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8 How can you say, “We are wise!
We have the law of the Lord”?
The truth is,[a] those who teach it[b] have used their writings
to make it say what it does not really mean.[c]
9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.[d]
Since they have rejected the Lord’s message,
what wisdom do they really have?
10 [e] So I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
For from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike
all practice deceit.
11 They offer only superficial help
for the hurt my dear people[f] have suffered.[g]
They say, “Everything will be all right!”
But everything is not all right.[h]
12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?
No, they are not at all ashamed!
They do not even know how to blush.
So they will die just like others have died.[i]
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,
says the Lord.
13 I will take away their harvests,[j] says the Lord.
There will be no grapes on their vines.
There will be no figs on their fig trees.
Even the leaves on their trees will wither.
The crops that I gave them will be taken away.’”[k]
Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction
14 The people say,[l]
“Why are we just sitting here?
Let us gather together inside the fortified cities.[m]
Let us at least die there fighting,[n]
since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.
He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment[o]
because we have sinned against him.[p]
15 We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it.
We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror.[q]
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses
is already being heard in the city of Dan.
The sound of the neighing of their stallions[r]
causes the whole land to tremble with fear.
They are coming to destroy the land and everything in it.
They are coming to destroy[s] the cities and everyone who lives in them.”
17 The Lord says,[t]
“Yes indeed,[u] I am sending an enemy against you
that will be like poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed away.[v]
And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.”[w]
18 Then I said,[x]
“There is no cure[y] for my grief!
I am sick at heart!
19 I hear my dear people[z] crying out[aa]
throughout the length and breadth of the land.[ab]
They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her divine King[ac] no longer there?’”
The Lord answers,[ad]
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?[ae]
20 They cry,[af] ‘Harvest time has come and gone and the summer is over,[ag]
and still we have not been delivered.’
21 My heart is crushed because my dear people[ah] are being crushed.[ai]
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.[aj]
22 There is still medicinal ointment[ak] available in Gilead!
There is still a physician there![al]
Why then have my dear people[am]
not been restored to health?[an]
9 (8:23)[ao] I wish that my head were a well full of water[ap]
and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!
If they were, I could cry day and night
for those of my dear people[aq] who have been killed.
2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the wilderness
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.[ar]
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation[as] of people that has been disloyal to him.”[at]
The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them
3 The Lord says,[au]
“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.
Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies.[av]
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have not done so by honest means.[aw]
Indeed, they do one evil thing after another[ax]
and do not pay attention to me.[ay]
4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.
He must not even trust any of his relatives.[az]
For every one of them will find some way to cheat him.[ba]
And all his friends will tell lies about him.
5 One friend deceives another
and no one tells the truth.
These people have trained themselves[bb] to tell lies.
They do wrong and are unable to repent.
6 They do one act of violence after another,
and one deceitful thing after another.[bc]
They refuse to pay attention to me,”[bd]
says the Lord.
7 Therefore the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:[be]
“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction[bf] and test them.
The wickedness of my dear people[bg] has left me no choice.
What else can I do?[bh]
8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows.[bi]
They are always telling lies.[bj]
Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths,
but their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.[bk]
9 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.
“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!”[bl]
The Coming Destruction Calls For Mourning
10 I said,[bm]
“I will weep and mourn[bn] for the grasslands on the mountains;[bo]
I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness
because they are so scorched no one travels through them.
The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.
Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields
have fled and are gone.”
11 The Lord said,[bp]
“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
Jackals will make their home there.[bq]
I will destroy the towns of Judah
so that no one will be able to live in them.”
12 I said,[br]
“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?[bs]
Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it?[bt]
Why does the land lie in ruins?
Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”
13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because these people have rejected my laws that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws.[bu] 14 Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to[bv] the gods called Baal,[bw] as their fathers[bx] taught them to do. 15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,[by] say,[bz] ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.[ca] 16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors[cb] have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords[cc] until I have destroyed them.’”[cd]
17 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies[ce] told me to say to this people:[cf]
“Take note of what I say.[cg]
Call for the women who mourn for the dead!
Summon those who are the most skilled at it!”[ch]
18 I said, “Indeed,[ci] let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us.
Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes
and our eyelids overflow with water.
19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion,
‘We are utterly ruined![cj] We are completely disgraced!
For we have left our land,
for our houses have been torn down!’”[ck]
20 I said,[cl]
“So now,[cm] you wailing women, listen to the Lord’s message.[cn]
Open your ears to the message from his mouth.
Teach your daughters this mournful song,
and let every woman teach her neighbor this lament.
21 ‘Death has climbed in[co] through our windows.
It has entered into our fortified houses.
It has taken away our children who play in the streets.
It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’
22 Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says:
“The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere
like manure scattered on a field.
They will lie scattered on the ground
like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’”[cp]
23 [cq] The Lord says,
“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.
Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful.[cr]
Rich people should not boast that they are rich.[cs]
24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,”[ct]
says the Lord.
25 The Lord says, “Watch out![cu] The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh.[cv] 26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples.[cw] I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight.[cx] Moreover, none of the people of Israel[cy] are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.”[cz]
Exhortations to Seek the Things Above
3 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ (who is your[a] life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. 5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth:[b] sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion,[c] evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.[d] 7 You also lived your lives[e] in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 8 But now, put off all such things[f] as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices 10 and have been clothed with the new man[g] that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave[h] or free, but Christ is all and in all.
Exhortation to Unity and Love
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy,[i] kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving[j] one another, if someone happens to have[k] a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.[l] 14 And to all these[m] virtues[n] add[o] love, which is the perfect bond.[p] 15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body[q] to this peace), and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ[r] dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace[s] in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
32 Despite all this, they continued to sin,
and did not trust him to do amazing things.[a]
33 So he caused them to die unsatisfied[b]
and filled with terror.[c]
34 When he struck them down,[d] they sought his favor;[e]
they turned back and longed for God.
35 They remembered that God was their protector,[f]
and that God Most High[g] was their deliverer.[h]
36 But they deceived him with their words,[i]
and lied to him.[j]
37 They were not really committed to him,[k]
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he is compassionate.
He forgives sin and does not destroy.
He often holds back his anger,
and does not stir up his fury.[l]
39 He remembered[m] that they were made of flesh,
and were like a wind that blows past and does not return.[n]
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
and insulted him[o] in the wastelands.
41 They again challenged God,[p]
and offended[q] the Holy One of Israel.[r]
42 They did not remember what he had done,[s]
how he delivered them from the enemy,[t]
43 when he performed his awesome deeds[u] in Egypt,
and his acts of judgment[v] in the region of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them,[w]
as well as frogs that overran their land.[x]
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.
48 He rained hail down on their cattle,[y]
and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.[z]
49 His raging anger lashed out against them.[aa]
He sent fury, rage, and trouble
as messengers who bring disaster.[ab]
50 He sent his anger in full force.[ac]
He did not spare them from death;
he handed their lives over to destruction.[ad]
51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power[ae] in the tents of Ham.
52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;
he led them through the wilderness like a flock.
53 He guided them safely along, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountainous land[af] that his right hand[ag] acquired.
55 He drove the nations out from before them;
he assigned them their tribal allotments[ah]
and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.[ai]
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