Jeremiah 17-19
1 “Cursed is the man who puts his hope in man, and who will strengthen the flesh of his arm in him, and withdraws in his heart from the Lord. 2 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert. He shall not see when good things come, but shall dwell in salt lands along the sea and in the desert, in a salt land where no one dwells. 3 But blessed is the man who puts his trust in the Lord, for the Lord shall be his hope. 4 He shall be like a flourishing tree alongside the waters which spreads its roots toward the moisture. He will not fear when the burning heat comes, for He shall be like the root in a grove in the year of drought. He shall not fear, for he shall be like a tree that does not cease yielding its fruit.
5 “The heart is deep beyond all things, and it is the man. Even so, who can know him? 6 I, the Lord, examine hearts and test minds, to give each man according to his ways and the fruits of his practices. 7 A partridge coos and collects eggs she did not lay. So is a man who obtains his wealth, but not with judgment. In the midst of his days his riches will forsake him, and at the time of his end he will be foolish.”
8 An exalted throne of glory is our sanctuary. 9 O Lord, the patient endurance of Israel, let all who forsake You be ashamed. “Let those who fall away from Me in apostasy be written in the earth, that they forsook the Lord, the fountain of life.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer for Protection
10 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my boast. 11 Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.” 12 But I have not become weary in following after You, nor have I desired the day of man. You know the words that proceed from my lips are before Your face. 13 Do not be as a stranger to me, and spare me in the evil day. 14 Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but may I not be ashamed. May they, but not I, be terrified. Bring upon them an evil day and crush them with a double destruction.
Sanctify the Sabbath
15 Thus says the Lord: “Go and stand in the gates of the sons of your people through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 16 You shall say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all Judea, and all of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. 17 Thus says the Lord: “Guard your souls, and take up no burdens on the Sabbath days, neither go out through the gates of Jerusalem. 18 On the Sabbath days, carry no burdens with you from your houses, nor do any work. Instead, sanctify the Sabbath days, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not hear, and did not incline their ears. 19 They stiffened their neck more than their fathers, so as not to hear Me or receive instruction.
20 “Thus it shall come to pass that if you hear Me,” says the Lord, “so as not to carry burdens through the gates of this city on the Sabbath days, but to sanctify the Sabbath days and do no work therein, 21 then there shall enter through the gates of this city kings and rulers, sitting on the throne of David and riding in their chariots and on their horses, they and their rulers, men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This city itself shall be inhabited forever. 22 They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from around Jerusalem and the land of Benjamin, and from the lowlands and the mountains, and from the south, bringing whole burnt offerings and a sacrifice, and incense, manna, and frankincense. They will bring praise to the house of the Lord.
23 “But it shall come to pass that if you will not hear Me so as to sanctify the Sabbath days, and bear no burdens, nor enter the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath days, then I will kindle a fire in her gates. It will consume the streets of Jerusalem and will not be quenched.” ’ ”
Potter and Clay
1 The word that came from the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house. There you shall hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was forming something of wet clay upon the stones. 4 The vessel he formed in his hands failed. So he again made himself another vessel as it pleased him to do.
5 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 “Surely as this potter, am I not able to form you, O house of Israel? Behold, you are as the clay of the potter in My hands. 7 I shall declare a decree concerning a nation or a kingdom, to remove and destroy them. 8 But if this nation turns away from all their evils, then I will repent concerning the calamities I considered to do to them. 9 If I shall declare a decree concerning a nation or a kingdom to rebuild and to plant it, 10 but they do evils in My sight so as not to hear My voice, then I will repent concerning the good I spoke to do for them.
11 “Therefore now, speak to the men of Judah and those inhabiting Jerusalem for Me, saying, ‘Behold, I form calamities and devise a plan against you. Therefore, let each turn away from his way of evil and do good in your practices.’ ”
God’s Warning Is Spurned
12 But they said, “We will act like men and walk after our inclinations, and each one of us will do the evils pleasing to his heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Ask now of the Gentiles, ‘Who has heard of such exceedingly horrible things as what the virgin of Israel did?’ 14 Will nourishing streams of water not flow from rocks or snow from Lebanon? Will water turn aside when violently pushed by the wind? 15 For My people have forgotten Me. They offer incense in vain and are sick in their ways, leaving the ancient ways to embark on impassable paths, 16 so as to appoint their land for destruction and a perpetual hissing. All who pass through it shall be amazed and shake their head. 17 I will scatter them like a burning wind before the face of their enemies. I will show them the day of their destruction.”
