Jeremiah 15
15Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight!H559H3068H4872H8050H5975H6440H5315H5971H7971H6440H33182And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “‘Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’H559H3318H559H559H3068H4194H4194H2719H2719H7458H7458H7628H76283“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the Lord. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left.H6485H702H4940H5002H3068H2719H2026H3611H5498H5775H8064H929H776H398H78434Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.H5414H2189H2113H4467H776H1558H4519H1121H3169H4428H3063H6213H33895“Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?H2550H3389H5110H5493H7592H79656You have abandoned me and turned your back on me,” says the Lord. “Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.H5203H5002H3068H3212H268H5186H3027H7843H3811H51627I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities and take away the children you hold dear. I will destroy my own people, because they refuse to change their evil ways.H2219H4214H8179H776H7921H6H5971H7725H18708There will be more widows than the grains of sand on the seashore. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of young men. I will cause anguish and terror to come upon them suddenly.H490H6105H2344H3220H935H517H970H7703H6672H5307H6597H928H58929The mother of seven grows faint and gasps for breath; her sun has gone down while it is still day. She sits childless now, disgraced and humiliated. And I will hand over those who are left to be killed by the enemy. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H3205H7651H535H5301H5315H8121H935H3119H3117H954H2659H7611H5414H2719H6440H341H5002H306810Then I said, “What sorrow is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay—yet they all curse me.”H188H517H3205H376H7379H376H4066H776H5383H5383H704311The Lord replied, “I will take care of you, Jeremiah. Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf in times of trouble and distress.H3068H559H3808H518H2896H8281H8293H518H341H6293H6256H7451H6256H686912Can a man break a bar of iron from the north, or a bar of bronze?H1270H7489H6828H1270H517813At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.H2428H214H5414H957H4242H2403H136614I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.”H5674H341H776H3045H784H6919H639H334415Then I said, “Lord, you know what’s happening to me. Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors! Please give me time; don’t let me die young. It’s for your sake that I am suffering.H3068H3045H2142H6485H5358H7291H3947H639H750H3045H5375H278116When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.H1697H4672H398H1697H8342H8057H3824H7121H8034H3068H430H663517I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins.H3427H5475H7832H5937H3427H910H6440H3027H4390H219518Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.”H3511H5331H4347H605H3985H7495H391H4325H53919This is how the Lord responds: “If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!H559H3068H7725H7725H5975H6440H3318H3368H2151H6310H7725H772520They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the Lord, have spoken!H5414H5971H1219H5178H2346H3898H3201H3467H5337H5002H306821Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”H5337H3027H7451H6299H3709H6184
Jeremiah 16
16The Lord gave me another message. He said,H1697H3068H5592“Do not get married or have children in this place.H3947H802H1121H1323H47253For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers:H559H3068H1121H1323H3205H4725H517H3205H1H3209H7764They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”H4191H8463H4463H5594H6912H1828H6440H127H3615H2719H7458H5038H3978H5775H8064H929H7765This is what the Lord says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.H559H3068H935H1004H4798H3212H5594H5110H622H7965H5971H5002H3068H2617H73566Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness.H1419H6996H4191H776H6912H5594H1413H71397No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.H6536H60H5162H4191H3563H8575H8248H1H5178“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all.H935H1004H4960H3427H398H83549For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H7673H4725H5869H3117H6963H8342H6963H8057H6963H2860H6963H361810“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?’H5046H5971H1697H559H3068H1696H1419H7451H5771H2403H2398H3068H43011“Then you will give them the Lord’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word.H559H1H5800H5002H3068H3212H310H312H430H5647H7812H5800H8104H845112And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.H6213H7489H1H2009H1980H376H310H8307H7451H3820H808513So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night—and I will grant you no favors!’H2904H776H776H3045H1H5647H312H430H3119H3915H5414H259414“But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’H3117H935H5002H3068H559H3068H2416H5927H1121H3478H776H471415Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.H3068H2416H5927H1121H3478H776H6828H776H5080H7725H127H5414H116“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the Lord. