Old/New Testament
Chapter 6[a]
Invasion and Destruction
1 O people of Jerusalem, flee for safety!
Depart immediately from Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet in Tekoa![b]
Raise a signal over Beth-haccherem!
For disaster looms from the north,
immense destruction will ensue.
2 The beautiful and delicate daughter Zion
faces imminent destruction.
3 Shepherds will advance against her with their flocks;
they will pitch their tents all around her,
each one grazing his own portion of the pasture.
4 “Prepare for war against her!
Arise! We will attack at noon.”
“It is now too late.
The daylight is fading,
and the evening shadows have begun to lengthen.”
5 “On your feet! Let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces.”
6 These are the words of the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees
and raise up siege-ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished,
for oppression is rampant within her.
7 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness.
Sounds of violence and destruction resound within her;
sickness and wounds are never out of my sight.
8 Heed my warning, O Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you in revulsion
and reduce you to a desert,
a desolate land where no man dwells.
9 These are the words of the Lord of hosts:
Glean thoroughly like a vine
the remnant of Israel.
Like one who picks the grapes,
pass your hand once again over its branches.
10 To whom should I speak and issue warning
so that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed,
and so they cannot pay heed
They regard the word of the Lord as offensive
and they take no pleasure in it.
11 However, I am filled with the wrath of the Lord,
and I am weary of holding it in.
I will pour it out on the children in the street
as well as on the gatherings of young men.
Both husband and wife will be taken,
the elderly and those far advanced in years.
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
against those who dwell in the land,
says the Lord.
13 For from the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain.
All of them practice fraud,
prophets and priests alike.
14 They treat the wound of my people
as though it were a minor bruise,
saying, “All is well,”
when in reality, disaster looms on the horizon.
15 They should be ashamed
because of their abominable deeds.
Yet they are never ashamed
they do not know how to blush.
Therefore, they will fall along with the others;
they will be cast down when I punish them,
says the Lord.
16 These are the words of the Lord of hosts:
Stand at the crossroads and look around;
ask for the ancient paths.
When you are shown where the good way lies,
walk along it and your souls will find rest.
However, they said, “We will not take it.”
17 I also posted sentinels for you and said,
“Listen to the sound of the trumpet!”
But they said, “We will not give it any heed.”
18 Therefore, hear, you nations,
and come to understand, you people,
the fate that will befall them.
19 Let all on earth come to understand
the extent of the disaster I will inflict on this people,
the inescapable fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words
and have rejected my law.
20 What use do I have for incense imported from Sheba
or fragrant cane from a distant land?
I do not regard your burnt offerings as acceptable,
nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21 Therefore, thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will now place obstacles before this people
that will cause them to stumble.
Fathers and sons, friends and neighbors,
will all perish together.
22 These are the words of the Lord of hosts:
Behold, a people is approaching
from the land of the north;
a great nation is coming forth
from the ends of the earth.
23 Armed with bow and javelin,
they are cruel and lack any semblance of mercy.
Their sound is like the thunder of the sea
as they ride forth on their horses;
they approach in battle formation
to fight against you, O daughter of Zion.
24 As news about them reaches us,
our hands become limp.
Anguish has gripped us,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
25 Do not venture forth into the countryside
or walk along the roads.
Terror lurks on every side
from the swords of the enemy.
26 O daughter of my people,
wrap yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the ashes.
Mourn as you would for an only child
with bitter lamentation.
For suddenly approaching us,
we will behold the destroyer.
27 [c]I have designated you as a tester of my people
so that you may learn and test their ways.
28 All of then are unrepentant rebels,
comfortable in slander and corrupt without exception,
hard as bronze and iron.
29 The bellows roar
and the lead is consumed by the fire.
In vain does the smelter do his work,
for the wicked are not purged out.[d]
30 They are called “rejected silver,”
for the Lord has indeed rejected them.
Prophecies Mainly in the Days of Jehoiakim
Chapter 7
True Worship.[e] 1 This is the word of the Lord that was delivered to Jeremiah: 2 Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this message: Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is the message that the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, proclaims to you: Amend your ways and your deeds so that I may remain with you in this place. 4 Do not place your trust in these deceptive words: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
5 However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, 7 then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago.
8 You have been placing your trust in deceitful words that are completely worthless. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, engage in perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods about whom you know nothing, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house which bears my name and say, “We are safe,” all the while intending to continue doing these abominable deeds? 11 Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? Be assured that I am fully aware of what you are doing, says the Lord.
12 Go now to my shrine of Shiloh which I originally designated as the dwelling place of my name. There you can observe what I did to it as the result of the wickedness of my people Israel.[f] 13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and refused to listen when I spoke to you continuously, and would not answer when I called you, 14 I therefore will do to the house that bears my name, to this house in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, just what I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.
16 Abuses in Worship. For your part, Jeremiah, do not intercede for this people, do not raise a plea or a prayer on their behalf, and do not intercede with me, for I will not listen to you. 17 Do you not observe what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather up the wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And to arouse my anger, they pour out drink offerings to other gods.
19 But am I the one whom they hurt? asks the Lord. Is it not rather themselves, to their own shame? 20 Therefore, says the Lord God, my anger and wrath will pour forth on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth, and burn without being quenched.
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and consume all the flesh yourselves. 22 For when I brought forth your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no commands in regard to burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 What I commanded them was this: Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. If you follow all the ways that I command you, then you will prosper.
24 However, they did not obey or pay heed to my words. Rather, they persisted in following their own evil inclinations with stubborn hearts and turned their backs to me, not their faces. 25 From the day your ancestors left Egypt until today, I unfailingly sent all my servants the prophets to them. 26 Yet they have not listened to me or paid attention; instead they stiffened their necks and proved to be worse than their ancestors.
