Jeremiah 8-10
Christian Standard Bible
Death over Life
8 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.(A) 2 They will be exposed(B) to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky,(C) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.(D) 3 Death will be chosen over life(E) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.”(F) This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
4 “You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?(G)
If they turn away, do they not return?
5 Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;(H)
they refuse to return.(I)
6 I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.(J)
7 Even storks in the sky
know their seasons.
Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes[a]
are aware of their migration,
but my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.(K)
Punishment for Judah’s Leaders
8 “How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the Lord is with us’?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes(L)
has produced falsehood.
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord,(M)
so what wisdom do they really have?
10 Therefore, I will give(N) their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,(O)
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have treated the brokenness
of my dear[b] people superficially,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”(P)
says the Lord.
13 “I will gather them and bring them to an end.”[c](Q)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
“There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”
God’s People Unrepentant
14 Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let’s enter the fortified cities
and perish there,[d]
for the Lord our God has destroyed[e] us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,(R)
because we have sinned against the Lord.(S)
15 We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.(T)
16 From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,(U)
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17 Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers(V) that cannot be charmed.(W)
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Lament over Judah
18 My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick.(X)
19 Listen—the cry of my dear people
from a faraway land,
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,(Y)
her King not within her?”
Why have they angered me
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols?(Z)
20 Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.
21 I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear people.(AA)
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?(AB)
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?
9 If my head were a flowing spring,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night(AC)
over the slain of my dear[f] people.
2 If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,(AD)
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,(AE)
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.(AF)
3 They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take me into account.(AG)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,(AH)
and every friend spread slander.(AI)
5 Each one betrays his friend;(AJ)
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 You live in a world of deception.[g](AK)
In their deception they refuse to know me.(AL)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says:
I am about to refine them and test them,(AM)
for what else can I do
because of my dear[h] people?[i]
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows—
they speak deception.(AN)
With his mouth
one speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself(AO)
on such a nation as this?
10 I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,(AP)
everything has fled—they have gone away.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,(AQ)
a jackals’ den.(AR)
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
12 Who is the person wise enough to understand this?(AS) Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned my instruction,(AT) which I set before them, and did not obey my voice or walk according to it. 14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts(AU) and followed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.”(AV) 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood(AW) and give them poisonous water to drink.(AX) 16 I will scatter them among the nations(AY) that they and their ancestors have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn;(AZ)
send for the skillful women.
18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids be soaked with weeping.
19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,(BA)
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to[j] the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
21 for Death(BB) has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22 “Speak as follows: ‘This is what the Lord declares: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field,(BC) like newly cut grain(BD) after the reaper with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23 “‘This is what the Lord says:
The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
24 But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that he understands and knows me(BE)—
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 “‘Look, the days are coming—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:(BF) 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples.[k] All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.’”(BG)
False Gods Contrasted with the Creator
10 Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to[l] you, house of Israel. 2 This is what the Lord says:
Do not learn the way of the nations(BH)
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
although the nations are terrified by them,
3 for the customs of the peoples are worthless.
Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;
it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
4 He decorates it with silver and gold.(BI)
It is fastened with hammer and nails,(BJ)
so it won’t totter.
5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,
their idols cannot speak.(BK)
They must be carried(BL) because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them for they can do no harm(BM)—
and they cannot do any good.(BN)
6 Lord, there is no one like you.(BO)
You are great;
your name is great in power.(BP)
7 Who should not fear you,
King of the nations?(BQ)
It is what you deserve.
For among all the wise people of the nations
and among all their kingdoms,
there is no one like you.
8 They are both stupid and foolish,
instructed by worthless idols
made of wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish(BR)
and gold from Uphaz.[m](BS)
The work of a craftsman
and of a goldsmith’s hands
is clothed in blue and purple,
all the work of skilled artisans.
10 But the Lord is the true God;(BT)
he is the living God(BU) and eternal King.(BV)
The earth quakes at his wrath,(BW)
and the nations cannot endure his fury.
11 You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens(BX) and the earth will perish from the earth(BY) and from under these heavens.”[n]
12 He made the earth by his power,
established the world(BZ) by his wisdom,(CA)
and spread out the heavens by his understanding.(CB)
13 When he thunders,[o]
the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,(CC)
and he causes the clouds to rise
from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from his storehouses.(CD)
14 Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame
by his carved image,(CE)
for his cast images are a lie;(CF)
there is no breath in them.(CG)
15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked.
