Old/New Testament
Judah Is Unfaithful
3 “Now a man might divorce his wife.
And she might leave him and marry another man.
Should her first husband come back to her again?
If he went back to her, the land would become completely unclean.
But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers.
And now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord.
2 “Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.
Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute?
You have sat by the road waiting for lovers.
You sat there like an Arab in the desert.
You made the land unclean.
This was because you did evil and were like a prostitute.
3 So the rain has not come.
There have not been any spring rains.
But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute.
You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.
4 But now you are calling to me.
You say, ‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.
5 Will you always be angry at me?
Will your anger last forever?’
Judah, you say this,
but you do as much evil as you can!”
Judah and Israel Are like Sisters
6 When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord spoke to me. He said: “Jeremiah, you saw what unfaithful Israel did. She was guilty of adultery. She had idols on every hill and under every green tree. 7 I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she does this evil.’ But she didn’t come back to me. And Israel’s wicked sister Judah saw what Israel did. 8 Unfaithful Israel knew that I divorced her because of her adultery. But that didn’t make her wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute! 9 And she didn’t care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country unclean. She was guilty of adultery. This was because she worshiped idols made of stone and wood. 10 Israel’s wicked sister didn’t come back to me with her whole heart. She only pretended to come back to me,” says the Lord.
11 The Lord said to me, “Unfaithful Israel had a better excuse than wicked Judah. 12 Go and speak this message toward the north:
‘Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,’ says the Lord.
‘I will stop frowning at you.
I am full of mercy,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not be angry with you forever.
13 All you have to do is admit your sin.
You turned against the Lord your God.
You worshiped the false gods of other nations.
You worshiped them under every green tree.
You didn’t obey me,’” says the Lord.
14 “Come back to me, you unfaithful people,” says the Lord. “I am your husband. I will take one person from every city. And I will take two people from every family group. And I will bring you to Jerusalem. 15 Then I will give you new rulers. They will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days there will be many of you in the land,” says the Lord. “At that time people will no longer say, ‘I remember the Ark of the Covenant.’ They won’t even think about the Ark of the Covenant anymore. They won’t even remember or miss it or make another one. 17 At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the Lord. All nations will come together in Jerusalem to show respect to the Lord. They will not follow their stubborn, evil hearts anymore. 18 In those days the family of Judah will join the family of Israel. They will come together from a land in the north. They will come to the land I gave to their ancestors.
19 “I, the Lord, said,
‘How happy I would be to treat you as sons!
I would be glad to give you a pleasant land.
It’s a land more beautiful than that of any other nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’
and not turn away from me.
20 But like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband,
family of Israel, you have been unfaithful to me,” says the Lord.
21 You can hear crying on the bare hilltops.
The people of Israel are crying and praying for mercy.
They have become very evil.
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Come back to me, you unfaithful people of Israel.
Come back, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful.”
“Yes, we will come to you.
You are the Lord our God.
23 It was foolish to worship idols on the hills.
All the loud noises on the mountains were a lie.
Surely the salvation of Israel
comes from the Lord our God.
24 Since we were young, shameful gods have eaten up in sacrifice
everything our fathers worked for.
The shameful gods have taken our fathers’ sheep and cattle.
They have taken our fathers’ sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame.
And let our shame cover us like a blanket.
We have sinned against the Lord our God.
Both we and our fathers have sinned.
Since we were children and until now,
we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”
4 “If you will come back, Israel,
then come back to me,” says the Lord.
“Throw away your idols that I hate.
Don’t wander away from me.
2 Then you may say when you make a promise,
‘As surely as the Lord lives.’
And you can say it in a truthful, honest and right way.
Then the nations will be blessed by the Lord.
And they will praise the Lord for what he has done.”
3 This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Plow your unplowed fields.
Don’t plant seeds among the thorns.
4 Give yourselves to the service of the Lord.
Decide to obey him.
Do this, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem.
If you don’t, my anger will spread among you like a fire.
No one will be able to put it out
because of the evil you have done.
Trouble from the North
5 “Announce this message to Judah and say it in Jerusalem:
‘Blow the trumpet throughout the country!’
Shout out loud and say,
‘Come together!
Let’s all escape to the strong, walled cities!’
6 Raise the signal flag toward Jerusalem!
Run for your lives! And don’t wait!
Do this because I am bringing disaster from the north.
It will be terrible destruction.”
