[d]
so you can celebrate?
16 The Lord named you
a flourishing olive tree,(T)
beautiful with well-formed fruit.
He has set fire to it,
and its branches are consumed[e](U)
with the sound of a mighty tumult.(V)
17 “The Lord of Armies who planted you(W) has decreed disaster against you, because of the disaster[f] the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves when they angered me by burning incense to Baal.”
18 The Lord informed me, so I knew.
Then you helped me to see their deeds,
19 for I was like a docile[g] lamb led to slaughter.(X)
I didn’t know that they had devised plots against me:
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit;[h]
let’s cut him off from the land of the living(Y)
so that his name will no longer be remembered.”
20 But, Lord of Armies, who judges righteously,
who tests(Z) heart[i] and mind,(AA)
let me see your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to you.(AB)
21 Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth(AC) who intend to take your life. They warn, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord,(AD) or you will certainly die at our hand.” 22 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.(AE) 23 They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth(AF) in the year of their punishment.”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
12 You will be righteous, Lord,(AG)
even if I bring a case against you.
Yet, I wish to contend with you:(AH)
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?(AI)
Why do all the treacherous live at ease?
2 You planted them,(AJ) and they have taken root.
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,[j]
but far from their conscience.[k](AK)
3 As for you, Lord, you know me; you see me.(AL)
You test whether my heart is with you.(AM)
Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter(AN)
and set them apart for the day of killing.
4 How long will the land mourn(AO)
and the grass of every field wither?
Because of the evil of its residents,
animals and birds have been swept away,(AP)
for the people have said,
“He cannot see what our end will be.”[l](AQ)
The Lord’s Response
5 If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[m] in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?(AR)
6 Even your brothers—your own father’s family—
even they were treacherous to you;(AS)
even they have cried out loudly after you.(AT)
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.
7 I have abandoned my house;(AU)
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have handed the love of my life
over to her enemies.
8 My inheritance has behaved toward me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against me.
Therefore, I hate her.(AV)
9 Is my inheritance like a hyena[n] to me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;(AW)
bring them to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled my plot of land.(AX)
They have turned my desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.
11 They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.(AY)
12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the Lord has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.(AZ)
13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.(BA)
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.(BB)
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the Lord’s burning anger.(BC)
14 This is what the Lord says: “Concerning all my evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to my people, Israel, I am about to uproot them(BD) from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them. 15 After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion(BE) on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. 16 If they will diligently learn the ways of my people(BF)—to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among my people. 17 However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.”(BG)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Linen Underwear
13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment(BH) and put it on.[o] But do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4 “Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing,[p] and go at once to the Euphrates[q] and hide it in a rocky crevice.”(BI) 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 A long time later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.(BJ) 10 These evil people, who refuse to listen to me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts,(BK) and who have followed other gods to serve and bow in worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all. 11 Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to me”(BL)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so that they might be my people for my fame, praise, and glory,(BM) but they would not obey.
The Wine Jars
12 “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine.’ Then they will respond to you, ‘Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ 13 And you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land—the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike—this is the Lord’s declaration. I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”(BN)
The Lord’s Warning
15 Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God(BO)
before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the mountains at dusk.
You wait for light,
but he brings darkest gloom[r]
and makes total darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
my innermost being will weep in secret
because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
for the Lord’s flock(BP) has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:(BQ)
Take a humble seat,
for your glorious crowns
have fallen from your heads.
19 The cities of the Negev are under siege;
no one can help them.
All of Judah has been taken into exile,
taken completely into exile.
20 Look up and see
those coming from the north.(BR)
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
The Destiny of Jerusalem
21 What will you say when he appoints
close friends as leaders over you,
ones you yourself trained?
Won’t labor pains seize you,(BS)
as they do a woman in labor?
22 And when you ask yourself,
“Why have these things happened to me?”
it is because of your great guilt(BT)
that your skirts have been stripped off,(BU)
your body exposed.[s]
23 Can the Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,(BV)
you who are instructed in evil.
24 I will scatter you[t] like drifting chaff(BW)
before the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
what I have decreed for you—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
because you have forgotten me(BX)
and trusted in lies.(BY)
26 I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.(BZ)
27 Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,(CA)
your depraved prostitution
on the hills, in the fields—
I have seen your abhorrent acts.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
You are unclean—
for how long yet?(CB)
Footnotes
- 11:7 Lit today, rising early and warning
- 11:13 = Baal
- 11:15 = sacrificial meat
- 11:15 LXX; MT reads meat pass from you
- 11:16 Vg; MT reads broken
- 11:17 Or evil
- 11:19 Or pet
- 11:19 Lit bread
- 11:20 Lit kidneys
- 12:2 Lit are near in their mouth
- 12:2 Lit kidneys
- 12:4 LXX reads see our ways
- 12:5 Or you are secure
- 12:9 Hb obscure
- 13:1 Lit around your waist
- 13:4 Lit wearing around your waist
- 13:4–7 Perhaps a place near Anathoth with the same spelling as the river
- 13:16 Or brings a shadow of death
- 13:22 Lit your heels have suffered violence
- 13:24 Lit them
2 Corinthians 12
Christian Standard Bible
Sufficient Grace
12 Boasting is necessary. It is not profitable, but I will move on to visions(A) and revelations(B) of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who was caught up(C) to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. 3 I know that this man—whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know; God knows— 4 was caught up into paradise(D) and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak. 5 I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses.
6 For if I want to boast, I wouldn’t be a fool, because I would be telling the truth.(E) But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, 7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh(F) was given to me, a messenger of Satan(G) to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power(H) is perfected in weakness.”(I)
Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ.(J) For when I am weak, then I am strong.(K)
Signs of an Apostle
11 I have been a fool; you forced it on me. You ought to have commended me, since I am not in any way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.(L) 12 The signs(M) of an apostle(N) were performed with unfailing endurance among you, including signs and wonders(O) and miracles.(P) 13 So in what way are you worse off than the other churches, except that I personally did not burden you? Forgive me for this wrong!
Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians
14 Look, I am ready to come to you this third time.(Q) I will not burden you, since I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children ought not save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.[a](R) If I love you more, am I to be loved less? 16 Now granted, I did not burden(S) you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!(T) 17 Did I take advantage of you by any of those I sent you? 18 I urged Titus(U) to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus didn’t take advantage of you, did he? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit(V) and in the same footsteps?
19 Have you been thinking all along that we were defending ourselves to you? No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.(W) 20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and you may not find me to be what you want. Perhaps there will be quarreling,(X) jealousy,(Y) angry outbursts, selfish ambitions,(Z) slander,(AA) gossip, arrogance, and disorder.(AB) 21 I fear that when I come my God will again[b] humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented(AC) of the moral impurity, sexual immorality,(AD) and sensuality(AE) they practiced.
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