Jeremiah 15-16

English Standard Version

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(A)“Though ^(B)Moses ^(C)and Samuel ^(D)stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! ²And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

^(E)“‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those who are for the sword, to the sword;
those who are for famine, to famine,
and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

³^(F)I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and ^(G)the birds of the air ^(H)and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴^(I)And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what ^(J)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵^(K)“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
    ^(L)or who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
    to ask about your welfare?
⁶^(M)You have rejected me, declares the Lord;
    ^(N)you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
    ^(O)I am weary of relenting.
⁷^(P)I have winnowed them with ^(Q)a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
    ^(R)they did not turn from their ways.
⁸I have made their widows more in number
    than ^(S)the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
    a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
    fall upon them suddenly.
⁹^(T)She who bore seven has grown feeble;
    ^(U)she has fainted away;
^(V)her sun went down while it was yet day;
    she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
    before their enemies,
declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

¹⁰^(W)Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! ^(X)I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. ¹¹The Lord said, “Have I not^[a] set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress? ¹²Can one break iron, iron ^(Y)from the north, and bronze?

¹³^(Z)“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as ^(AA)spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. ¹⁴I will make you serve your enemies ^(AB)in a land that you do not know, ^(AC)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

¹⁵^(AD)O Lord, you know;
    ^(AE)remember me and visit me,
    ^(AF)^(AG)and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    ^(AH)know that ^(AI)for your sake I bear reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found, ^(AJ)and I ate them,
    and ^(AK)your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,
^(AL)for I am called by your name,
    O Lord, God of hosts.
¹⁷^(AM)I did not sit in the company of revelers,
    nor did I rejoice;
^(AN)I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
    for you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing,
    ^(AO)my wound incurable,
    refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me ^(AP)like a deceitful brook,
    like waters that fail?

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(AQ)“If you return, I will restore you,
    and you shall ^(AR)stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
    you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
    but you shall not turn to them.
²⁰^(AS)And I will make you to this people
    a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
    ^(AT)but they shall not prevail over you,
^(AU)for I am with you
    to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
²¹^(AV)I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
    and redeem you from the grasp of ^(AW)the ruthless.”

Famine, Sword, and Death

16 The word of the Lord came to me: ²“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. ³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: ⁴^(AX)They shall die of deadly diseases. ^(AY)They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. ^(AZ)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ^(BA)They shall perish by the sword and by famine, ^(BB)and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

⁵“For thus says the Lord: ^(BC)Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. ⁶Both great and small shall die in this land. ^(BD)They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or ^(BE)cut himself ^(BF)or make himself bald for them. ⁷No one shall ^(BG)break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. ⁸You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. ⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BH)Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ^(BI)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹then you shall say to them: ^(BJ)‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and ^(BK)have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, ¹²and because ^(BL)you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, ^(BM)every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. ¹³Therefore ^(BN)I will hurl you out of this land into ^(BO)a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, ^(BP)and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

The Lord Will Restore Israel

¹⁴^(BQ)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ^(BR)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but ^(BS)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel ^(BT)out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For ^(BU)I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, ^(BV)I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out ^(BW)of the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷For ^(BX)my eyes are on all their ways. ^(BY)They are not hidden from me, ^(BZ)nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸But first ^(CA)I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and ^(CB)have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

¹⁹^(CC)O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
    ^(CD)my refuge in the day of trouble,
^(CE)to you shall the nations come
    from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
    ^(CF)worthless things in which there is no profit.
²⁰Can man make for himself ^(CG)gods?
    Such are not gods!”

²¹“Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that ^(CH)my name is the Lord.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 15:11 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Ecclesiastes 1

English Standard Version

All Is Vanity

1 The words of ^(A)the Preacher,^[a] the son of David, ^(B)king in Jerusalem.

²^(C)Vanity^[b] of vanities, says ^(D)the Preacher,
    ^(E)vanity of vanities! ^(F)All is vanity.
³^(G)What ^(H)does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
⁴A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but ^(I)the earth remains forever.
⁵^(J)The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens^[c] to the place where it rises.
⁶^(K)The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷All ^(L)streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
⁸All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
^(M)the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹^(N)What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been ^(O)already
    in the ages before us.
¹¹There is no ^(P)remembrance of former things,^[d]
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things^[e] yet to be
    among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

¹²I ^(Q)the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I ^(R)applied my heart^[f] to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^(S)business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹⁴I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is ^(T)vanity^[g] and a striving after wind.^[h]

¹⁵^(U)What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said in my heart, “I have acquired great ^(V)wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I ^(W)applied my heart to know wisdom and to know ^(X)madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ^(Y)a striving after wind.

¹⁸For ^(Z)in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or Convener, or Collector; Hebrew Qoheleth (so throughout Ecclesiastes)
Ecclesiastes 1:2 The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 1:5 Or and returns panting
Ecclesiastes 1:11 Or former people
Ecclesiastes 1:11 Or later people
Ecclesiastes 1:13 The Hebrew term denotes the center of one's inner life, including mind, will, and emotions
Ecclesiastes 1:14 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)
Ecclesiastes 1:14 Or a feeding on wind; compare Hosea 12:1 (also in Ecclesiastes 1:17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9)

Titus 3

English Standard Version

Be Ready for Every Good Work

3 Remind them ^(A)to be submissive to rulers and authorities, ^(B)to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, ²^(C)to speak evil of no one, ^(D)to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and ^(E)to show perfect courtesy toward all people. ³For ^(F)we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. ⁴But when ^(G)the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, ^(H)not because of works done by us in righteousness, but ^(I)according to his own mercy, by ^(J)the washing of regeneration and ^(K)renewal of the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he ^(L)poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that ^(M)being justified by his grace we might become ^(N)heirs ^(O)according to the hope of eternal life. ⁸The saying is ^(P)trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful ^(Q)to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. ⁹But ^(R)avoid foolish ^(S)controversies, ^(T)genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for ^(U)they are unprofitable and worthless. ¹⁰As for a person who stirs up division, ^(V)after warning him once and then twice, ^(W)have nothing more to do with him, ¹¹knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹²When I send Artemas or ^(X)Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me ^(Y)at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. ¹³Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and ^(Z)Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. ¹⁴And let our people learn ^(AA)to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not ^(AB)be unfruitful.