Old/New Testament
Yahweh Disciplines Israel
6 “Flee for safety, O sons of (A)Benjamin,
From the midst of Jerusalem!
Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa
And raise a signal over [a](B)Beth-haccerem,
For evil looks down from the (C)north,
As well as great destruction.
2 The comely and (D)delicate one, (E)the daughter of Zion, I will ruin.
3 (F)Shepherds and their flocks will come to her;
They will (G)pitch their tents [b]around her;
They will pasture each in his [c]place.
4 (H)Set yourselves apart for war against her;
Arise, and let us go up at (I)noon.
Woe to us, for the day declines,
For the shadows of the evening stretch out!
5 Arise, and let us go up by night
And [d](J)destroy her [e]palaces!”
6 For thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“(K)Cut down her trees
And cast up a (L)siege against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
In whose midst there is only (M)oppression.
7 (N)Like a well [f]keeps its waters fresh,
So she [g]keeps fresh her evil.
(O)Violence and devastation are heard in her;
(P)Sickness and wounds are continually before Me.
8 (Q)Heed discipline, O Jerusalem,
Lest (R)My soul become disgusted at you,
Lest I make you a desolation,
A land not inhabited.”
9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“They will (S)thoroughly glean as the vine the (T)remnant of Israel;
Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer
Over the branches.”
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning
That they may hear?
Behold, their (U)ears are uncircumcised,
And they cannot give heed.
Behold, (V)the word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.
11 But I am (W)full of the wrath of Yahweh;
I am (X)weary of holding it in.
“(Y)Pour it out on the infants in the street
And on the [h]gathering of choice men together;
For both husband and wife shall be captured,
The aged with the one full of days.
12 Their (Z)houses shall be turned over to others,
Their fields and their wives together,
For I will (AA)stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh.
13 “For (AB)from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is (AC)greedy for gain,
And from the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices lying.
14 They have (AD)healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
15 Were they (AE)ashamed because of the abomination they have done?
They were not even ashamed at all;
They did not even know how to feel dishonor.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says Yahweh.
16 Thus says Yahweh,
“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the (AF)ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And (AG)you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 And I set (AH)watchmen over you, saying,
‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 (AI)Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil on this people,
The (AJ)fruit of their [i]plans,
Because they have not given heed to My words,
And as for My law, they have (AK)rejected it also.
20 (AL)For what purpose does (AM)frankincense come to Me from Sheba
And the [j](AN)sweet cane from a distant land?
(AO)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”
21 Therefore, thus says Yahweh,
“Behold, (AP)I am [k]laying stumbling blocks before this people.
And they will stumble against them,
(AQ)Fathers and sons together;
Neighbor and [l]friend will perish.”
Mourn the Coming Destroyer
22 Thus says Yahweh,
“Behold, (AR)a people is coming from the land of the north,
And a great nation will be aroused from the (AS)remote parts of the earth.
23 They take hold of (AT)bow and spear;
They are (AU)cruel and have no compassion;
Their voice (AV)roars like the sea,
And they ride on horses,
Arranged as a man for the battle
Against you, O daughter of Zion!”
24 We have (AW)heard the report of it;
Our hands are limp.
(AX)Distress has taken hold of us,
Pain as of a woman in childbirth.
25 (AY)Do not go out into the field
And (AZ)do not walk on the road,
For the enemy has a sword;
(BA)Terror is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, (BB)gird yourself with sackcloth
And (BC)roll in ashes;
[m](BD)Mourn as for an only son,
A lamentation most bitter.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come upon us.
27 “I have (BE)made you a tester of metals and [n]an assayer among My people,
That you may know and test their way.”
28 All of them are rebelliously stubborn,
(BF)Going about as a slanderer.
They are (BG)bronze and iron;
They, all of them, are corrupt.
29 The bellows blow fiercely;
The lead [o]is consumed by the fire;
In vain the refining goes on,
But the (BH)evil ones are not [p]separated.
30 (BI)They call them rejected silver
Because (BJ)Yahweh has rejected them.
Yahweh’s Warning from the Temple Gate
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “(BK)Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and you shall call out there this word, and you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship Yahweh!’” 3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “(BL)Make your ways and your deeds good, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 (BM)Do not trust in lying words, saying, ‘[q]This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.’ 5 For (BN)if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly (BO)do justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the [r](BP)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed (BQ)innocent blood in this place, nor (BR)walk after other gods to your own evil demise, 7 then I will let you (BS)dwell in this place, in the (BT)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold, you are trusting in (BU)lying words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear while lying, and (BV)burn incense to Baal and walk after (BW)other gods that you have not known, 10 then (BX)come and stand before Me in (BY)this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has (BZ)this house, which is called by My name, become a (CA)robbers’ den in your sight? Behold, (CB)I, even I, have seen it,” declares Yahweh.
12 “But go now to My place which was in (CC)Shiloh, where I (CD)made My name dwell at the first, and (CE)see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,” declares Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, (CF)rising up early and (CG)speaking, but you did not hear, and I (CH)called you but you did not answer, 14 therefore, I will do to the (CI)house which is called by My name, (CJ)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I (CK)did to Shiloh. 15 I will (CL)cast you out of My presence, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the seed of (CM)Ephraim.
16 “As for you, (CN)do not pray for this people and do not lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them and do not intercede with Me, for I am not hearing you. 17 Are you not seeing what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The [s]children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they (CO)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to (CP)provoke Me. 19 (CQ)Do they provoke Me?” declares Yahweh. “Is it not themselves they provoke to the (CR)shame of their own face?” 20 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, My (CS)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the (CT)trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”
21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your (CU)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and (CV)eat flesh. 22 For I did not (CW)speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this is [t]what I commanded them, saying, ‘(CX)Listen to My voice, and (CY)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in the entire way which I command you, that it may (CZ)be well with you.’ 24 Yet they (DA)did not listen or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart and [u](DB)went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have (DC)sent you all My slaves the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but (DD)stiffened their neck; they (DE)did more evil than their fathers.
