The Daily Audio Bible
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A Clay Jar
19 This is what the Lord says.
Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and some of the priests. 2 Go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I will tell you.
3 Say this to them:
Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and you who live in Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.
Watch out! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it ring, 4 because they have forsaken me and have defiled this place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 They have built high places to Baal and burned their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, and which did not enter my mind. 6 So listen to this. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 I will ruin[a] the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who seek their lives. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the land. 8 I will make this city desolate, and I will make it a target of contempt. Everyone who passes by will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds. 9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat one another’s flesh during the pressure from the siege that their enemies, those who want to kill them, will bring upon them.
10 Then break the jar in the sight of the men who are with you. 11 Tell them this is what the Lord of Armies says.
This is how I will break this people and this city, like a potter’s jar that is so smashed that it cannot be made whole again. They will bury people in Topheth until there is no place left to bury. 12 This is what I will do to this place, says the Lord, and to those who live here: I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become defiled—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the army of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to other gods. They will all be defiled like that place Topheth.
14 Then Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the House of the Lord and said to all the people: 15 “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. I will certainly bring on this city and on all its towns every disaster that I have proclaimed against it, because they have become stiff-necked, refusing to hear my words.”
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who served as the chief officer in the House of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying about these things, 2 Pashhur ordered them to beat Jeremiah the prophet, and he put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the House of the Lord.
3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor Missabib,[b] 4 for this is what the Lord says: I will certainly make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry the people captive to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword. 5 Also, the riches of this city, all its property, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah—I will give it all away into the hands of their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. 6 As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon! You will die there, and you will be buried there, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.”
Jeremiah’s Confession
7 You persuaded me, Lord, and I agreed to it.[c]
You are stronger than I am, and you won out.
I have become a laughingstock all day long,
and everyone is mocking me.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out.
I cry out, “Violence and destruction!”
But the word of the Lord has brought scorn on me.
I am mocked all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak in his name anymore,”
then there is a burning fire in my heart,
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary of holding it in.
I cannot!
10 I hear many whispering,
“Terror on every side!”
All my close friends,
those who are watching for my fall, say,
“Denounce him! Let’s denounce him.
Perhaps he can be pressured into making a mistake.
Then we will have the upper hand against him,
and we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me like a terrifying warrior.
So my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not gain the upper hand.
They will be put to shame completely,
because they have not been successful.
Their eternal disgrace will never be forgotten.
12 Lord of Armies, you test the righteous.
You see the heart and the mind.
Let me see your vengeance on them,
for I have laid out my case before you.
13 Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord,
for he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of the wicked.
A Curse
14 May the day I was born be cursed.
Do not let the day my mother gave birth to me be blessed.
15 May the man be cursed who brought news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
the man who brought him great joy.
16 Let that man be like the cities the Lord overthrew without pity.
Let him hear a cry in the morning,
an alarm for war at noon,
17 because he did not put me to death in the womb,
so that my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb would have been pregnant forever.
18 Why did I emerge from that womb
to see trouble and sorrow,
to finish my days in shame?
The Lord Rejects King Zedekiah
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah along with Zephaniah the priest, the son of Ma’aseiah,[d] to speak to Jeremiah. They said, 2 “Inquire of the Lord for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform some of his wonders on our behalf as he did in the past, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”
3 But Jeremiah answered them:
Tell Zedekiah that 4 the Lord, the God of Israel, says this.
I will certainly turn the weapons of war in your hands against you, the ones you are using to fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans,[e] who are outside your wall besieging you. And I will bring them inside this city.
5 I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with furious anger and great wrath. 6 I will strike those who live in this city, both man and animal. They will die of a terrible plague. 7 Afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, those who serve him, and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword, and famine. I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their lives. He will strike them with the sword. He will show them no compassion, no pity, and no mercy.
8 Tell this people this is what the Lord says. I will certainly set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but all those who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will escape with their lives. 10 For I have set my face against this city to bring harm and not good, says the Lord. The city will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it up with fire.
11 Concerning the house of the king of Judah, this is the word of the Lord. 12 The Lord says that you, House of David, are to administer justice in the morning and deliver the victim of robbery from the hand of the oppressor, or my wrath will flare up like fire and burn so that no one can put it out, because of the evil you have done.
13 Look, I am against you, you who live in this valley in the rocky highlands, declares the Lord. I am against you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our homes?” 14 I will punish you according to what you have done, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in the forest, and it will consume everything around you.
4 But you, brothers, are not in the dark so that this day takes you by surprise like a thief, 5 for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep like everyone else, but rather let us remain alert and sober.
7 To be sure, those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 You see, God did not appoint us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are also doing.
Final Exhortations and Greetings
12 Brothers, we ask you to take note of those who work hard among you, who exercise leadership over you in the Lord, and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love, on account of their work. Live at peace with each other.
14 We also encourage you, brothers, to admonish those who are idle. Encourage those who are discouraged, help those who are weak, and be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil with evil, but instead, always strive to do good to each other and to everyone else.
16 Rejoice always. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not extinguish the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 But[a] test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Keep away from every kind[b] of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath to the Lord to read this letter to all the holy[c] brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Psalm 82
Woe to Corrupt Rulers
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.
Judgment on Corrupt Rulers
1 God is standing in the assembly of God.
In the midst of the gods[a] he renders judgment.
God’s Verdict
2 How long will you judge unjustly Interlude
and show favoritism to the wicked?
3 Judge in favor of the weak and the fatherless.
Acquit the oppressed and the poor.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy.
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know. They do not understand.
They walk around in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I myself said, “You are ‘gods,’
and you are all ‘sons of the Most High.’
7 But you will die like men.
You will fall like any other ruler.”
Prayer
8 Rise up, O God. Judge the earth,
for you will take possession of all the nations.
9 Argue your case with your neighbor,
but do not reveal someone else’s secret.
10 If you do, the person who hears it will shame you,
and your bad reputation will never leave you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.