^27 (A)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(B)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(C)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸ And it shall come to pass that ^(D)as I have watched over them ^(E)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(F)so I will watch over them ^(G)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹ In those days they shall no longer say:

^30 (I)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

^31 (J)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(K)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(L)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(M)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ^33 (N)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(O)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(P)on their hearts. ^(Q)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(R)for they shall all know me, ^(S)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(T)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(U)I will remember their sin no more.”

^38 (AA)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^(AB)from the Tower of Hananel to ^(AC)the Corner Gate. ^39 (AD)And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ^40 (AE)The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^(AF)brook Kidron, to the corner of ^(AG)the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(AH)shall be sacred to the Lord. ^(AI)It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(AJ)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^(AK)which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^(AL)was shut up in ^(AM)the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(AN)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ^4 (AO)Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(AP)but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵ And ^(AQ)he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^(AR)Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^(AS)‘Buy my field that is at ^(AT)Anathoth, ^(AU)for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸ Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^(AV)the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^(AW)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ “And I bought the field at ^(AX)Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^(AY)weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ^10 (AZ)I signed the deed, ^(BA)sealed it, ^(BB)got witnesses, and ^(BC)weighed the money on scales. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. ¹² And I gave the deed of purchase to ^(BD)Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^(BE)the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^(BF)the court of the guard. ¹³ I charged ^(BG)Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and ^(BH)fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “After I had given the deed of purchase to ^(BI)Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ ‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^(BJ)you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^(BK)your outstretched arm! ^(BL)Nothing is too hard for you. ^18 (BM)You show steadfast love to thousands, ^(BN)but you repay the guilt of fathers ^(BO)to their children after them, O great and ^(BP)mighty God, whose name is the ^(BQ)Lord of hosts, ^19 (BR)great in counsel and ^(BS)mighty in deed, ^(BT)whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^(BU)rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰ You have shown ^(BV)signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^(BW)and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. ^21 (BX)You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^(BY)outstretched arm, ^(BZ)and with great terror. ²² And you gave them this land, ^(CA)which you swore to their fathers to give them, ^(CB)a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ And they entered and took possession of it. ^(CC)But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. ²⁴ Behold, ^(CD)the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^(CE)because of sword and famine and pestilence ^(CF)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. ²⁵ Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^(CG)“Buy the field for money ^(CH)and get witnesses”—though ^(CI)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, ^(CJ)the God of all flesh. ^(CK)Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^(CL)Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹ The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^(CM)shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^(CN)with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^(CO)and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^(CP)to provoke me to anger. ³⁰ For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ^(CQ)from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^(CR)provoke me to anger ^(CS)by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. ³¹ This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^(CT)so that I will remove it from my sight ³² because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—^(CU)their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^33 (CV)They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ^(CW)persistently, they have not listened ^(CX)to receive instruction. ³⁴ They set up ^(CY)their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵ They built the high places of Baal ^(CZ)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(DA)to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^(DB)though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^(DC)this abomination, ^(DD)to cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

³⁶ “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ^(DE)‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ^37 (DF)Behold, I will gather them from all the countries ^(DG)to which I drove them in ^(DH)my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^(DI)and I will make them dwell in safety. ^38 (DJ)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ^39 (DK)I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^(DL)for their own good and the good of their children after them. ^40 (DM)I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^(DN)And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ^41 (DO)I will rejoice in doing them good, ^(DP)and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴² “For thus says the Lord: ^(DQ)Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ^43 (DR)Fields shall be bought in this land ^(DS)of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^(DT)it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴ Fields shall be bought for money, and ^(DU)deeds shall be signed and ^(DV)sealed and ^(DW)witnessed, ^(DX)in the land of Benjamin, ^(DY)in the places about Jerusalem, ^(DZ)and in the cities of Judah, ^(EA)in the cities of the hill country, ^(EB)in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^(EC)I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

Qualifications for Overseers

3 The saying is ^(A)trustworthy: If anyone aspires to ^(B)the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. ² Therefore ^(C)an overseer^[a] must be above reproach, ^(D)the husband of one wife,^{[b] (E)}sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, ^(F)hospitable, ^(G)able to teach, ³ not a drunkard, not violent but ^(H)gentle, not quarrelsome, ^(I)not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own household well, with all dignity ^(J)keeping his children submissive, ⁵ for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for ^(K)God's church? ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may ^(L)become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷ Moreover, he must be well thought of by ^(M)outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into ^(N)a snare of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons

^8 (O)Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,^{[c] (P)}not addicted to much wine, ^(Q)not greedy for dishonest gain. ⁹ They must ^(R)hold the mystery of the faith with ^(S)a clear conscience. ¹⁰ And ^(T)let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. ^11 (U)Their wives likewise^[d] must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, ^(V)faithful in all things. ¹² Let deacons each be ^(W)the husband of one wife, ^(X)managing their children and their own households well. ¹³ For ^(Y)those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Godliness

¹⁴ I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, ¹⁵ if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. ¹⁶ Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of ^(A)the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to ^(B)Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil^[a] of ^(C)Heman the Ezrahite.