27 “You shall (DF)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will (DG)not answer you. 28 You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that (DH)did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God or receive discipline; [v](DI)truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
29 (DJ)Cut off [w]your hair and cast it away,
And (DK)lift up a funeral lamentation on the bare heights;
For Yahweh has (DL)rejected and abandoned
The generation of His wrath.’
30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares Yahweh, “they have (DM)set their detestable things in the house, which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 They have (DN)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to (DO)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I (DP)did not command, and it did not come upon My heart.
32 “(DQ)Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will (DR)bury in Topheth [x]because there is no other place. 33 The (DS)dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will make to (DT)cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the (DU)land will become a waste place.
The Faithlessness of Jerusalem
8 “At that time,” declares Yahweh, “they will (DV)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 And they will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the (DW)host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered (DX)or buried; (DY)they will be as dung on the face of the ground. 3 And (DZ)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the (EA)places to which I have banished them,” declares Yahweh of hosts.
4 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh,
“Do men (EB)fall and not get up again?
Does one turn away and not [y]turn back?
5 Why then has this people, Jerusalem,
[z](EC)Turned away in continual faithlessness?
They (ED)hold fast to deceit;
They (EE)refuse to return.
6 I (EF)have given heed and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
(EG)No man regretted his evil,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his course,
Like a (EH)horse charging into the battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
(EI)Knows her seasons;
And the (EJ)turtledove and the swift and the crane
Keep the time of their [aa]migration;
But (EK)My people do not know
The legal judgment of Yahweh.
8 “(EL)How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the law of Yahweh is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men are (EM)put to shame;
They are dismayed and captured;
Behold, they have (EN)rejected the word of Yahweh,
And what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will (EO)give their wives to others,
Their fields to [ab]new possessors,
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is (EP)greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices lying.
11 They (EQ)heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
12 Were they (ER)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They certainly were not ashamed,
And they did not know how to feel dishonor;
Therefore they shall (ES)fall among those who fall;
At the (ET)time of their [ac]punishment they shall be brought down,”
Says Yahweh.
13 “I will (EU)surely gather them up,” declares Yahweh;
“There will be (EV)no grapes on the vine
And (EW)no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
14 Why are we sitting still?
(EX)Gather yourselves, and let us (EY)go into the fortified cities
And let us be silent there
Because Yahweh our God has silenced us
And given us [ad](EZ)poisoned water to drink,
For (FA)we have sinned against Yahweh.
15 We (FB)waited for peace, but there was no good;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
16 From (FC)Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his (FD)valiant steeds
The whole land quakes;
And they come and (FE)devour the land as well as its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
17 “For behold, I am (FF)sending serpents against you,
Vipers, for which there is (FG)no charm,
And they will bite you,” declares Yahweh.
Sorrow over Zion
18 [ae]My (FH)sorrow is beyond healing;
My (FI)heart is faint within me!
19 Behold, the sound! The cry of the daughter of my people from a (FJ)distant land:
“Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they (FK)provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with foreign [af](FL)idols?”
20 “Harvest is past, summer is ended,
And we are not saved.”
21 For the (FM)brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;
I (FN)mourn, desolation has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no (FO)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
(FP)Why then has not the [ag]health of the daughter of my people gone up?
Honor Widows
5 (A)Do not sharply rebuke an (B)older man, but rather plead with him as a father, to (C)the younger men as brothers, 2 the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.
3 Honor widows who are (D)widows indeed, 4 but if any widow has children or grandchildren, (E)they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to [a]make some return to their parents; for this is (F)acceptable in the sight of God. 5 Now she who is a (G)widow indeed and who has been left alone, (H)has fixed her hope on God and continues in (I)petitions and prayers night and day. 6 But she who (J)lives in self-indulgence is (K)dead even while she lives. 7 (L)And command these things as well, so that they may be above reproach. 8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has (M)denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 A widow is to be (N)put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been (O)the wife of one man, 10 having a reputation for (P)good works; if she has brought up children, if she has (Q)shown hospitality to strangers, if she (R)has washed the [b]saints’ feet, if she has (S)assisted those in affliction, if she has devoted herself to every good work. 11 But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel (T)sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, 12 thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous [c]pledge. 13 And at the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house. And not merely idle, but also (U)gossips and (V)busybodies, talking about (W)things not proper to mention. 14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get (X)married, bear children, (Y)keep house, and (Z)give the enemy no opportunity for reviling, 15 for some (AA)have already turned aside after (AB)Satan. 16 If any believing woman (AC)has widows, she must (AD)assist them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are (AE)widows indeed.
Honoring the Elders
17 (AF)The elders who (AG)lead well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who (AH)labor [d]at preaching the word and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “(AI)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing,” and “(AJ)The laborer is worthy of his wages.” 19 Do not receive an accusation against an (AK)elder except on the basis of (AL)two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, (AM)reprove in the presence of all, (AN)so that the rest also will be fearful. 21 (AO)I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His elect angels, to observe these instructions without bias, doing nothing in partiality. 22 (AP)Do not lay hands upon anyone hastily and [e]thereby share (AQ)responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself pure.
23 No longer drink water only, but (AR)use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
24 The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins (AS)follow after. 25 So also good works are quite evident, and (AT)those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.
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