Jeremiah 13:1-11

New International Version

A Linen Belt

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” ²So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

³Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:^(A) ⁴“Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath^[a]^(B) and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” ⁵So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.^(C)

⁶Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹“This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride^(D) of Jerusalem. ¹⁰These wicked people, who refuse to listen^(E) to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts^(F) and go after other gods^(G) to serve and worship them,^(H) will be like this belt—completely useless!^(I) ¹¹For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown^(J) and praise and honor.^(K) But they have not listened.’^(L)

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 13:4 Or possibly to the Euphrates; similarly in verses 5-7

Psalm 82

New International Version

Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.

¹God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment^(A) among the “gods”:^(B)

²“How long will you^[a] defend the unjust
    and show partiality^(C) to the wicked?^[b]^(D)
³Defend the weak and the fatherless;^(E)
    uphold the cause of the poor^(F) and the oppressed.
⁴Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

⁵“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.^(G)
They walk about in darkness;^(H)
all the foundations^(I) of the earth are shaken.

⁶“I said, ‘You are “gods”;^(J)
you are all sons of the Most High.’
⁷But you will die^(K) like mere mortals;
you will fall like every other ruler.”

⁸Rise up,^(L) O God, judge^(M) the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.^(N)

Footnotes

Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew is plural.
Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.

Matthew 13:31-35

New International Version

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast^(A)^(B)

³¹He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like^(C) a mustard seed,^(D) which a man took and planted in his field. ³²Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”^(E)

³³He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like^(F) yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds^[a] of flour^(G) until it worked all through the dough.”^(H)

³⁴Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.^(I) ³⁵So was fulfilled^(J) what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”^[b]^(K)

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