Evil in the Land

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ^c“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^dAmend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^eexecute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods ^fto your own harm, 7 ^gthen I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is ^hcalled by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a ⁱden of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, ^jwhere I made my name dwell at first, and see ^kwhat I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you ^lpersistently you did not listen, and ^mwhen I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore ⁿI will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

Abraham Justified by Faith

1 ^lWhat then shall we say was gained by Abraham, ^mour forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to ⁿboast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? ^o“Abraham believed God, and it was ^pcounted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now ^qto the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but ^rbelieves in¹ him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

9 Is this ^ublessing then only for the circumcised, ^vor also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received ^wthe sign of circumcision as a seal of the ^xrighteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple ^xand began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore ^ymarveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,^{1 z}when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, ^a“My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s² will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority ^bseeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not ^cMoses given you the law? ^dYet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You ^ehave a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did ^fone work, and you all marvel at it. 22 ^gMoses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^hfrom the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the ⁱSabbath. 23 ^jIf on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me ^kbecause on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge ^lby ^mappearances, but ⁿjudge with right judgment.”

Can This Be the Christ?

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking ^oopenly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that ^pthe authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But ^qwe know where this man comes from, and ^rwhen the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But ^sI have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is ^ttrue, and ^uhim you do not know. 29 ^vI know him, for I come ^wfrom him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to ^xarrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet ^ymany of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more ^zsigns than this man has done?”

Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you ^aa little longer, and then I am ^bgoing to him who sent me. 34 ^cYou will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? ^dDoes he intend to go to ^ethe Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean ^fby saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”