Jeremiah 11
God’s Covenant Is Ignored
1 The word came from the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,
2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and you shall speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
3 You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Hear My voice, and do all I command you, so you shall be to Me as a people and I will be to you as God,
5 that I may confirm the oath I swore to your fathers, to give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’ ” ’ ” Then I answered and said, “O Lord, may it be so.”
6 Then the Lord said to me, “Read aloud these words in the cities of Judah and outside Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.’ ”
7 But they did not.
8 Again the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy was found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
9 They turned back to the wrongdoings of their forefathers who were unwilling to hear My words. Behold, they go after foreign gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah rejected My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
10 Therefore, thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will bring calamities on this people from which they cannot escape; and they shall cry out to Me, but I will not listen.
11 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense. But will they save them in the time of their calamities?
12 O Judah, your gods were based on the number of your cities, and according to the number of streets in Jerusalem, you appointed altars to burn incense to Baal.
13 “Do not pray for this people, and do not consider them worthy in petition; for I will not hear their prayer in the time they cry out to Me or in the time of their distress.†
14 Why has My beloved done a detestable thing in My house? Will prayers and holy offerings remove your vices from you? Will you escape by means of these?
15 The Lord called your name a pleasant olive tree, a good shade tree in appearance. At the sound of its pruning, a fire was kindled against it. Great is the affliction coming upon you. Its branches have become worthless.
16 For the Lord who planted you has proclaimed troubles against you in return for the evil the house of Israel and the house of Judah did against themselves when they offered incense to Baal and provoked My wrath.”
A Plot against Jeremiah
17 O Lord, teach me, and I will know. Then I saw their purpose.
18 For I did not know I was like an innocent lamb led to be sacrificed. They plotted an evil device against me, saying, “Come, let us put wood in his bread, and destroy him root and branch from the land of the living, so his name might not be remembered any longer.”†
19 But, O Lord, You who judge righteously, who tests minds and hearts, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my righteous plea to You.
20 Therefore thus says the Lord against the men of Anathoth, against those who seek my life, and who say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, lest you die by our hands”—†
21 “Behold, I will visit them. The young men shall die by the sword, and their sons and daughters shall die by famine.
22 There shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring calamities on the inhabitants of Anathoth in the year of their visitation.”
Psalms 105
16 They also angered Moses in the camp, And Aaron the holy one of the Lord;
17 The earth was opened and swallowed Dathan, And buried the assembly of Abiram;
18 A fire kindled in their assembly; The flame burned up the sinners.
19 They made a calf in Horeb, And bowed down and worshiped the graven image;
20 Thus they changed their glory Into the likeness of a calf that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them, Who did great things in Egypt,
22 And marvelous things in the land of Ham, Fearful things at the Red Sea.
23 And He said He would destroy them Had not Moses His chosen one Stood among them in the destruction before Him, To turn away His wrath so as not to destroy them.
24 Then they despised the desired land; They did not believe His word,
25 But murmured in their tents; They did not listen to the Lord’s voice.
26 So He raised His hand against them, To overthrow them in the desert;
27 And to overthrow their seed among the nations, And to scatter them among the countries.
28 They were consecrated to Baal-Peor, And ate sacrifices of the dead;
29 So they provoked Him with their ways of living, And destruction multiplied among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood among them and made atonement, And the destruction ceased;
31 And it was reckoned as righteousness to him From generation to generation forever.
Proverbs of Solomon 23
6 Do not dine with an envious man, Neither desire his foods;
7 For as someone who may swallow a hair, So he eats and drinks.
8 Neither invite him in, nor eat your morsel with him; For he will vomit it forth and maltreat your good words.
9 Speak nothing into the ears of a man without discernment, Lest he treat your wise words with contempt.
10 Do not remove the eternal landmarks, And do not enter the possession of orphans.
11 For the Lord who redeems them is mighty, And He will judge their cause with you.
12 Give your heart to instruction, And prepare your ears for words of perception.†
Hebrews 3
Christ Is Faithful in a Superior Office
1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,†
2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.†
4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, †
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Beware of Faithlessness
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;†
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,†
15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?†
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.