Jeremiah 16-18

English Standard Version

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^(A)They shall die of deadly diseases. ^(B)They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. ^(C)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ^(D)They shall perish by the sword and by famine, ^(E)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: ^(F)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. ^(G)They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or ^(H)cut himself ^(I)or make himself bald for them. ⁷No one shall ^(J)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: ^(K)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, ^(L)‘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: ^(M)‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and ^(N)have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, ¹²and because ^(O)you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, ^(P)every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. ¹³Therefore ^(Q)I will hurl you out of this land into ^(R)a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, ^(S)and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

The Lord Will Restore Israel

¹⁴^(T)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ^(U)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but ^(V)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel ^(W)out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For ^(X)I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, ^(Y)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 ^(Z)of the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷For ^(AA)my eyes are on all their ways. ^(AB)They are not hidden from me, ^(AC)nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸But first ^(AD)I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and ^(AE)have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

¹⁹^(AF)O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
    ^(AG)my refuge in the day of trouble,
^(AH)to you shall the nations come
    from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
    ^(AI)worthless things in which there is no profit.
²⁰Can man make for himself ^(AJ)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 ^(AK)my name is the Lord.”

The Sin of Judah

17 “The sin of Judah is written with ^(AL)a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on ^(AM)the tablet of their heart, and on ^(AN)the horns of their altars, ²while ^(AO)their children remember their altars and their ^(AP)Asherim, ^(AQ)beside every green tree and on the high hills, ³^(AR)on the mountains in the open country. ^(AS)Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. ⁴You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, ^(AT)and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, ^(AU)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

⁵Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man ^(AV)who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,^[a]
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶^(AW)He is like a shrub in the desert,
    ^(AX)and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in ^(AY)an uninhabited salt land.

⁷^(AZ)“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    ^(BA)whose trust is the Lord.
⁸^(BB)He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
¹⁰^(BC)“I the Lord search the heart
    ^(BD)and test the mind,^[b]
^(BE)to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

¹¹Like the ^(BF)partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is ^(BG)he who gets riches but not by justice;
^(BH)in the midst of his days they will leave him,
^(BI)and at his end he will be a fool.

¹²A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³O Lord, ^(BJ)the hope of Israel,
    ^(BK)all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you^[c] ^(BL)shall be written in the earth,
    for ^(BM)they have forsaken ^(BN)the Lord, the fountain of living water.

Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance

¹⁴^(BO)Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
    save me, and I shall be saved,
    for ^(BP)you are my praise.
¹⁵^(BQ)Behold, they say to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it come!”
¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd,
    nor have I desired the day of sickness.
^(BR)You know ^(BS)what came out of my lips;
    it was before your face.
¹⁷Be not a terror to me;
    ^(BT)you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
¹⁸^(BU)Let those be put to shame who persecute me,
    but let me not be put to shame;
^(BV)let them be dismayed,
    but let me not be dismayed;
^(BW)bring upon them the day of disaster;
    destroy them with double destruction!

Keep the Sabbath Holy

¹⁹Thus said the Lord to me: “Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which ^(BX)the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, ²⁰and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^(BY)you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. ²¹Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and ^(BZ)do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. ²²And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath ^(CA)or do any work, but ^(CB)keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. ²³Yet ^(CC)they did not listen or incline their ear, ^(CD)but stiffened their neck, that they ^(CE)might not hear and receive instruction.

²⁴“‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and ^(CF)bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but ^(CG)keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, ²⁵then ^(CH)there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. ²⁶And people shall come from ^(CI)the cities of Judah ^(CJ)and the places around Jerusalem, ^(CK)from the land of Benjamin, ^(CL)from the Shephelah, from the hill country, ^(CM)and from ^(CN)the Negeb, bringing ^(CO)burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and ^(CP)bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. ²⁷But if you do not listen to me, to ^(CQ)keep the Sabbath day holy, ^(CR)and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will ^(CS)kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall ^(CT)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^(CU)shall not be quenched.’”

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Arise, and go down to ^(CV)the potter's house, and there I will let you hear^[d] my words.” ³So I went down to ^(CW)the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was ^(CX)spoiled in the potter's hand, and ^(CY)he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^(CZ)can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^(DA)Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^(DB)pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^(DC)turns from its evil, ^(DD)I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^(DE)build and plant it, ¹⁰and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^(DF)Return, every one from his evil way, and ^(DG)amend your ways and your deeds.’

¹²“But they say, ^(DH)‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to ^(DI)the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(DJ)Ask among the nations,
    Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
    has done ^(DK)a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave
    the crags of Sirion?^[e]
Do the mountain waters run dry,^[f]
    the cold flowing streams?
¹⁵^(DL)But my people have forgotten me;
    they make offerings to ^(DM)false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
    ^(DN)in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
    ^(DO)not the highway,
¹⁶making their land ^(DP)a horror,
    a thing ^(DQ)to be hissed at forever.
^(DR)Everyone who passes by it is horrified
    ^(DS)and shakes his head.
¹⁷^(DT)Like the east wind ^(DU)I will scatter them
    before the enemy.
^(DV)I will show them my back, not my face,
    in the day of their calamity.”