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves.H7971H7227H1771H1728H5002H3068H1770H310H7971H7227H6719H6679H2022H1389H5357H555317I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.H5869H1870H5641H6440H5771H6845H5048H586918I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.”H7223H7999H5771H2403H4932H2490H776H4390H5159H5038H8251H844119Lord, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, “Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols.H3068H5797H4581H4498H3117H6869H1471H935H657H776H559H1H5157H8267H1892H327620Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!”H120H6213H430H43021The Lord says, “Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the Lord.H6471H3045H3045H3027H1369H3045H8034H3068
Jeremiah 17
17“The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel—engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars.H2403H3063H3789H5842H1270H6856H8068H2790H3871H3820H7161H41962Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.H1121H2142H4196H842H7488H6086H1364H13893So I will hand over my holy mountain—along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines—as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.H2042H7704H5414H2428H214H957H1116H2403H13664The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.”isdom from the LordH8058H5159H5414H5647H341H776H3045H6919H784H639H3344H5704H57695This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.H559H3068H779H1397H982H120H7760H1320H2220H3820H5493H30686They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.H6199H6160H7200H2896H935H7931H2788H4057H4420H776H34277“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.H1288H1397H982H3068H4009H30688They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.H6086H8362H4325H7971H8328H3105H7200H2527H935H5929H7488H1672H8141H1226H4185H6213H65299“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?H3820H6121H605H304510But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”H3068H2713H3820H974H3629H5414H376H1870H6529H461111Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools.H7124H1716H3205H6213H6239H4941H5800H2677H3117H319H503612But we worship at your throne—eternal, high, and glorious!H3519H4791H3678H7223H4725H472013O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water.H3068H4723H3478H5800H954H3249H5493H3789H776H5800H3068H4726H2416H432514O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!H7495H3068H7495H3467H3467H841615People scoff at me and say, “What is this ‘message from the Lord’ you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?”H559H1697H3068H93516Lord, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. I have not urged you to send disaster. You have heard everything I’ve said.H213H7462H310H183H605H3117H3045H4161H8193H5227H644017Lord, don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.H4288H4268H3117H745118Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me, but don’t let me experience shame and dismay. Bring a day of terror on them. Yes, bring double destruction upon them!H954H7291H954H2865H2865H935H3117H7451H7665H4932H767019This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in and out, and then in each of the other gates.H559H3068H1980H5975H8179H1121H5971H4428H3063H935H3318H8179H338920Say to all the people, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem.H559H8085H1697H3068H4428H3063H3063H3427H3389H935H817921This is what the Lord says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.H559H3068H8104H5315H5375H4853H7676H3117H935H8179H338922Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,H3318H4853H1004H7676H3117H6213H4399H6942H7676H3117H6680H123but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or accept my discipline.H8085H5186H241H6203H7185H8085H3947H414824“‘But if you obey me, says the Lord, and do not carry on your trade at the gates or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy,H8085H8085H5002H3068H935H4853H8179H5892H7676H3117H6942H7676H3117H6213H1115H439925then kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will always ride in and out among the people of Judah in chariots and on horses, and this city will remain forever.H935H8179H5892H4428H8269H3427H3678H1732H7392H7393H5483H8269H376H3063H3427H3389H5892H3427H576926And from all around Jerusalem, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from the western foothills and the hill country and the Negev, the people will come with their burnt offerings and sacrifices. They will bring their grain offerings, frankincense, and thanksgiving offerings to the Lord’s Temple.H935H5892H3063H5439H3389H776H1144H8219H2022H5045H935H5930H2077H4503H3828H935H8426H1004H306827“‘But if you do not listen to me and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.’”H8085H6942H7676H3117H5375H4853H935H8179H3389H7676H3117H3341H784H8179H398H759H3389H3518
Dublin, OH
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