7 A lion has come out of his den.
A destroyer of nations has begun to march.
He has left his home
to destroy your land.
Your towns will be destroyed.
There will be no people left to live in them.
8 So put on rough cloth,
show how sad you are and cry loudly.
The terrible anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.
9 “When this happens,” says the Lord,
“the king and officers will lose their courage.
The priests will be terribly afraid.
And the prophets will be shocked!”
10 Then I, Jeremiah, said, “Lord God, you have tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem. You said, ‘You will have peace.’ But now the sword is pointing at our throats!”
11 At that time this message will be given to Judah and Jerusalem: “A hot wind blows from the bare hilltops. It comes out of the desert toward the Lord’s people. It is not like the gentle wind farmers use to separate grain from chaff. 12 It’s a stronger wind than that. And it comes from the Lord. Now he will announce his judgment against the people of Judah.”
13 Look! The enemy rises up like a cloud.
His chariots come like a windstorm.
His horses are faster than eagles.
How terrible it will be for us! We are ruined!
14 People of Jerusalem, clean the evil from your hearts and be saved.
Don’t continue making evil plans.
15 A voice from Dan makes an announcement.
From the mountains of Ephraim someone brings bad news.
16 “Report this to the nations.
Spread this news in Jerusalem:
‘Enemies are coming from a faraway country.
They are shouting words of war against the cities of Judah.
17 The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem as men guard a field.
This is because Judah turned against me,’” says the Lord.
18 “The way you have lived and acted
has brought this trouble to you.
This is your punishment.
How terrible it is!
The pain stabs your heart!”
Jeremiah’s Cry
19 Oh, how I hurt! How I hurt!
I am bent over in pain.
Oh, the torture in my heart!
My heart is pounding inside me.
I cannot keep quiet.
This is because I have heard the sound of the trumpet.
I have heard the words of war.
20 Disaster follows disaster.
The whole country has been destroyed.
My tents are destroyed in only a moment.
My curtains are torn down quickly.
21 How long must I look at the war flag?
How long must I listen to the war trumpets?
22 The Lord says, “My people are foolish.
They do not know me.
They are stupid children.
They don’t understand.
They are skillful at doing evil.
They don’t know how to do good.”
Disaster Is Coming
23 I looked at the earth.
It was empty and had no shape!
I looked at the sky.
And its light was gone.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were shaking!
All the hills were trembling.
25 I looked, and there were no people!
Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the good, rich land had become a desert!
All its towns had been destroyed.
The Lord and his great anger has caused this.
27 This is what the Lord says:
“All the land will be ruined.
But I will not completely destroy it.
28 So the people in the land will cry loudly.
And the sky will grow dark.
This is because I have spoken and will not change my mind.
I have made a decision, and I will not change it.”
29 The towns will hear the sound of the horsemen and soldiers with bows.
All the people will run away.
Some of them will hide in the thick bushes.
Some will climb up into the rocks.
All of the cities of Judah are empty.
No one lives in them.
30 Judah, you destroyed nation, what are you doing?
Why do you put on your finest dress?
Why do you put on your gold jewelry?
Why do you put on your eye shadow?
You make yourself beautiful, but it is all useless.
Your lovers hate you.
They want to kill you.
31 I hear a cry like a woman having a baby.
It is a cry like a woman having her first child.
It is the voice of Jerusalem gasping for breath.
She lifts her hands in prayer and says,
“Oh! I am about to faint.
They are about to murder me!”
No One Is Right
5 The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look around and think about these things.
Search the public squares of the city.
See if you can find one person who does honest things.
Find just one who searches for the truth.
If you can, I will forgive this city.
2 The people say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’
But they don’t really mean it.”
3 Lord, don’t you look for truth in people?
You hit the people of Judah.
But they didn’t feel any pain.
You crushed them,
but they refused to learn what is right.
They became more stubborn than a rock.
They refused to turn back to God.
4 But I thought,
“These are only the poor, foolish people.
They have not learned the way of the Lord.
They do not know what their God wants them to do.
5 So I will go to the leaders of Judah.
I will talk to them.
Surely they understand the way of the Lord.
They know what God wants them to do.”
But the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord.
They broke their ties with him.
6 So a lion from the forest will attack them.
A wolf from the desert will kill them.
A leopard is hiding and waiting for them near their towns.
It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city.
This will happen because the people of Judah have sinned greatly.
They have wandered away from the Lord many times.
