Jeremiah 1-3
1 The word of God came to Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah of the priests, who lived in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. 2 The word of God came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 The word also came in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
The Prophet Is Chosen
4 Thus the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I sanctified you. I established you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “O Lord and Master, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. 9 Then the Lord put forth His hand to me and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 Behold, this day I am setting you over the nations and kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy, to rebuild, and to plant.”
11 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” So I replied, “I see a staff made from an almond tree.” 12 Then the Lord said to me, “You see well, for I keep watch to perform the works of my words.”
13 Again the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” Then I said, “A boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.” 14 The Lord said to me, “From the north, evil things will inflame all who inhabit the land. 15 For behold, I will call together all the kingdoms of the land of the north,” says the Lord, “and they shall come; and each shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all the walls surrounding her, and against all the cities of Judah. 16 I will speak to them with judgments concerning all their vices, because they forsook Me, burned incense to foreign gods, and worshiped the works of their hands. 17 As for you, gird your loins and arise, and speak to all whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of their faces nor tremble before them, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. 18 “For behold, on this day I have established you as a fortified city and as a fortified bronze wall against all the kings of Judah, against its rulers, and against the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.
God’s Charges against Israel
1 Again the Lord said, “Thus says the Lord: 2 ‘I remember your compassion and youth and your love and maturity, so as to follow the Holy One of Israel,’ says the Lord. 3 ‘Israel, the beginning of His harvest, was holy to the Lord. All who devour him shall transgress, and evils will come upon them,’ ” says the Lord.
The Worship of Baal
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord: “What transgression have your fathers found in Me, so as to go far from Me, to follow after vain and worthless things? 6 They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord, who led us out of the land of Egypt, who guided us in the wilderness, in an unknown and untrodden land, a land that was waterless and barren, in which no one traversed and where no son of man dwelt?’ 7 I brought you into Carmel to eat its fruit and its good things, but you entered and defiled My land, and made My heritage an abomination. 8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ But those who handle the law did not trust Me, and the shepherds acted profanely toward Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after unprofitable things.
9 “Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lord, “and I will bring charges against the sons of your sons. 10 For pass by the islands of Chettim and see. Send to Kedar and consider diligently. See if such things happened, 11 whether nations will change their gods; though they are not gods. But My people changed their glory to a glory from which they will not profit. 12 Heaven was amazed at this and was exceedingly horror-struck,” says the Lord. 13 “For My people have committed two evils: They forsook Me, the fountain of living water, and hewed for themselves broken cisterns, unable to hold water.
Forsaking the Lord
14 “Is not Israel a slave or household servant? 15 The young lions roared at him with their growl and made his land desolate, and her cities were demolished, no longer livable. 16 Also the sons of Memphis and Tahpanhes know you and mock you. 17 By forsaking Me, did you not bring these things upon yourself?” says the Lord your God. 18 “Now, what concern of yours is the road to Egypt, or drinking the waters of the Nile? Why concern yourself about the road to Assyria, or drinking the water of his rivers? 19 Your own rebellion will chastise you, and your vices will convict you. You will know and experience the bitterness of your forsaking Me,” says the Lord your God.
“But I have taken no joy in you,” says the Lord your God, 20 “for from of old you have splintered your yoke and have broken your chain to pieces. You have said, ‘I will not serve You, but I will go to every high hill and under every shade tree to indulge in my fornication.’ 21 I planted a fruitful vine for you, one most healthy and sweet, yet you turned it into a vine unknown to Me, with a taste of bitterness. 22 Though you wash in soap and evermore use lye on yourself, still you remain defiled in your wrongdoings before Me,” says the Lord. 23 “In what way will you say, ‘I was not a disciple of Baal, nor am I defiled’? Consider your ways, which lead you to the common burial place. Know what you have done, for Baal’s voice cries out late in the day. 24 He extends his ways over the waters of the desert, for he is borne along as by the wind in the desires of his soul. He is given over to them. Who will turn him back? All who seek him will not grow weary, but they will find him in his humiliation. 25 Therefore, turn your feet away from this uneven path and from the thirst in your mouth, for he says, ‘I will act like a man,’ because he loves strangers and goes after them.
26 “The sons of Israel, their kings and rulers, their priests and even their prophets shall be ashamed, like the shame of a thief when he is caught. 27 For they said to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to the stone, ‘You have begotten me.’ They have turned their backs to Me, and not their faces; yet in the time of their evils, they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ 28 But where are the gods you made for yourself? Will they arise and save you when you are in oppression? For in the same number as you have cities, O Judah, you have gods, and according to the number of thoroughfares in Jerusalem, they sacrifice to Baal.
Denial of Sin
29 “Why do you speak to Me? All of you have been ungodly, and all of you have acted lawlessly against Me,” says the Lord. 30 “In vain I struck your children, for you accepted no chastisement. Like a destroying lion, a sword devoured your prophets, but you did not fear.” 31 Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: “Was I really a desert to Israel, or a barren land? Then why did My people say, ‘We will not be dominated, and no more will we come to You’? 32 Can a bride forget her ornaments, or a virgin her breast-band? Yet for days without number My people forget Me. 33 Yet what good will you practice in your ways so as to seek love? None. But you also did evil so as to defile your ways. 34 The death of innocent souls was found at your hands. I did not find them by digging in the earth, but under every oak tree. 35 Yet you said, ‘But I am innocent, so let Your anger turn from me.’ Behold, I pass judgment against you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 36 Why did you deal so very contemptuously so as to repeat your ways? But you will be ashamed of Egypt as you were of Assyria. 37 For you will go out henceforth with your hands on your head, because the Lord rejected your hope; and you will not prosper in it.
