^23 (E)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ^24 (F)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(G)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵ I have heard what the prophets have said ^(H)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(I)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶ How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(J)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who think to make my people forget my name ^(K)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(L)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ^28 (M)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(N)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(O)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ^29 (P)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(Q)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ^30 (R)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(S)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(T)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

^33 (U)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[a] and ^(V)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴ And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^(W)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵ Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(X)you pervert the words of ^(Y)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” ³⁹ therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up^[b] and ^(Z)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ^40 (AA)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(AB)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

24 ^(AC)After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^(AD)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^(AE)the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^(AF)two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. ² One basket had very good figs, ^(AG)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^(AH)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³ And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^(AI)whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ^6 (AJ)I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^(AK)I will build them up, and not tear them down; ^(AL)I will plant them, and not pluck them up. ^7 (AM)I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ^(AN)and they shall be my people ^(AO)and I will be their God, ^(AP)for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

⁸ “But thus says the Lord: Like ^(AQ)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^(AR)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^(AS)dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will make them ^(AT)a horror^[c] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^(AU)a reproach, ^(AV)a byword, ^(AW)a taunt, and ^(AX)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send ^(AY)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Seventy Years of Captivity

25 ^(AZ)The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³ “For twenty-three years, ^(BA)from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^(BB)persistently to you, ^(BC)but you have not listened. ^4 (BD)You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^(BE)persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵ saying, ^(BF)‘Turn now, every one of you, ^(BG)from his evil way and evil deeds, and ^(BH)dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. ^6 (BI)Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^(BJ)or provoke me to anger ^(BK)with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ ^7 (BL)Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^(BM)that you might provoke me to anger ^(BN)with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ^9 (BO)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(BP)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^(BQ)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰ Moreover, ^(BR)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(BS)the grinding of the millstones and ^(BT)the light of the lamp. ^11 (BU)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^(BV)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^(BW)seventy years. ¹² Then after ^(BX)seventy years are completed, ^(BY)I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^(BZ)the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^(CA)making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^(CB)in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ^14 (CC)For many nations ^(CD)and great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^(CE)and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath

¹⁵ Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^(CF)“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶ They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^(CG)the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, ^(CH)and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: ^18 (CI)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^(CJ)to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ^19 (CK)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, ²⁰ and ^(CL)all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^(CM)the land of Uz and all the kings of ^(CN)the land of the Philistines (^(CO)Ashkelon, ^(CP)Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(CQ)Ashdod); ^21 (CR)Edom, ^(CS)Moab, and the sons of ^(CT)Ammon; ²² all the kings of ^(CU)Tyre, all the kings of ^(CV)Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across ^(CW)the sea; ^23 (CX)Dedan, ^(CY)Tema, ^(CZ)Buz, and all who cut ^(DA)the corners of their hair; ²⁴ all the ^(DB)kings of Arabia and all the kings of ^(DC)the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(DD)Elam, and all the kings of ^(DE)Media; ²⁶ all the kings of ^(DF)the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^(DG)Babylon^[d] shall drink.

²⁷ “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(DH)Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^(DI)the sword that I am sending among you.’

²⁸ “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(DJ)You must drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(DK)I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^(DL)for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰ “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

^33 (DS)“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ^(DT)They shall not be lamented, ^(DU)or gathered, or buried; ^(DV)they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Now concerning ^(A)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our ^(B)being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,^{[a] 2} not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^(C)alarmed, either ^(D)by a spirit or a ^(E)spoken word, or ^(F)a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that ^(G)the day of the Lord has come. ^3 (H)Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, ^(I)unless the rebellion comes first, and ^(J)the man of lawlessness^[b] is revealed, ^(K)the son of destruction,^{[c] 4} who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, ^(L)proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For ^(M)the mystery of lawlessness ^(N)is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸ And then ^(O)the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus ^(P)will kill with ^(Q)the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by ^(R)the appearance of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan ^(S)with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for ^(T)those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore ^(U)God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe ^(V)what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned ^(W)who did not believe the truth but ^(X)had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Firm

¹³ But ^(Y)we ought always to give thanks to God for you, ^(Z)brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you ^(AA)as the firstfruits^{[d] (AB)}to be saved, ^(AC)through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through ^(AD)our gospel, ^(AE)so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, ^(AF)stand firm and hold to ^(AG)the traditions that you were taught by us, either ^(AH)by our spoken word or by ^(AI)our letter.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, ^(AJ)who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good ^(AK)hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and ^(AL)establish them in every good work and word.

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)The Gittith.^[a] A Psalm of ^(B)the Sons of Korah.