Old/New Testament
God speaks to Jeremiah
1 This book tells about Hilkiah's son, Jeremiah, and the words that he spoke. Jeremiah was a priest. He lived at Anathoth, a town in the land that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. 2 The Lord first spoke to him when Amon's son Josiah had been king of Judah for 13 years.[a] 3 The Lord also spoke to him while Josiah's son, Jehoiakim, ruled Judah as king. He continued to speak to Jeremiah until Josiah's son Zedekiah had ruled Judah for 11 years. In the fifth month of that year, Judah's enemies took the people of Jerusalem away as their prisoners.
God chooses Jeremiah to be a prophet
4 The Lord gave me this message: 5 ‘I already knew you before I made you inside your mother's body. I chose you to be special before you were born. I chose you to be my prophet, to speak my message to other nations.’
6 I answered, ‘Lord God, I do not know how to speak. I am only a child.’
7 The Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone that I send you to. You must say whatever I tell you to say. 8 Do not be afraid of them. Remember that I will be with you. I will keep you safe.’
9 Then the Lord touched my mouth with his hand. He said to me, ‘I am giving you the words that you must speak. 10 Look! I give you authority to tell nations and kingdoms what will happen to them. You will pull some of them out of the ground, like a plant and its roots. You will knock down and destroy some of them. You will bring an end to their power. But you will build up other nations and make them strong.’
The Lord shows Jeremiah two visions
11 The Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’
I replied, ‘I see the branch of an almond tree.’
12 The Lord said, ‘Yes, that is correct. I am watching carefully to make sure that what I say will happen really happens.’[b]
13 The Lord asked me again. ‘What do you see?’
I replied, ‘I see in the north a pot with boiling water in it. It will pour its water in this direction.’
The Lord said, 14 ‘Yes, trouble like boiling water will come from the north. It will destroy all the people who live in this land. 15 I will call all the nations that are in the north to come here. Their kings will come and they will sit on their thrones at the city gates of Jerusalem. Their armies will be all around the walls of Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. 16 I will punish my people for the wicked things that they have done. They have turned away from me. They have offered sacrifices to false gods. They have worshipped idols that they have made with their own hands.
17 You must be ready to move, Jeremiah! Go and say to the people whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of them. If you are afraid of them now, when you are among them, I will cause you to be very frightened! 18 I, the Lord, promise that I will make you as strong as a city with strong walls around it. You will be as strong as an iron pillar, or a wall that is made of bronze. You will speak a message against the whole nation of Judah. You will speak against its kings, its officers, its priests and all its people. 19 They will attack you. But they will not win against you, because I will be with you. I will keep you safe.
That is what the Lord says.’
Israel's people have turned against the Lord
2 The Lord spoke to me again. 2 He said, ‘Go and tell this to the people in Jerusalem:
“This is what the Lord says:
I remember how you used to love me when you were young.
You loved me as a young wife loves her husband.
You followed me through the wilderness,
where no crops were growing.
3 At that time, Israel belonged to me as my special people.
They were like the first crops that grew on my land.
I promised to punish anyone who tried to hurt them.
I sent great trouble to those who attacked you.
That is what I, the Lord, have said.” ’
4 Listen to what the Lord says, you descendants of Jacob, all you families in Israel. 5 This is the Lord's message to you:
‘I had done nothing wrong against your ancestors,
but they turned away from me.
Instead, they worshipped useless idols.
So they themselves became useless.
6 They did not think to themselves,
“Where is the Lord?
We should ask him to help us.
He brought us safely out of Egypt.
He led us through the wilderness.
It was a place with dry sand and deep holes.
There was no water there and it was dangerous.
Nobody lives in that desert,
and nobody even travels through it.”
7 But I, the Lord, brought you to a good land.
It was a place where fruit grew on trees.
You could eat all those good things,
as well as the crops that you grew there.
You came into the land that I had promised to give to you.
But you spoiled it with your sins.
You made it a disgusting place.
8 Your priests did not ask, “Where is the Lord?”
The people who taught my laws did not know me.
Your leaders turned against me.
Your prophets spoke messages from Baal.
They worshipped useless idols.’
9 So the Lord says this:
‘Because of your sins, I will speak against you in court.
I will show that you are guilty,
as well as your children and your grandchildren.
10 No other nation has done what you have done!
Send people across the sea to islands in the west.
Or send them to the deserts in the east.
Let them find out if any other people have done this terrible thing.
11 Have any other nations turned against their gods?
No! They have not done that, even to their false gods!
But my people have turned against me,
the true God who makes them great.’
12 The Lord says,
‘The whole universe should see how terrible this is.
Yes, everything should shake with fear!
13 My people have done two evil things:
I give them life, like a spring of fresh water,
but they have turned away from me.
Instead, they have tried to get water for themselves.
They have dug holes in the ground to store it.
But those holes cannot hold the water.
It quickly runs away.
14 Israel's people are surely not slaves.
They were not born as slaves.
But their enemies have taken them away as prisoners.
15 Their enemies have attacked them like lions.
They have destroyed my people's land.
They have destroyed your cities with fire.
Nobody lives in them any more.
16 Soldiers from Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skulls![c]
17 You Israelites have caused this to happen.
The Lord your God was leading you on the right way.
But you decided not to follow him any longer.
18 So what help will you get from Egypt?
If you drink water from the Nile river,
will that make you strong? No!
And what help will you get from Assyria?
