Jeremiah 13

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)

Wineskins

¹²“Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ ¹³then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness^(M) all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. ¹⁴I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity^(N) or mercy or compassion^(O) to keep me from destroying^(P) them.’”

Threat of Captivity

¹⁵Hear and pay attention,
    do not be arrogant,
    for the Lord has spoken.^(Q)
¹⁶Give glory^(R) to the Lord your God
    before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble^(S)
    on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
    but he will turn it to utter darkness
    and change it to deep gloom.^(T)
¹⁷If you do not listen,^(U)
    I will weep in secret
    because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
    overflowing with tears,^(V)
    because the Lord’s flock^(W) will be taken captive.^(X)

¹⁸Say to the king^(Y) and to the queen mother,^(Z)
    “Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns^(AA)
    will fall from your heads.”
¹⁹The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
    and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah^(AB) will be carried into exile,
    carried completely away.

²⁰Look up and see
    those who are coming from the north.^(AC)
Where is the flock^(AD) that was entrusted to you,
    the sheep of which you boasted?
²¹What will you say when the Lord sets over you
    those you cultivated as your special allies?^(AE)
Will not pain grip you
    like that of a woman in labor?^(AF)
²²And if you ask yourself,
    “Why has this happened to me?”^(AG)—
it is because of your many sins^(AH)
    that your skirts have been torn off^(AI)
    and your body mistreated.^(AJ)
²³Can an Ethiopian^[b] change his skin
    or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
    who are accustomed to doing evil.^(AK)

²⁴“I will scatter you like chaff^(AL)
    driven by the desert wind.^(AM)
²⁵This is your lot,
    the portion^(AN) I have decreed for you,”
declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten^(AO) me
    and trusted in false gods.^(AP)
²⁶I will pull up your skirts over your face
    that your shame may be seen^(AQ)—
²⁷your adulteries and lustful neighings,
    your shameless prostitution!^(AR)
I have seen your detestable acts
    on the hills and in the fields.^(AS)
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
    How long will you be unclean?”^(AT)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 13:4 Or possibly to the Euphrates; similarly in verses 5-7
Jeremiah 13:23 Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region)

John 15

New International Version

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am^(A) the true vine,^(B) and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,^(C) while every branch that does bear fruit^(D) he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.^(E) ⁴Remain in me, as I also remain in you.^(F) No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;^(G) apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.^(H) ⁷If you remain in me^(I) and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.^(J) ⁸This is to my Father’s glory,^(K) that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.^(L)

⁹“As the Father has loved me,^(M) so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commands,^(N) you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.^(O) ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.^(P) ¹³Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^(Q) ¹⁴You are my friends^(R) if you do what I command.^(S) ¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.^(T) ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you^(U) so that you might go and bear fruit^(V)—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.^(W) ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.^(X)

The World Hates the Disciples

¹⁸“If the world hates you,^(Y) keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you^(Z) out of the world. That is why the world hates you.^(AA) ²⁰Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[b]^(AB) If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.^(AC) If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹They will treat you this way because of my name,^(AD) for they do not know the one who sent me.^(AE) ²²If I had not come and spoken to them,^(AF) they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.^(AG) ²³Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works no one else did,^(AH) they would not be guilty of sin.^(AI) As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law:^(AJ) ‘They hated me without reason.’^[c]^(AK)

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶“When the Advocate^(AL) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father^(AM)—the Spirit of truth^(AN) who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.^(AO) ²⁷And you also must testify,^(AP) for you have been with me from the beginning.^(AQ)