Idols and the Living God
1 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:
x“Learn not the way of the nations,
nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them,
3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity.1
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a ycraftsman.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
5 Their idols2 are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and zthey cannot speak;
athey have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for bthey cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
6 There is none like you, O Lord;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
7 cWho would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you.
8 They are both stupid and foolish;
the instruction of idols is but wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is violet and purple;
they are all the work of skilled men.
10 But the Lord is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth dquakes,
and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”3
12 eIt is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world fby his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and ghe makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is hput to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and ithere is no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the jtribe of his inheritance;
kthe Lord of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O you who dwell under siege!
18 For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
that they may feel it.”
19 Woe is me because of my hurt!
lMy wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
and I must bear it.”
20 mMy tent is destroyed,
and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
and nthey are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again
and to set up my curtains.
21 For the oshepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.
22 A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
a great commotion out of the pnorth country
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
a lair of qjackals.
23 I know, O Lord, that rthe way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24 sCorrect me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
25 tPour out your wrath uon the nations that know you not,
and on the peoples that call not on your name,
vfor they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him and consumed him,
and have laid waste his habitation.
The Broken Covenant
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: wCursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the xiron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land yflowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”
6 And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them zpersistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet athey did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
9 Again the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have bgone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, cI will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and dcry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. 13 For your gods have become eas many as your cities, O Judah, fand as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.
14 “Therefore gdo not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. 15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? 16 The Lord once called you h‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. 17 The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”
18 The Lord made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was ilike a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was jagainst me
they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us kcut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But, lO Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
who mtests the heart and the mind,
let me see your nvengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of oAnathoth, who seek your life, and say, p“Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”
Greeting
1 Paul, an aapostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God according to the cpromise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved dchild:
eGrace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You
3 fI thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a gclear conscience, as I hremember you iconstantly in my prayers jnight and day. 4 As I remember kyour tears, lI long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your msincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in nyour grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the ogift of God, which is in you through the playing on of my hands, 7 for God gave us qa spirit not of fear but of power and love and rself-control.
8 Therefore do not be sashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his tprisoner, but ushare in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and vcalled us to1 a holy calling, wnot because of our works but because of his own xpurpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus ybefore the ages began,2 10 and which now has been zmanifested through the aappearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished bdeath and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was cappointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and dI am convinced that ehe is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.3 13 fFollow the pattern of the gsound4 words that you have heard from me, hin the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who idwells within us, guard the good deposit jentrusted to you.
15 You are aware that all who are in Asia kturned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of lOnesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of mmy chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.