If you drink water from the Euphrates river,
will that make you strong? No!
19 The wicked things that you have done will punish you.
You are guilty because you have turned away from me.
You have brought terrible trouble on yourselves,
because you have turned against me, the Lord your God.
Because you no longer respect me,
you will realize that you are in great trouble.’
That is what the Lord God Almighty says.
20 ‘A long time ago, you stopped obeying me.
You refused to accept my authority.
You said, “I will not serve you!”
Instead, you go up on the hills to worship other gods.
You lie down under the green trees,
and you live like prostitutes.
21 I planted you in my land,
like the very good seed of a vine.
But see how you have changed!
You have become like a wild vine.
Your grapes are bad and useless.
22 You may use strong soap to make yourselves clean.
But I still see the dirt of your sins.’
That is what the Almighty Lord says.
23 ‘You say, “We have not made ourselves unclean.
We do not worship the idols of Baal.”
But remember what you have done in the valleys.[d]
You hurry to find another idol that you can worship.
Like a female camel, you cannot control yourselves.
24 You are like a wild female donkey that lives in the wilderness.
She lifts her nose to smell the air.
She wants to find a male donkey.
Nobody can control her.
Male donkeys do not have to chase her.
She will come to them to have sex with them.
You are like that as you chase after false gods.
25 Stop running after them!
Your feet will hurt and you will become very thirsty.
You say, “Do not try to stop us! We cannot turn back.
We love foreign gods and we must serve them!”
26 A robber is ashamed when people catch him.
The people of Israel will become ashamed like that.
They will all be ashamed of their sins.
Their kings, their officers, their priests and their prophets are all guilty.
27 They worship a piece of wood,
and they say, “You are my father.”
They say to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
They have not turned to come to me.
Instead, they have turned away from me.
But when trouble comes to them,
they call out to me to rescue them.
28 But where are the gods that you made for yourselves?
Ask them to save you when trouble comes!
You have enough gods to give you help.
Yes, people of Judah,
your gods are as many as your towns!
29 You cannot argue against me.
You have all turned against me.’
That is what the Lord says.
30 ‘When I punished your people,
they did not change how they lived.
When I sent my prophets to you,
you killed them as if you were a hungry lion.’
31 Listen to the Lord's message, you people who are alive today:
‘People of Israel, why do you not trust me?
Have I become like a desert for you?
Have I become a dark and dangerous land for you to live in?
No! But you say, “We are free to go where we like.
We do not need to serve you any more.”
32 A young woman does not forget to wear her jewels.
When a woman marries,
she does not forget to wear her special dress.
But for many years, my people have forgotten me.
33 You are very clever. You can always find someone to love.
Even prostitutes could learn something from you!
34 You have been cruel to poor people for no reason.
Your clothes have their blood on them!
They had not robbed you,
but you still killed them.
You have done all these bad things, but still you say,
35 “We have not done anything that is wrong.
God cannot be angry with us!”
Be careful! I will surely punish you,
because you say, “I am not guilty of any sin.”
36 You try to get help from other nations.
You run here and there to make new friends.
You hoped for help from Assyria,
but no help came.
And you will get no help from Egypt either.
37 You will come away from Egypt with your hands on your heads.
You will be ashamed and upset.
The Lord has turned away from those nations.
You have trusted them to help you,
But you will not receive any help from them.’
Leaders of the church
3 These words are true: ‘If you want to become a leader of God's people, it is an important work that you want to do.’ 2 For that reason, a leader of the church must live a life that everyone knows is good. He must be the husband of one wife. He must think seriously about how he lives and he must control himself well. He must be someone that people respect. He must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must be a good teacher. 3 He should not drink too much wine. He must not get angry quickly or quarrel with people. Instead he should be kind to people. He must not want lots of money. 4 He must take care of his own family. His children must obey him and respect him. 5 A man must know how to take care of his own family. If he cannot do that, he will not be able to take care of God's people in the church.
6 A leader of the church must not be someone who has believed in Christ for only a short time. Someone like that might boast that he is great and important. Then he would receive punishment, as the Devil did. 7 Also, people outside the church should agree that the leader is a good person. Then nobody can say anything bad against him. And so, he will not come under the Devil's power.[a]
Helpers in the church
8 In the same way, deacons must live good lives, so that people respect them. They must not be hypocrites. They must not drink too much wine. They must not want to get a lot of money for themselves. 9 They must completely believe the true message that God has shown us about Christ. They must be sure in their minds about it. 10 Before anyone becomes a deacon, you must first test their character. If they are good enough, then let them serve God as deacons.
11 Deacons' wives must live good lives, so that people respect them.[b] They must not say bad things against people. They must think carefully about how they live. People should know that they are honest in everything they do.
12 A deacon must be the husband of one wife. He must take care of his children and everyone who lives in his house. 13 If a deacon serves God's people well, then people will respect him as a good person. He will become strong to tell people about his faith in Christ Jesus.
14 I hope to come to visit you soon. But anyway, I want to write these things to you now. 15 Then, even if I cannot come to you soon, you will know how people in God's family should live. That family is the church of God, who lives for ever. God's family, the church, teaches God's true message and keeps it safe.
16 Yes, the message that God has shown us about Jesus Christ is very great. We all agree to this:
God showed him to us as a man.
God's Spirit showed that he always did what was right.
Angels saw him.
People taught his message in many countries of the world.
People in the world believed in him.
God took him up to be with himself in heaven.[c]
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