¹⁸Then they said, ^(DW)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^(DX)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^(DY)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

¹⁹Hear me, O Lord,
    and ^(DZ)listen to the voice of my adversaries.
²⁰^(EA)Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet ^(EB)they have dug a pit for my life.
^(EC)Remember how I stood before you
    to speak good for them,
    to turn away your wrath from them.
²¹Therefore ^(ED)deliver up their children to famine;
    give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless ^(EE)and widowed.
    May their men meet death by pestilence,
    their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
²²^(EF)May a cry be heard from their houses,
    when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For ^(EG)they have dug a pit to take me
    ^(EH)and laid snares for my feet.
²³Yet ^(EI)you, O Lord, know
    all their plotting to kill me.
^(EJ)Forgive not their iniquity,
    nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 17:5 Hebrew arm
Jeremiah 17:10 Hebrew kidneys
Jeremiah 17:13 Hebrew me
Jeremiah 18:2 Or will cause you to hear
Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew of the field
Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew Are foreign waters plucked up

Proverbs 19

English Standard Version

19 ^(A)Better is a poor person who ^(B)walks in his integrity
    than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
²Desire^[a] without knowledge is not good,
    and whoever ^(C)makes haste with his feet misses his way.
³When a man's folly ^(D)brings his way to ruin,
    his heart ^(E)rages against the Lord.
⁴^(F)Wealth brings many new friends,
    ^(G)but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
⁵^(H)A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who ^(I)breathes out lies will not escape.
⁶Many seek the favor of a generous man,^[b]
    and everyone is a friend to a man who gives ^(J)gifts.
⁷^(K)All a poor man's brothers hate him;
    ^(L)how much more do his friends go far from him!
He pursues them with words, but does not have them.^[c]
⁸^(M)Whoever gets sense loves his own soul;
    he who keeps understanding will ^(N)discover good.
⁹^(O)A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who ^(P)breathes out lies will perish.
¹⁰^(Q)It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury,
    much less for ^(R)a slave to rule over princes.
¹¹^(S)Good sense makes one slow to anger,
    and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
¹²A king's wrath is like ^(T)the growling of a lion,
    but his ^(U)favor is like ^(V)dew on the grass.
¹³^(W)A foolish son is ruin to his father,
    and ^(X)a wife's quarreling is ^(Y)a continual dripping of rain.
¹⁴^(Z)House and wealth are inherited from fathers,
    but a prudent wife is ^(AA)from the Lord.
¹⁵^(AB)Slothfulness casts into ^(AC)a deep sleep,
    and ^(AD)an idle person will suffer hunger.
¹⁶Whoever ^(AE)keeps the commandment keeps his life;
    he who despises his ways will die.
¹⁷^(AF)Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
    and he ^(AG)will repay him for his ^(AH)deed.
¹⁸^(AI)Discipline your son, for there is hope;
    do not set your heart on ^(AJ)putting him to death.
¹⁹A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
    for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
²⁰Listen to advice and accept instruction,
    that you may gain wisdom in ^(AK)the future.
²¹^(AL)Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
    but ^(AM)it is the purpose of the Lord ^(AN)that will stand.
²²What is desired in a man is steadfast love,
    and a poor man is better than a liar.
²³The fear of the Lord ^(AO)leads to life,
    and whoever has it rests ^(AP)satisfied;
    he will ^(AQ)not be visited by harm.
²⁴^(AR)The sluggard buries his hand in ^(AS)the dish
    and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
²⁵^(AT)Strike ^(AU)a scoffer, and the simple will ^(AV)learn prudence;
    ^(AW)reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
²⁶He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother
    is ^(AX)a son who brings shame and reproach.
²⁷Cease to hear instruction, my son,
    ^(AY)and you will stray from the words of knowledge.
²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice,
    and the mouth of the wicked ^(AZ)devours iniquity.
²⁹Condemnation is ready for ^(BA)scoffers,
    and ^(BB)beating for the backs of fools.

Footnotes

Proverbs 19:2 Or A soul
Proverbs 19:6 Or of a noble
Proverbs 19:7 The meaning of the Hebrew sentence is uncertain

Hebrews 4

English Standard Version

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem ^(A)to have failed to reach it. ²For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because ^(B)they were not united by faith with those who listened.^[a] ³For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

^(C)“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ^(D)“And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵And again in this passage he said,

^(E)“They shall not enter my rest.”

⁶Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news ^(F)failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

^(G)“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, God^[b] would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, ¹⁰for whoever has entered God's rest has also ^(H)rested from his works as God did from his.

¹¹Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so ^(I)that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. ¹²For ^(J)the word of God is living and ^(K)active, ^(L)sharper than any ^(M)two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and ^(N)discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³And ^(O)no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are ^(P)naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

¹⁴Since then we have ^(Q)a great high priest ^(R)who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, ^(S)let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest ^(T)who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been ^(U)tempted as we are, ^(V)yet without sin. ¹⁶^(W)Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.