Jeremiah Is Ridiculed
18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise a plan against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the intelligent, nor a word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him down with the tongue, and we will hear all his words.”
19 O Lord, hear me, and give ear to the voice of my plea for what is right. 20 Surely evil things are repaid for good things; for they spoke words against my soul and concealed punishment meant for me. But remember, I stood before You to speak good things for them, so as to turn away Your wrath from them. 21 Therefore give their sons to the famine and gather them to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed, and let their men be put to death. In war, let their young men fall by the sword. 22 Let a cry be heard in their houses, for You shall bring robbers upon them suddenly, because they formed a plan to take me and hid snares against me. 23 O Lord, You know all their counsel against me so as to put me to death. Do not let their wrongdoings go unpunished, nor blot out their sins from before Your face. Let their weakness come before You, and in the time of Your anger deal with them.
Broken Jar, Broken City
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go and obtain an earthen-baked wine-jar, and you shall lead some of the elders of the people and some of their elder priests 2 out to the graveyard of the sons of their children, by the entry of the Gate of Charsith. There you shall read all the words I will speak to you. 3 You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings and men of Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and all entering by these gates. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I bring calamities upon this place, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will ring.
4 “Because they forsook Me, and alienated this place, and offered incense in it to foreign gods, which neither they nor their fathers knew, and because the kings of Judah filled this place with the blood of the innocent 5 and built high places for Baal so as to burn up their sons in the fire, which things I did not command or speak, nor consider in My heart. 6 Therefore behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “when this place shall no longer be called the Fall, or the Graveyard of the Son of Hinnom, but the Graveyard of Slaughter. 7 For I shall destroy the counsel of Judah and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place. I shall cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives. I will give their dead as food for the birds of heaven and for the wild animals of the earth. 8 I will appoint this city for desolation and for hissing. Everyone passing by it will scowl and hiss because of all her misfortune. 9 They shall eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and each shall eat the flesh of those in the passage who are his neighbors in the blockade, and in the siege in which their enemies shall besiege them.’ ”
10 “Then you shall break the wine-jar in the sight of the men who come out with you, 11 and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In this way I will break this people and this city, as one breaks an earthen vessel which cannot be made whole again.
12 Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to those who dwell in it, so this city may be given as one that crumbles in pieces. 13 Therefore the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be as a place that crumbles because of the uncleanness in all their houses, where they burnt incense upon their housetops to all the host of heaven and poured drink offerings to foreign gods.” ’ ”
14 Then Jeremiah came from the place of the Fall, where the Lord sent him to prophesy. He stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, 15 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I bring upon this city, and on all the cities and villages belonging to it, all the calamities I declared against it, because they hardened their neck so as not to obey My words.’ ”
Psalm 113:1–11
1 Alleluia.
In the exodus of Israel from Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a foreign people,
2 Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His authority.
3 The sea saw them and fled,
The Jordan turned back;
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
The hills like flocks of lambs.
5 What is it to you, O sea, that you fled,
And to you, O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 What is it to you, O mountains, that you skipped like rams,
And you, O hills, like flocks of lambs?
7 The earth shook because of the Lord’s face,
Because of the face of Jacob’s God,
8 When He turned the rock into pools of waters
And flinty ground into fountains of waters.
9 Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Your name give glory,
For Your mercy and Your truth,
10 Lest the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
11 Our God is in heaven above;
And both in heaven and on earth,
All things whatsoever He wills, He does.
12 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands;
13 They have a mouth, but they shall not speak;
They have eyes, but they shall not see;
Proverbs 24:24–28
24 Let no lie be spoken from your tongue to the king,
And let no lie come from his tongue.
25 The tongue of the king is a sword and not of flesh,
And whoever it delivers, it will annihilate;
26 For if his anger is sharpened,
It destroys men with its sinews.
27 And it devours the bones of men,
And it burns like a flame,
So as to be inedible for the nestlings of eagles.
28 Now I say the following to you, the wise, to observe,
“It is not good to be partial in judgment.”
Hebrews 11:23–40
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
By Faith They Overcame
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—
38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.