7 The Lord said, “Tell me why I should forgive you.
Your children have left me.
They have made promises to idols that are not gods at all.
I gave your children everything they needed.
But they still were like an unfaithful wife to me.
They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.
8 They are like well-fed, male horses filled with sexual desire.
Each one wants another man’s wife.
9 Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“I should give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves.
10 “Go along and cut down Judah’s vineyards.
But do not completely destroy them.
Cut off all her people as if they were branches.
Do it because they do not belong to the Lord.
11 The families of Israel and Judah
have been completely unfaithful to me,” says the Lord!
12 Those people have lied about the Lord.
They have said, “The Lord will not do anything to us!
Nothing bad will happen to us.
We will never see war or hunger.
13 The prophets are like an empty wind.
The word of God is not in them.
Let these bad things they say happen to them.”
14 So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“The people said I would not punish them.
So, Jeremiah, the words I give you will be like fire.
And these people will be like wood the fire burns up.
15 Listen, family of Israel,” says the Lord.
“I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you.
It is an old nation that has lasted a long time.
The people there speak a language you do not know.
You cannot understand what they say.
16 Their arrows bring death.
All their men are strong warriors.
17 They will eat your crops and your food.
They will eat your sons and daughters.
They will eat your flocks and herds.
They will eat your grapes and figs.
They will destroy with their swords
the strong, walled cities you trust in!
18 “Yet even then,” says the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 The people of Judah will ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done this terrible thing to us?’ Give them this answer: ‘You have left the Lord. You have served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you!’
20 “Announce this message to the family of Jacob.
And tell it to the nation of Judah:
21 Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense.
You have eyes, but you don’t really see.
You have ears, but you don’t really listen.
22 Surely you are afraid of me,” says the Lord.
“You should shake with fear in my presence.
I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea.
They keep the water in its place forever.
The waves may pound the beach, but they can’t win over it.
The waves may roar,
but they cannot go beyond it.
23 But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me.
They have turned aside and gone away from me.
24 They do not say to themselves,
‘We should fear the Lord our God.
He gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons.
He makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.’
25 But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest.
Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.
26 There are wicked men among my people.
They are like men who make nets for catching birds.
But they set their traps to catch men instead of birds.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of lies.
They have become rich and powerful.
28 They have grown big and fat.
There is no end to the evil things they do.
They won’t plead the case of the orphan.
They won’t help the poor be judged fairly.
29 Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“I should give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves.
30 “A terrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land of Judah:
31 The prophets tell lies.
The priests take power into their own hands.
And my people love it this way.
But what will you do when the end comes?
A Warning About False Teachers
4 The Holy Spirit clearly says that in the later times some people will stop believing the true faith. They will obey spirits that lie and will follow the teachings of demons. 2 Such teachings come from hypocrites, men who cannot see what is right and what is wrong. It is as if their understanding were destroyed by a hot iron. 3 They tell people that it is wrong to marry. And they tell people that there are some foods that must not be eaten. But God made those foods, and the people who believe and who know the truth can eat those foods with thanks. 4 Everything that God made is good. Nothing that God made should be refused if it is accepted with thanks to God. 5 Everything God made is made holy by what God has said and by prayer.
Be a Good Servant of Christ
6 Tell these things to the brothers. This will show that you are a good servant of Christ Jesus. You will show that you are made strong by the words of faith and good teaching that you have been following. 7 People tell silly stories that do not agree with God’s truth. Do not follow what those stories teach. But teach yourself only to serve God. 8 Training your body helps you in some ways, but serving God helps you in every way. Serving God brings you blessings in this life and in the future life, too. 9 What I say is true, and you should fully accept it. 10 For this is why we work and struggle:[a] We hope in the living God. He is the Savior of all people. And in a very special way, he is the Savior of all who believe in him.
11 Command and teach these things. 12 You are young, but do not let anyone treat you as if you were not important. Be an example to show the believers how they should live. Show them with your words, with the way you live, with your love, with your faith, and with your pure life. 13 Continue to read the Scriptures to the people, strengthen them, and teach them. Do these things until I come. 14 Remember to use the gift that you have. That gift was given to you through a prophecy when the group of elders laid their hands on[b] you. 15 Continue to do those things. Give your life to doing them. Then everyone can see that your work is progressing. 16 Be careful in your life and in your teaching. Continue to live and teach rightly. Then you will save yourself and those people who listen to you.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.