Jeremiah 9

New International Version

9 ^[a]¹Oh, that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears!^(A)
I would weep^(B) day and night
    for the slain of my people.^(C)
²Oh, that I had in the desert^(D)
    a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
    and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,^(E)
    a crowd of unfaithful^(F) people.

³“They make ready their tongue
    like a bow, to shoot lies;^(G)
it is not by truth
    that they triumph^[b] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
    they do not acknowledge^(H) me,”
declares the Lord.
⁴“Beware of your friends;^(I)
    do not trust anyone in your clan.^(J)
For every one of them is a deceiver,^[c]^(K)
    and every friend a slanderer.^(L)
⁵Friend deceives friend,^(M)
    and no one speaks the truth.^(N)
They have taught their tongues to lie;^(O)
    they weary themselves with sinning.
⁶You^[d] live in the midst of deception;^(P)
    in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will refine^(Q) and test^(R) them,
    for what else can I do
    because of the sin of my people?
⁸Their tongue^(S) is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,^(T)
    but in their hearts they set traps^(U) for them.^(V)
⁹Should I not punish them for this?”
    declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge^(W) myself
    on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.^(X)
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds^(Y) have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem a heap^(Z) of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;^(AA)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah^(AB)
so no one can live there.”^(AC)

¹²Who is wise^(AD) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

¹³The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.^(AE) ¹⁴Instead, they have followed^(AF) the stubbornness of their hearts;^(AG) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food^(AH) and drink poisoned water.^(AI) ¹⁶I will scatter them among nations^(AJ) that neither they nor their ancestors have known,^(AK) and I will pursue them with the sword^(AL) until I have made an end of them.”^(AM)

¹⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Consider now! Call for the wailing women^(AN) to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
¹⁸Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.^(AO)
¹⁹The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined^(AP) we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

²⁰Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
    open your ears to the words of his mouth.^(AQ)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
    teach one another a lament.^(AR)
²¹Death has climbed in through our windows^(AS)
    and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
    and the young men^(AT) from the public squares.

²²Say, “This is what the Lord declares:

“‘Dead bodies will lie
like dung^(AU) on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.’”

²³This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom^(AV)
    or the strong boast of their strength^(AW)
    or the rich boast of their riches,^(AX)
²⁴but let the one who boasts boast^(AY) about this:
    that they have the understanding to know^(AZ) me,
that I am the Lord,^(BA) who exercises kindness,^(BB)
    justice and righteousness^(BC) on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

²⁵“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh^(BD)— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.^[e]^(BE) For all these nations are really uncircumcised,^(BF) and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.^(BG)”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-26 is numbered 9:1-25.
Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth
Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob
Jeremiah 9:6 That is, Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)
Jeremiah 9:26 Or wilderness and who clip the hair by their foreheads

Jeremiah 10

New International Version

God and Idols^(A)

10 Hear what the Lord says to you, people of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations^(B)
    or be terrified by signs^(C) in the heavens,
    though the nations are terrified by them.
³For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman^(D) shapes it with his chisel.^(E)
⁴They adorn it with silver^(F) and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.^(G)
⁵Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;^(H)
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.^(I)
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm^(J)
    nor can they do any good.”^(K)

⁶No one is like you,^(L) Lord;
    you are great,^(M)
    and your name is mighty in power.
⁷Who should not fear^(N) you,
    King of the nations?^(O)
    This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like you.

⁸They are all senseless^(P) and foolish;^(Q)
    they are taught by worthless wooden idols.^(R)
⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish^(S)
    and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made^(T)
    is then dressed in blue and purple—
    all made by skilled workers.
¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God,^(U) the eternal King.^(V)
When he is angry,^(W) the earth trembles;^(X)
    the nations cannot endure his wrath.^(Y)

¹¹“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish^(Z) from the earth and from under the heavens.’”^[a]

¹²But God made^(AA) the earth^(AB) by his power;
    he founded the world by his wisdom^(AC)
    and stretched out the heavens^(AD) by his understanding.
¹³When he thunders,^(AE) the waters in the heavens roar;
    he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning^(AF) with the rain^(AG)
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(AH)

¹⁴Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is shamed^(AI) by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;^(AJ)
    they have no breath in them.
¹⁵They are worthless,^(AK) the objects of mockery;
    when their judgment comes, they will perish.
¹⁶He who is the Portion^(AL) of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the Maker of all things,^(AM)
including Israel, the people of his inheritance^(AN)—
    the Lord Almighty is his name.^(AO)

Coming Destruction

¹⁷Gather up your belongings^(AP) to leave the land,
    you who live under siege.
¹⁸For this is what the Lord says:
    “At this time I will hurl^(AQ) out
    those who live in this land;
I will bring distress^(AR) on them
    so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹Woe to me because of my injury!
    My wound^(AS) is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
    “This is my sickness, and I must endure^(AT) it.”
²⁰My tent^(AU) is destroyed;
    all its ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me and are no more;^(AV)
    no one is left now to pitch my tent
    or to set up my shelter.
²¹The shepherds^(AW) are senseless^(AX)
    and do not inquire of the Lord;^(AY)
so they do not prosper^(AZ)
    and all their flock is scattered.^(BA)
²²Listen! The report is coming—
    a great commotion from the land of the north!^(BB)
It will make the towns of Judah desolate,^(BC)
    a haunt of jackals.^(BD)

Jeremiah’s Prayer

²³Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
    it is not for them to direct their steps.^(BE)
²⁴Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
    not in your anger,^(BF)
    or you will reduce me to nothing.^(BG)
²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations^(BH)
    that do not acknowledge you,
    on the peoples who do not call on your name.^(BI)
For they have devoured^(BJ) Jacob;
    they have devoured him completely
    and destroyed his homeland.^(BK)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 10:11 The text of this verse is in Aramaic.

John 3

New International Version

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus^(A) who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.^(B) ²He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi,^(C) we know^(D) that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs^(E) you are doing if God were not with him.”^(F)

³Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”^(G)

⁴“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.^(H) ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit.^(I) ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d]^(J)

⁹“How can this be?”^(K) Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher,”^(L) said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know,^(M) and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.^(N) ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven^(O) except the one who came from heaven^(P)—the Son of Man.^[e]^(Q) ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,^(R) so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^[f]^(S) ¹⁵that everyone who believes^(T) may have eternal life in him.”^[g]^(U)

¹⁶For God so loved^(V) the world that he gave^(W) his one and only Son,^(X) that whoever believes^(Y) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.^(Z) ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world^(AA) to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.^(AB) ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned,^(AC) but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.^(AD) ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light^(AE) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.^(AF) ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.^(AG) ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John Testifies Again About Jesus

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.^(AH) ²³Now John^(AI) also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴(This was before John was put in prison.)^(AJ) ²⁵An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.^(AK) ²⁶They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi,^(AL) that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified^(AM) about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’^(AN) ²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom.^(AO) The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.^(AP) ³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.”^[h]

³¹The one who comes from above^(AQ) is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.^(AR) The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard,^(AS) but no one accepts his testimony.^(AT) ³³Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴For the one whom God has sent^(AU) speaks the words of God, for God^[i] gives the Spirit^(AV) without limit. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.^(AW) ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,^(AX) but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.