Book of Common Prayer

QOPH

RESH

SHIN

The men in Anathoth want to kill Jeremiah

¹⁸ The Lord showed me what the people were doing.^[a] He helped me to understood what was really happening. ¹⁹ Before that, I did not know about their plans to kill me. I was like a lamb that men were taking away to kill it. I did not know that they were saying, ‘We should cut down this tree and destroy its fruit!^[b] Jeremiah must not continue to live in this world. Then people will forget all about him.’

²⁰ So I said, ‘Lord Almighty, you judge people in a fair way. You know what people are thinking. You understand how they feel. I trust you to show that I have not done anything that is wrong. So please punish these people. Pay them back for their sins.’

²¹ The Lord told me that some men in Anathoth wanted to kill me. They said to me, ‘Stop telling us messages from the Lord! If you do not stop, we will kill you.’ ²² So the Lord Almighty said, ‘Yes, I will certainly punish them! Their young men will die as they fight in war. Their children will be so hungry that they die. ²³ All those men in Anathoth who wanted to kill you will die. At the right time, I will punish them with great trouble.’

¹⁶ Jesus then said to his disciples, ‘Listen well. I am sending you to people who will want to kill you. You will be like sheep among wild animals. You must watch carefully, like snakes do. But you must also be good and kind like doves.

¹⁷ Be careful! People will be against you. They will take you to stand in front of their leaders. They will punish you with whips in their meeting places. ¹⁸ They will take you to stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. You will tell all these important people and also the Gentiles the good news about me. ¹⁹ When they take you to stand in front of their leaders, do not be afraid. Do not worry about what you should say or how you should say it. At that time, God will give you the right words to speak. ²⁰ You will not be speaking your own words. The Holy Spirit of your Father God will give you his own words to say.

²¹ At that time, a man will let people kill his own brother. A father will let people kill his own child. Children will be against their parents. They will even ask people to kill their parents. ²² All people will hate you because you are my disciples. But God will save the person who remains strong until the end.

God makes his people strong^[a]

A song to sing as we climb.

¹² So be strong as servants of God! If your hands feel weak, lift them up! If your knees are not strong, stand up straight! ¹³ Walk straight in front of you, step by step! Your example will help other Christians to serve God well. People who cannot walk well will not become worse and fall down. Instead, their legs will become strong again.^[a]

We must not refuse to do what God says

¹⁴ Do everything that you can to live in peace with other people. Make yourself separate from bad things. Nobody will see the Lord unless their life is good and clean. ¹⁵ Remember that God is very kind. Nobody should refuse to let God help them. Make sure that nobody among you causes trouble so that people turn against God. A person who is angry against God is like poison. He spoils many other people's lives so that God does not accept them.

¹⁶ Make sure that nobody among you has sex in a wrong way. Be careful that nobody is careless about God's rules, like Esau was long ago.^[b] He gave away everything that he would have received as his father's first son. He gave it all away so that he could get only one meal. ¹⁷ As you know, after that, he still wanted to receive those good things from his father. He wanted his father to ask God to bless him. But his father refused to do that. Esau cried very much when he asked his father to give him those good things. But there was no way that Esau could change what he had done.

A picture of two mountains

¹⁸ You have come near to God. But you have not come to a place that you can touch, like Sinai mountain.^[c] That mountain burned with fire. But where the people stood, it was completely dark. They could not see at all. There was also a very strong wind and a storm. ¹⁹ There was the loud sound of a trumpet. There was a powerful voice that spoke to them. When the people heard that voice, they were very afraid. So they asked that the voice would not speak to them any more. ²⁰ They were very afraid of what God had told them. God had said, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, you must kill it with stones.’ ²¹ Even Moses was very afraid when he saw God's great power. He said, ‘I am full of fear!’

²² But as believers in Christ, you have not come to God in that way. You have come to Mount Zion.^[d] You have come to the city of the true God who lives. You have come to the city of Jerusalem that is in heaven. There are many thousands of happy angels all together in that place. ²³ All God's people meet together there. They are like his most important sons. They belong in heaven because God has written down their names. You have come to God himself, who will judge all people. You have come to the place where the spirits of God's people are. Those people have become right with God. God has now finished his work in them. ²⁴ You have come to Jesus, who brought the new agreement from God to his people. In that agreement, the blood of Jesus' death makes us clean from our sins. It tells us that God has forgiven us. When Cain killed his brother Abel, Abel's blood brought God's punishment. So we see that Jesus' blood brought us something much better than that.^[e]