Israel Is Defiled
1 “If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him to become another man’s, may she turn back and return to him again? Would not such a woman be greatly defiled? But you committed fornication with many shepherds and have returned to Me,” says the Lord. 2 “Lift up your eyes straight ahead and see. Where have you not been defiled? You sat for them along the roads like a deserted crow, and defiled the land with your fornications and vices. 3 Yes, you have many shepherds as an occasion of stumbling for yourself. The appearance of a prostitute has come upon you, but you shamelessly deny all this. 4 Have you not called Me, as it were, a home, a father, and a founder of your virginity? 5 Will this appearance continue forever, or be maintained to the end? Behold, you said and did these evil things as you were able.”
A Call to Return
6 Again the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “You saw what the habitation of Israel did to Me? They went up on every high mountain and under every shady tree to commit fornication there. 7 Yet after Israel committed all these acts of fornication, I said, ‘Return to Me,’ but she did not return. Faithless Judah also saw Israel’s faithlessness. 8 I also saw it, and because of all the things in which the habitation of Israel committed adultery and was overtaken in it, therefore I put her away and placed in her hands a certificate of divorce. Yet even after this, faithless Judah did not fear, but she, too, proceeded to commit fornication. 9 Her fornication was good for nothing, for she committed adultery with wood and stone. 10 In all of this, faithless Judah did not turn to Me with her whole heart, but falsely.”
11 Again the Lord said to me, “Israel justified herself more than faithless Judah. 12 Go and read these words toward the north, and you shall say, ‘Return to Me, O habitation of Israel,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will not set My face against you. I am merciful,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will not be wrathful forever. 13 However, realize your wrongdoing, for you behaved in an ungodly way against the Lord your God; and you passed on your evil ways to foreigners under every shady tree, because you did not obey My voice.
14 “Return, O sons who have turned away,” says the Lord, “for I will rule over you and receive you—one from a city and two from a family—and I will lead you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds according to My heart, and they will thoroughly shepherd you with knowledge. 16 It shall come to pass that if you multiply and increase in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel.’ It will not enter their heart, nor be named or visited; neither will this be done any more. 17 In those days and at that time, they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all the Gentiles shall be gathered to it. They shall no longer walk after the reasoning of their evil heart. 18 In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, and from all the countries to the land I gave as an inheritance to their fathers.
19 “I declare” (may it be, O Lord!) “that I will set you among children and give you a choice land, the inheritance of the Almighty God of the Gentiles; and I declare that you shall call Me Father, and you shall not turn away from Me. 20 Nevertheless, as a wife rejects her husband, so the house of Israel has rejected Me,” says the Lord. 21 “For a sound from lips was heard, even bitter crying and the entreaty of the sons of Israel; because they did wrong in their ways and forgot their holy God. 22 Return, O sons, return, and I will heal your ruin.”
23 “Behold, we will be Your servants, for You are the Lord our God. Indeed, the hills and the power of the mountains were as a lie, for our salvation is only through the Lord our God. 24 But from our youth, shame devoured the labors of our fathers: their sheep, their cattle, their sons and their daughters. 25 We fall asleep in our shame and dishonor covers us, because we sinned against the Lord our God. From our youth even to this day, we and our fathers did not obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
Psalm 107
1 The ode of a psalm; by David.
2 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready;
I will sing and give praise in my glory.
3 Awaken, lute and harp;
I shall awaken early in the morning.
4 I will give thanks to You among the peoples, O Lord,
And I will sing to You among the Gentiles;
5 For great is Your mercy above the heavens,
And Your truth even to the clouds.
6 Be exalted above the heavens, O God,
And Your glory above all the earth.
7 That Your beloved ones may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
8 God spoke in His place,
“I shall be exalted, and I will divide Shechem,
And measure out the valley of tents;
9 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
And Ephraim is the strength of My head;
Judah is My king.
10 Moab is the cauldron of My hope;
I will stretch out My shoe over Edom;
Foreign tribes were subjected to Me.”
11 Who will bring me into a fortified city?
Who will lead me as far as Edom?
12 Will not You, O God, who drove us away?
And will You not go out with our armies, O God?
13 Give us help from affliction,
For the salvation of man is worthless.
14 In God we shall do a mighty thing,
And He shall despise our enemies.
Proverbs 23:33–36
33 When your eyes behold a strange woman,
Then your mouth will speak twisted things;
34 And you will lie down as in the heart of the sea
And as a pilot in a great storm;
35 And you will say, “They beat me, but I did not suffer,
And they mocked me, but I knew it not;
36 When will it be morning,
That I may go seek those with whom I may company?”
Hebrews 8
1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.
4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
A New Covenant
(Jer. 31:31–34)
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
9 “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.