Old/New Testament
The Lord Will Not Relent
15 Then the Lord said to me: Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, yet My heart would not be with this people. Cast them out of My sight and let them go! 2 It shall come to pass if they say to you, “Where should we go?” then you shall tell them: Thus says the Lord:
Those destined for death, to death;
and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
and those destined for the famine, to the famine;
and those destined for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 I will appoint over them four kinds of disaster, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, the birds of the heaven, the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who shall bemoan you?
Or who shall go aside to ask how you are doing?
6 You who have forsaken Me, says the Lord,
you keep going backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you.
I am weary of relenting!
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children. I will destroy My people,
since they did not repent from their ways.
8 Their widows will increase before Me
more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
a destroyer at noonday;
I will suddenly bring down on her
sorrow and terrors.
9 She who has borne seven sons languishes;
she has given up the spirit;
her sun has gone down while it was yet day;
she has been ashamed and humiliated.
And the rest of them I will deliver to the sword
before their enemies,
says the Lord.
Jeremiah’s Sorrow
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me
as a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
I have not lent with usury, nor have men lent to me on usury,
yet every one of them curses me!
11 The Lord said:
Truly I will set you free for good purposes.
Truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you
in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12 Can anyone break the northern iron
or the bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures
I will give to the destroyer without price,
and that for all your sins,
even within all your borders.
14 I will make you to pass with your enemies
into a land which you do not know;
for a fire is kindled in My anger,
which shall burn upon you.
15 O Lord, You who know, remember me,
and take notice of me,
and take vengeance on my persecutors.
Because of your longsuffering, do not take me away.
Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found and I ate them.
And Your word became to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart,
for I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of Hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of mockers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
for You have filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual
and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?
Shall You be altogether to me as a deceptive stream
and as waters that fail?
The Lord Reassures Jeremiah
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
If you return, then I will bring you back,
and you shall stand before Me;
and if you take out the precious from the worthless,
you will be My spokesman.
Let them return to you,
but do not return to them.
20 I will make you to this people
a fortified bronze wall;
and they shall fight against you,
but they shall not prevail against you;
for I am with you
to save you and to deliver you,
says the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and I will redeem you out of the hand of the violent.
The Day of Disaster
16 The word of the Lord came also to me, saying: 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. But they will be as dung upon the face of the ground. And they will be consumed by the sword and by famine. And their carcasses will be food for the fowl of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus says the Lord: Do not enter a house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, says the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercy. 6 Both the great and the small will die in this land. They will not be buried; neither will men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7 Neither will men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; nor will men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9 For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of laughter and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” 11 then you shall say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshipped them, but have forsaken Me and have not kept My law. 12 And you have done worse than your fathers, for here you are, each one walking after the imaginations of his evil heart so that they do not listen to Me. 13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night because I will not show you favor.
God Will Restore Israel
14 Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, that it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” 15 but, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands wherever He had driven them.” And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.
16 Now, I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 First I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.
19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
and my refuge in the day of affliction,
the nations will come to You
from the remote parts of the earth, and will say:
Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity,
and things in which there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods for himself,
which are not gods?
21 “Therefore, surely I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
and they shall know
that My name is the Lord.”
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
17 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen
and with a diamond point;
it is engraved on the tablet of their heart
and on the horns of their altars;
2 as they remember their children,
so they remember their altars
and their groves by the green trees
on the high hills.
3 O My mountain in the field,
I will give your wealth
and all your treasures to the destroyer,
and your high places
for sin throughout all your borders.
4 You, even yourself, will discontinue
from your heritage that I gave you;
and I will cause you to serve your enemies
in the land which you do not know;
for you have kindled a fire in My anger
which will burn forever.
5 Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
and whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert
and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
and whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreads out its roots by the river,
and shall not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf shall be green,
and it shall not be anxious in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is more deceitful than all things
and desperately wicked;
who can understand it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
even to give to every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruit of his deeds.
11 As the partridge sits on eggs which it has not laid,
so is he who gets riches, but not justly;
it will forsake him in the midst of his days,
and in the end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel,
all who forsake You will be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me in the earth will be written down,
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the fountain of living waters.”
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for You are my praise.
15 See how they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”
16 As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,
nor have I desired the woeful day;
You Yourself know that which came out of my lips was in Your presence.
17 Do not be a terror to me;
You are my hope in the day of disaster.
18 Let those who persecute me be humiliated,
but let me not be humiliated;
let them be dismayed,
but let me not be dismayed.
Bring upon them the day of evil,
and destroy them with double destruction.
Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
19 Thus the Lord said to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people whereby the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 And say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates. 21 Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and do not bear any load on the Sabbath day nor bring anything in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they did not obey or incline their ears, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. 24 It shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to Me, says the Lord, to bring in no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but sanctify the Sabbath day to do no work in it, 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever. 26 They will come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you will not listen to Me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a load, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it will not be quenched.
A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus
2 So you, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Share the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses with faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Endure hard times as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No soldier on active duty entangles himself with civilian affairs, that he may please the enlisting officer. 5 Anyone who competes as an athlete is not rewarded without competing legally. 6 The farmer who labors should be first to partake of the crops. 7 Consider what I am saying, and may the Lord grant you understanding in all things.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, according to my gospel, 9 in which I suffer trouble like a criminal, even with chains. But the word of God is not bound. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 This is a faithful saying:
If we die with Him,
we shall also live with Him.
12 If we endure,
we shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
13 If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.
An Approved Workman
14 Remind them of these things, commanding them before the Lord that they not argue about words, which leads to nothing of value and to the destruction of those who hear them. 15 Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But avoid profane foolish babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, 17 and their word will spread like gangrene: Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred, and who overthrow the faith of some. 19 But the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who calls on the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
20 In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; some are for honor, and some for dishonor. 21 One who cleanses himself from these things will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, fit for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.
22 So flee youthful desires and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 But avoid foolish and unlearned debates, knowing that they create strife. 24 The servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be gentle toward all people, able to teach, patient, 25 in gentleness instructing those in opposition. Perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth, 26 and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.