Jeremiah 7-8

New King James Version

Trusting in Lying Words^(A)

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²^(B)“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” ³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(C)“Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. ⁴^(D)Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’

⁵“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly ^(E)execute ^[a]judgment between a man and his neighbor, ⁶if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, ^(F)or walk after other gods to your hurt, ⁷^(G)then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in ^(H)the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸“Behold, you trust in ^(I)lying words that cannot profit. ⁹^(J)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and ^(K)walk after other gods whom you do not know, ¹⁰^(L)and then come and stand before Me in this house ^(M)which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? ¹¹Has ^(N)this house, which is called by My name, become a ^(O)den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.

¹²“But go now to ^(P)My place which was in Shiloh, ^(Q)where I set My name at the first, and see ^(R)what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, ^(S)rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I ^(T)called you, but you did not answer, ¹⁴therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to ^(U)Shiloh. ¹⁵And I will cast you out of My sight, ^(V)as I have cast out all your brethren—^(W)the whole posterity of Ephraim.

¹⁶“Therefore ^(X)do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; ^(Y)for I will not hear you. ¹⁷Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸^(Z)The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(AA)pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. ¹⁹^(AB)Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”

²⁰Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AC)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. ²²^(AD)For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. ²³But this is what I commanded them, saying, ^(AE)‘Obey My voice, and ^(AF)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ ²⁴^(AG)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ^(AH)followed^[b] the counsels and the ^[c]dictates of their evil hearts, and ^(AI)went^[d] backward and not forward. ²⁵Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even ^(AJ)sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. ²⁶^(AK)Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but ^(AL)stiffened their neck. ^(AM)They did worse than their fathers.

²⁷“Therefore ^(AN)you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

Judgment on Obscene Religion

²⁸“So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God ^(AO)nor receive correction. ^(AP)Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. ²⁹^(AQ)Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ ³⁰For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. ^(AR)“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to ^[e]pollute it. ³¹And they have built the ^(AS)high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to ^(AT)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, ^(AU)which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

³²“Therefore behold, ^(AV)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; ^(AW)for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. ³³The ^(AX)corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. ³⁴Then I will cause to ^(AY)cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For ^(AZ)the land shall be desolate.

Jeremiah Mourns for His People

8 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. ²They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and ^(BA)which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered ^(BB)nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. ³Then ^(BC)death shall be chosen rather than life by all the ^[f]residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.

The Peril of False Teaching

⁴“Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
⁵Why has this people ^(BD)slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
^(BE)They hold fast to deceit,
^(BF)They refuse to return.
⁶^(BG)I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
^(BH)No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.

⁷“Even ^(BI)the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But ^(BJ)My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁸“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
^(BK)And the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
⁹^(BL)The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
So ^(BM)what wisdom do they have?
¹⁰Therefore ^(BN)I will give their wives to others,
And their fields to those who will inherit them;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is given to ^(BO)covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹¹For they have ^(BP)healed the hurt of the daughter of My people ^[g]slightly,
Saying, ^(BQ)‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹²Were they ^(BR)ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed,
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
In the time of their punishment
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹³“I will surely ^[h]consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be ^(BS)on the vine,
Nor figs on the ^(BT)fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall ^(BU)pass away from them.” ’ ”

¹⁴“Why do we sit still?
^(BV)Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the Lord our God has put us to silence
And given us ^(BW)water^[i] of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵“We ^(BX)looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
¹⁶The snorting of His horses was heard from ^(BY)Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His ^(BZ)strong ones;
For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”

¹⁷“For behold, I will send serpents among you,
Vipers which cannot be ^(CA)charmed,
And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.

The Prophet Mourns for the People

¹⁸I would comfort myself in sorrow;
My heart is faint in me.
¹⁹Listen! The voice,
The cry of the daughter of my people
From ^(CB)a far country:
“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked Me to anger
With their carved images—
With foreign idols?”

²⁰“The harvest is past,
The summer is ended,
And we are not saved!”

²¹^(CC)For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am ^(CD)mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.
²²Is there no ^(CE)balm in Gilead,
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery
For the health of the daughter of my people?

Footnotes

Jeremiah 7:5 justice
Jeremiah 7:24 walked in
Jeremiah 7:24 stubbornness or imagination
Jeremiah 7:24 Lit. they were
Jeremiah 7:30 defile
Jeremiah 8:3 remnant
Jeremiah 8:11 Superficially
Jeremiah 8:13 Or take them away
Jeremiah 8:14 Bitter or poisonous water

Proverbs 28

New King James Version

The Righteous Are Bold as a Lion

28 The ^(A)wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.

²Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes;
But by a man of understanding and knowledge
Right will be prolonged.

³^(B)A poor man who oppresses the poor
Is like a driving rain ^[a]which leaves no food.

⁴^(C)Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
^(D)But such as keep the law contend with them.

⁵^(E)Evil men do not understand justice,
But ^(F)those who seek the Lord understand all.

⁶Better is the poor who walks in his integrity
Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

⁷Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son,
But a companion of gluttons shames his father.

⁸One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion
Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

⁹One who turns away his ear from hearing the law,
^(G)Even his prayer is an abomination.

¹⁰^(H)Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way,
He himself will fall into his own pit;
^(I)But the blameless will inherit good.

¹¹The rich man is wise in his own eyes,
But the poor who has understanding searches him out.

¹²When the righteous rejoice, there is great ^(J)glory;
But when the wicked arise, men ^[b]hide themselves.

¹³^(K)He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

¹⁴Happy is the man who is always reverent,
But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

¹⁵^(L)Like a roaring lion and a charging bear
^(M)Is a wicked ruler over poor people.

¹⁶A ruler who lacks understanding is a great ^(N)oppressor,
But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

¹⁷^(O)A man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit;
Let no one help him.

¹⁸Whoever walks blamelessly will be ^[c]saved,
But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.

¹⁹^(P)He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,
But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough!

²⁰A faithful man will abound with blessings,
^(Q)But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹^(R)To ^[d]show partiality is not good,
^(S)Because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.

²²A man with an evil eye hastens after riches,
And does not consider that ^(T)poverty will come upon him.

²³^(U)He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward
Than he who flatters with the tongue.

²⁴Whoever robs his father or his mother,
And says, “It is no transgression,”
The same ^(V)is companion to a destroyer.

²⁵^(W)He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife,
^(X)But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.

²⁶He who ^(Y)trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

²⁷^(Z)He who gives to the poor will not lack,
But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

²⁸When the wicked arise, ^(AA)men hide themselves;
But when they perish, the righteous increase.

Footnotes

Proverbs 28:3 Lit. and there is no bread
Proverbs 28:12 Lit. will be searched for
Proverbs 28:18 delivered
Proverbs 28:21 Lit. recognize faces

2 Timothy 3

New King James Version

Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that ^(A)in the last days ^[a]perilous times will come: ²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³unloving, ^[b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴^(B)traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵^(C)having a form of godliness but ^(D)denying its power. And ^(E)from such people turn away! ⁶For ^(F)of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷always learning and never able ^(G)to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸^(H)Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: ^(I)men of corrupt minds, ^(J)disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, ^(K)as theirs also was.

The Man of God and the Word of God

¹⁰^(L)But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, ¹¹persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me ^(M)at Antioch, ^(N)at Iconium, ^(O)at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And ^(P)out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹²Yes, and ^(Q)all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. ¹³^(R)But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴But you must ^(S)continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵and that from childhood you have known ^(T)the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶^(U)All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, ^(V)and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for ^[c]instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷^(W)that the man of God may be complete, ^(X)thoroughly equipped for every good work.