27 When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not answer you. 28 Then you are to say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the Lord, their God, or accept correction. Truth has perished. It no longer issues forth from their mouths.
29 [g]Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on the barren heights.
For the Lord has rejected and abandoned
the generation that has provoked his wrath.
30 The people of Judah have perpetrated deeds that are evil in my sight, says the Lord. They have defiled the house that bears my name by setting up within it their loathsome idols. 31 Furthermore, they have built the high places of Topheth[h] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—a deed that I never ordered and that never even entered my mind.
32 Therefore, beware, for the days are coming, says the Lord, when the names of Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom will no longer be used. They will rather be referred to as the Valley of Slaughter. Because of a scarcity of space, Topheth will become a burial ground. 33 The corpses of this people will serve as food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth, and no one will frighten them away. 34 In the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem I will banish all sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and bride, for the entire land will have become a desert.
Chapter 8
1 At that time, says the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of its priests and prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be exhumed from their graves. 2 They will be spread out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven which they loved and served, and which they followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up and buried but will be left upon the ground like dung. 3 And death will be preferred to life by the survivors of the wicked race in any of the places to which I have banished them, says the Lord of hosts.
Israel’s Infidelity
4 [i]Then you are to say to them,
Thus says the Lord:
When someone falls, does he not stand up again?
If people go astray, do they not turn back?
5 Why then do these people continue to rebel
and persist in their obstinate infidelity?
Why do they continue in their treachery
and refuse to turn back?
6 I have listened to them attentively
but they never utter a truthful word.
Not a single one repents of his wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
All of them continue to follow the same course
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows its appointed seasons;
turtledoves, swallows, and cranes
are aware when it is time to migrate.
But my people do not know
the ordinances of the Lord.
8 How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when that law has been falsified
by the lying pen of the scribes?
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and caught in errors.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
of what value is their wisdom?
Unrepentant for Their Sins
10 Therefore, I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
everyone is greedy for ill-gotten gain.
All of them practice fraud,
including prophets and priests.
11 They bandage the wound of my people
as though it were a minor injury.
“Peace! Peace!” they say,
when there is no peace.
12 They should be embarrassed at their loathsome deeds,
yet they are not the least bit ashamed;
they do not even know how to blush.
Therefore, they will join the others who have fallen;
when the day of punishment arrives,
they will be thrown down, says the Lord.
A Prophet’s Lament
13 I will gather them all in,
the Lord has promised;
there will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig trees.
Even the leaves will be withered;
what I have given them
will be taken away from them.
14 Why are we just sitting idly here?
It is time to mobilize.
Let us march into the fortified cities
and perish there.
For the Lord, our God, has doomed us for destruction
and given us poisoned water to drink
because we have sinned against him.
15 We are praying for peace, but to no avail;
for a time of healing,
only to be confronted with terror.
16 The snorting of horses is heard from Dan;
the neighing of his stallions
causes the entire land to quake.
The enemy is advancing to devour the land
and all that it contains,
the city and those who dwell there.
17 Behold, I will send against you
venomous snakes that cannot be charmed,
and they will bite you, says the Lord.
18 There is no cure for my grief,
and my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of distress
from my people in a distant land.
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her king no longer in their midst?”
(Why do they provoke me with their idols
and with their foreign gods?)
20 “The time of harvest is past,
the summer is at an end,
and we are not saved.”
21 The suffering of my people causes me to suffer too.
I mourn, overcome with terror.
22 Is there no more balm in Gilead?[j]
Can no physician be found there?
Why has there not been any progress
to restore the health of my people?
Specific Regulations for Various Groups[a]
Chapter 5
Different Age Groups.[b] 1 Never speak harshly to an older man; rather, appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with the greatest purity.
Widows.[c] 3 Give proper consideration to those widows who are truly in need. 4 If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to carry out their religious duty to their own family and repay their debt to their parents, for this is pleasing in the eyes of God.
5 However, a widow who is truly in need and is alone in the world places all her trust in God and never ceases her prayers and supplications night and day. 6 But the widow who is interested solely in pleasure is dead even while she lives.
7 Insist upon these things, so that people may be beyond reproach. 8 And whoever does not provide for relatives, especially for those who are living with him, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 A woman should not be enrolled as a widow if she is not at least sixty years old. In addition, she must have been married only once, 10 and have a reputation for good works by bringing up her children, offering hospitality to strangers, washing the feet of the saints,[d] helping those in distress, and being active in all kinds of good work.
11 However, refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions distract them from the service of Christ, they will want to marry again 12 and will incur condemnation for having broken their original vow. 13 In addition, they fall into the habit of being idle, as they go around from house to house, and also become gossips and busybodies, saying things that would better be left unsaid.
14 Therefore, I think younger widows should marry again, bear children, and manage their households, so as not to give our enemies any occasion to revile us. 15 Indeed, some have already turned away to follow Satan.
16 If any woman believer has relatives who are widows, she must assist them herself. The Church should be free of such burdens and consequently able to assist those who are widows in the true sense.
17 Presbyters.[e] Presbyters who do their duty well should be considered deserving of a double honor,[f] especially those who labor at preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “A worker deserves his wages.”[g]
19 Never accept any accusation brought against a presbyter except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them publicly, so that the others may also be afraid.
21 In the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels,[h] I charge you to follow these rules impartially and without being influenced by any favoritism. 22 Do not lay hands on others too hastily or you may find yourself regarded as an accomplice in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23 Stop drinking nothing but water. Take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
24 The sins of some people are so flagrant that they are publicly known before judgment, while the sins of others will only become known later on. 25 In the same manner, good works are often easily recognized, but even if they are not, they cannot remain hidden forever.
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