Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
1 Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
rBlow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and sraise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms out of the tnorth,
and great destruction.
2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
the daughter of Zion.1
3 uShepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 v“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack wat noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
x“Cut down her trees;
ycast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
zviolence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
lest I aturn from you in disgust,
lest I make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 bTo whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their cears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, dthe word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
eI am weary of holding it in.
“Pour it out upon the fchildren in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
gtheir fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
13 “For hfrom the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from iprophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 jThey have healed the wound of my people lightly,
ksaying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
15 lWere they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were mnot at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.
16 Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the nancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
oand find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I set pwatchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20 qWhat use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are rnot acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
‘Behold, I will lay before this people
sstumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
22 Thus says the Lord:
“Behold, a people is coming from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
23 tThey lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are cruel and have no mercy;
the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
set in array as a man for battle,
against you, O daughter of Zion!”
24 We have uheard the report of it;
our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
pain as of a woman in labor.
25 Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
vterror is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth,
and roll in ashes;
make mourning as wfor an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27 “I have made you a xtester of metals among my people,
that you may know and test their ways.
28 They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about with yslanders;
zthey are bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
29 The bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
in vain the arefining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
30 Rejected silver they are called,
for the Lord has brejected them.”
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.
16 “As for you, odo not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the pcities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make qcakes for the rqueen of heaven. And they pour out sdrink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 19 Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be tpoured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.”
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, uand eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, vI did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and wI will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, xthat it may be well with you.’ 24 But ythey did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the zstubbornness of their evil hearts, and went abackward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 bYet cthey did not listen to me or incline their ear, but dstiffened their neck. eThey did worse than their fathers.
27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
29 f“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
graise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.’
The Valley of Slaughter
30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. hThey have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ito burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, jwhich I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 kTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will lbury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. 33 And the dead bodies of this people will be mfood for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away. 34 And I will nsilence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem othe voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.
26 He ssent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 tThey performed his usigns among them
and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 vHe sent darkness, and made the land dark;
they did not rebel1 against his words.
29 wHe turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 xTheir land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and ythere came swarms of flies,
and zgnats throughout their country.
32 aHe gave them hail for rain,
and bfiery lightning bolts through their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and cthe locusts came,
young locusts without number,
35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 dHe struck down all the firstborn in their land,
ethe firstfruits of all their strength.
37 fThen he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38 gEgypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of them had fallen upon it.
39 He spread a hcloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and ihe brought quail,
and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
41 jHe opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
and Abraham, his servant.
43 So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones kwith singing.
44 And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and lthey took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,
45 that they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!
God’s Righteousness Upheld
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, tthe Jews were entrusted with the uoracles of God. 3 vWhat if some were unfaithful? wDoes their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
x“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, ywhat shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could zGod judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And awhy not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
No One Is Righteous
9 What then? Are we Jews1 any better off?2 No, not at all. For we have already charged that ball, both cJews and dGreeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
e“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 f“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
g“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 h“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 i“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 j“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are kunder the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For lby works of the law no human being3 will be justified in his sight, since mthrough the law comes knowledge of sin.
The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now the nrighteousness of God has been omanifested apart from the law, palthough the Law and the Prophets qbear witness to it— 22 the rrighteousness of God through sfaith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is tno distinction: 23 for uall have vsinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are wjustified xby his grace as a ygift, through the zredemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a apropitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine bforbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of cthe one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our dboasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the elaw of faith. 28 For fwe hold that one is gjustified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 hOr is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since iGod is one—jwho will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 kDo we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
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 in4 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:
7 s“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not tcount his sin.”
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.
The Promise Realized Through Faith
13 For the ypromise to Abraham and his offspring zthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 aFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but bwhere there is no law cthere is no transgression.
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to dthe one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, e“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God fin whom he believed, who ggives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, h“So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith iwhen he considered his own body, which was jas good as dead (since he was about ka hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness5 of Sarah’s womb. 20 No lunbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was m“counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but nfor ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in ohim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up pfor our trespasses and qraised for our rjustification.
