Old/New Testament

18 Here is another message to Jeremiah from the Lord:

² Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made, and I will talk to you there. ³ I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. ⁴ But the jar that he was forming didn’t turn out as he wished, so he kneaded it into a lump and started again.

⁵ Then the Lord said: ⁶ O Israel, can’t I do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. ⁷ Whenever I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be taken up and destroyed, ⁸ then if that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. ⁹ And if I announce that I will make a certain nation strong and great, ¹⁰ but then that nation changes its mind, turns to evil, and refuses to obey me, then I, too, will change my mind and not bless that nation as I had said I would.

¹¹ Therefore, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem, saying: Hear the word of the Lord. I am planning evil against you now instead of good; turn back from your evil paths and do what is right.

¹² But they replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We have no intention whatever of doing what God says. We will continue to live as we want to, free from any restraint, full of stubbornness and wickedness!”

¹³ Then the Lord said: Even among the heathen, no one has ever heard of such a thing! My people have done something too horrible to understand. ¹⁴ The snow never melts high up in the Lebanon mountains. The cold, flowing streams from the crags of Mount Hermon never run dry. ¹⁵ These can be counted on. But not my people! For they have deserted me and turned to foolish idols. They have turned away from the ancient highways of good and walk the muddy paths of sin. ¹⁶ Therefore, their land shall become desolate, so that all who pass by will gasp and shake their heads in amazement at its utter desolation. ¹⁷ I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust; and in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.

¹⁸ Then the people said, “Come, let’s get rid of Jeremiah. We have our own priests and wise men and prophets—we don’t need his advice. Let’s silence him that he may speak no more against us, nor bother us again.”

¹⁹ O Lord, help me! See what they are planning to do to me! ²⁰ Should they repay evil for good? They have set a trap to kill me, yet I spoke well of them to you and tried to defend them from your anger. ²¹ Now, Lord, let their children starve to death and let the sword pour out their blood! Let their wives be widows and be bereft of all their children! Let their men die in epidemics and their youths die in battle! ²² Let screaming be heard from their homes as troops of soldiers come suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit for me to fall in, and they have hidden traps along my path. ²³ Lord, you know all their murderous plots against me. Don’t forgive them, don’t blot out their sin, but let them perish before you; deal with them in your anger.

19 ^1-2 The Lord said, Buy a clay jar and take it out into the valley of Ben-hinnom by the east gate of the city. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests with you, and speak to them whatever words I give you.

³ Then the Lord spoke to them and said: Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will bring terrible evil upon this place, so terrible that the ears of those who hear it will prickle. ⁴ For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of shame and wickedness. The people burn incense to idols—idols that neither this generation nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah have worshiped before—and they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children. ⁵ They have built high altars to Baal, and there they burn their sons in sacrifice—a thing I never commanded them nor even thought of!

⁶ The day is coming, says the Lord, when this valley shall no longer be called Topheth or Ben-hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ For I will upset the battle plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and I will let invading armies kill you here and leave your dead bodies for vultures and wild animals to feed upon. ⁸ And I will wipe Jerusalem off the earth, so that everyone going by will gasp with astonishment at all that I have done to her. ⁹ I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all food is gone and those trapped inside begin to eat their own children and friends.

¹⁰ And now, Jeremiah, as these men watch, smash the jar you brought with you, ¹¹ and say to them, This is the message to you from the Lord Almighty: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Jerusalem; and as this jar cannot be mended, neither can they. The slaughter shall be so great that there won’t be room enough for decent burial anywhere, and their bodies shall be heaped in this valley. ¹² And as it will be in this valley, so it will be in Jerusalem. For I will fill Jerusalem with dead bodies too. ¹³ And I will defile all the homes in Jerusalem, including the palace of the kings of Judah—wherever incense has been burned upon the roofs to your star gods, and libations poured out to them.

¹⁴ As Jeremiah returned from Topheth where he had delivered this message, he stopped in front of the Temple of the Lord and said to all the people, ¹⁵ The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will bring upon this city and her surrounding towns all the evil I have promised because you have stubbornly refused to listen to the Lord.

3 You may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian. ² For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad. ³ They will be hardheaded and never give in to others; they will be constant liars and troublemakers and will think nothing of immorality. They will be rough and cruel, and sneer at those who try to be good. ⁴ They will betray their friends; they will be hotheaded, puffed up with pride, and prefer good times to worshiping God. ⁵ They will go to church,^[a] yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that.

⁶ They are the kind who craftily sneak into other people’s homes and make friendships with silly, sin-burdened women and teach them their new doctrines. ⁷ Women of that kind are forever following new teachers, but they never understand the truth. ⁸ And these teachers fight truth just as Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. They have dirty minds, warped and twisted, and have turned against the Christian faith.

⁹ But they won’t get away with all this forever. Someday their deceit will be well known to everyone, as was the sin of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰ But you know from watching me that I am not that kind of person. You know what I believe and the way I live and what I want. You know my faith in Christ and how I have suffered. You know my love for you, and my patience. ¹¹ You know how many troubles I have had as a result of my preaching the Good News. You know about all that was done to me while I was visiting in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, but the Lord delivered me. ¹² Yes, and those who decide to please Christ Jesus by living godly lives will suffer at the hands of those who hate him. ¹³ In fact, evil men and false teachers will become worse and worse, deceiving many, they themselves having been deceived by Satan.

¹⁴ But you must keep on believing the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know that you can trust those of us who have taught you. ¹⁵ You know how, when you were a small child, you were taught the holy Scriptures; and it is these that make you wise to accept God’s salvation by trusting in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ The whole Bible^[b] was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. ¹⁷ It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.