At the time of their punishment
they will be destroyed.(CH)
16 Jacob’s Portion[p] is not like these
because he is the one who formed all things.(CI)
Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;(CJ)
the Lord of Armies is his name.(CK)
Exile after the Siege
18 For this is what the Lord says:
Look, I am flinging away(CM)
the land’s residents at this time
and bringing them such distress
that they will feel it.
Jeremiah Grieves
19 Woe to me because of my brokenness—
I am severely wounded!(CN)
I exclaimed, “This is my intense suffering,
but I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed;(CO)
all my tent cords are snapped.
My sons have departed from me and are no more.
I have no one to pitch my tent again
or to hang up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid:
They don’t seek the Lord.(CP)
Therefore they have not prospered,
and their whole flock is scattered.
22 Listen! A noise—it is coming—
a great commotion(CQ) from the land to the north.
The cities of Judah will be made desolate,
a jackals’ den.(CR)
23 I know, Lord,
that a person’s way of life is not his own;
no one who walks determines his own steps.(CS)
24 Discipline me, Lord, but with justice—
not in your anger,(CT)
or you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don’t recognize you
and on the families
that don’t call on your name,
for they have consumed Jacob;
they have consumed him and finished him off
and made his homeland desolate.(CU)
Footnotes
- 8:7 Hb obscure
- 8:11 Lit of the daughter of my, also in vv. 19,21,22
- 8:13 Lit Gathering I will end them
- 8:14 Or there be silenced
- 8:14 Or silenced
- 9:1 Lit slain among the daughter of my
- 9:6 LXX reads Oppression on oppression, deceit on deceit
- 9:7 Lit of the daughter of my
- 9:7 LXX, Tg read because of their evils
- 9:20 Lit Your ears must receive
- 9:26 Or who live in distant places
- 10:1 Or against
- 10:9 Or Ophir
- 10:11 This is the only Aramaic v. in Jr.
- 10:13 Lit At his giving of the voice
- 10:16 = the Lord
- 10:17 Lit bundle
2 Corinthians 11
Christian Standard Bible
Paul and the False Apostles
11 I wish you would put up with a little foolishness(A) from me. Yes, do put up with me![a] 2 For I am jealous(B) for you with a godly jealousy,(C) because I have promised you in marriage to one husband—to present a pure(D) virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear that, as the serpent(E) deceived(F) Eve(G) by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure[b] devotion to Christ.(H) 4 For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus,(I) whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit,(J) which you had not received, or a different gospel,(K) which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly!
5 Now I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”(L) 6 Even if I am untrained in public speaking,(M) I am certainly not untrained in knowledge.(N) Indeed, we have in every way made that clear to you in everything. 7 Or did I commit a sin by humbling(O) myself so that you might be exalted,(P) because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?(Q) 8 I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to minister to you. 9 When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, since the brothers who came from Macedonia(R) supplied my needs.(S) I have kept myself, and will keep myself, from burdening you in any way. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped[c] in the regions of Achaia.(T) 11 Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows I do!
12 But I will continue to do what I am doing, in order to deny[d] an opportunity to those who want to be regarded as our equals in what they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles,(U) deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.(V)
Paul’s Sufferings for Christ
16 I repeat: Let no one consider me a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool so that I can also boast a little. 17 What I am saying in this matter[e] of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but as it were, foolishly. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. 19 For you, being so wise, gladly put up with fools!(W) 20 In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits(X) you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone is arrogant toward you, if someone slaps(Y) you in the face. 21 I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!
But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare: 22 Are they Hebrews?(Z) So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the descendants of Abraham?(AA) So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death.
24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.(AB) 25 Three times I was beaten with rods.(AC) Once I received a stoning.(AD) Three times I was shipwrecked.(AE) I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,(AF) dangers from my own people,(AG) dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.(AH) 28 Not to mention[f] other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble,(AI) and I do not burn with indignation?
30 If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father(AJ) of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. 32 In Damascus,(AK) a ruler[g] under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. 33 So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.(AL)
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