In You Do I Take Refuge

A ^(A)Shiggaion^[a] of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one ^(A)of the priests who were in ^(B)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ² to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of ^(C)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in ^(D)the thirteenth year of his reign. ³ It came also in the days of ^(E)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and ^(F)until the end of the eleventh year of ^(G)Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^(H)until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

The Call of Jeremiah

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(L)I do not know how to speak, ^(M)for I am only a youth.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

^9 (Q)Then the Lord put out his hand and ^(R)touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

¹¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^(V)“Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond^[a] branch.” ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

¹³ The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see ^(W)a boiling pot, facing away ^(X)from the north.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, ^(Y)“Out of the north disaster^[b] shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵ For behold, ^(Z)I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, ^(AA)and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ And ^(AB)I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil ^(AC)in forsaking me. ^(AD)They have made offerings to other gods and ^(AE)worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷ But you, ^(AF)dress yourself for work;^[c] arise, and ^(AG)say to them everything that I command you. ^(AH)Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸ And I, behold, I make you this day ^(AI)a fortified city, ^(AJ)an iron pillar, and ^(AK)bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ^19 (AL)They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for ^(AM)I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ² I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^(A)who seemed influential) the gospel that ^(B)I proclaim among the Gentiles, ^(C)in order to make sure I was not running or had not ^(D)run in vain. ³ But even Titus, who was with me, ^(E)was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ^4 (F)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(G)slipped in to spy out ^(H)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(I)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(J)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶ And from those ^(K)who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(L)God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^(M)added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^(N)entrusted with ^(O)the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸ (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, ^(P)who seemed to be ^(Q)pillars, perceived the ^(R)grace that was given to me, they ^(S)gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^(T)the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹ But ^(U)when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^(V)to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, ^(W)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(X)the circumcision party.^{[a] 13} And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their ^(Y)conduct was not in step with ^(Z)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(AA)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(AB)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^(AC)Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that ^(AD)a person is not justified^[b] by works of the law ^(AE)but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^(AF)because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found ^(AG)to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I ^(AH)died to the law, so that I might ^(AI)live to God. ²⁰ I have been ^(AJ)crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives ^(AK)in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ^(AL)who loved me and ^(AM)gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(AN)if righteousness^[c] were through the law, ^(AO)then Christ died for no purpose.