Jeremiah 9-11

English Standard Version

9 ^[a] ^(A)Oh that my head were waters,
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of ^(B)the daughter of my people!
²^[b] Oh that I had in the desert
    a travelers' lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all ^(C)adulterers,
    a company of ^(D)treacherous men.
³^(E)They bend their tongue like a bow;
    falsehood and not truth has grown strong^[c] in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    ^(F)and they do not know me, declares the Lord.

⁴^(G)Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
    and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^(H)brother is a deceiver,
    and every neighbor ^(I)goes about as a slanderer.
⁵Everyone deceives his neighbor,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
    they weary themselves committing iniquity.
⁶Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
    ^(J)they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^(K)I will refine them and ^(L)test them,
    for what else can I do, ^(M)because of my people?
⁸^(N)Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    ^(O)it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^(P)each speaks peace to his neighbor,
    but in his heart ^(Q)he plans an ambush for him.
⁹^(R)Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

¹⁰“I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
    and a lamentation for ^(S)the pastures of the wilderness,
^(T)because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^(U)both the birds of the air and the beasts
    have fled and are gone.
¹¹^(V)I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    ^(W)a lair of jackals,
^(X)and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.”

¹²^(Y)Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined ^(Z)and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And the Lord says: ^(AA)“Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, ¹⁴but ^(AB)have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AC)Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^(AD)poisonous water to drink. ¹⁶^(AE)I will scatter them among the nations ^(AF)whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will ^(AG)send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(AH)“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
    send for the skillful women to come;
¹⁸let them make haste ^(AI)and raise a wailing over us,
    ^(AJ)that our eyes may run down with tears
    and our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ^(AK)‘How we are ruined!
    We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
    because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
    and each to her neighbor a dirge.
²¹For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(AL)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.
²²Speak: “Thus declares the Lord,
^(AM)‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
^(AN)like sheaves after the reaper,
    and none shall gather them.’”

²³Thus says the Lord: ^(AO)“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, ²⁴but ^(AP)let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. ^(AQ)For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(AR)I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— ²⁶^(AS)Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(AT)all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(AU)uncircumcised in heart.”

Idols and the Living God

10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord:

“Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
³^(AV)for the customs of the peoples are vanity.^[d]
^(AW)A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
⁴^(AX)They decorate it with silver and gold;
    ^(AY)they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
⁵Their idols^[e] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and ^(AZ)they cannot speak;
^(BA)they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    ^(BB)for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

⁶^(BC)There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
⁷^(BD)Who 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^(BE)They are both ^(BF)stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
⁹^(BG)Beaten silver is brought from ^(BH)Tarshish,
    and gold from ^(BI)Uphaz.
^(BJ)They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    ^(BK)they are all the work of skilled men.
¹⁰^(BL)But the Lord is the true God;
    ^(BM)he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹¹Thus shall you say to them: ^(BN)“The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth ^(BO)shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”^[f]

¹²^(BP)It is he who ^(BQ)made the earth by his power,
    ^(BR)who established the world by his wisdom,
    and ^(BS)by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
¹³^(BT)When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    ^(BU)and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
^(BV)He makes lightning ^(BW)for the rain,
    ^(BX)and he brings forth the wind ^(BY)from his storehouses.
¹⁴^(BZ)Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    ^(CA)every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    ^(CB)and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶Not like these is he who is ^(CC)the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
^(CD)and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    ^(CE)the Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁷^(CF)Gather up your bundle from the ground,
    O you who dwell under siege!
¹⁸For thus says the Lord:
^(CG)“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
    at this time,
^(CH)and I will bring distress on them,
    that they may feel it.”

¹⁹Woe is me because of my hurt!
    ^(CI)My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
    and I must bear it.”
²⁰^(CJ)My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
    ^(CK)and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again
    and ^(CL)to set up my curtains.
²¹^(CM)For the shepherds ^(CN)are stupid
    and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
    ^(CO)and all their flock is scattered.

²²A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
^(CP)a great commotion out of the north country
to make ^(CQ)the cities of Judah a desolation,
^(CR)a lair of jackals.

²³^(CS)I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
²⁴^(CT)Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

²⁵^(CU)Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
    and on the peoples that call not on your name,
^(CV)for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him,
    and have laid waste his habitation.

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²^(CW)“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(CX)Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant ⁴that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, ^(CY)from the iron furnace, saying, ^(CZ)Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. ^(DA)So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, ⁵^(DB)that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, ^(DC)to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”

⁶And the Lord said to me, ^(DD)“Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ^(DE)Hear the words of this covenant and do them. ⁷For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, ^(DF)warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, ^(DG)Obey my voice. ⁸^(DH)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, ^(DI)but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all ^(DJ)the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

⁹Again the Lord said to me, ^(DK)“A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to ^(DL)the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. ^(DM)They have gone after other gods to serve them. ^(DN)The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. ¹¹Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. ^(DO)Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^(DP)will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, ^(DQ)but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. ¹³^(DR)For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, ^(DS)altars to make offerings to Baal.

¹⁴“Therefore ^(DT)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, ^(DU)for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. ¹⁵^(DV)What right has my beloved in my house, ^(DW)when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? ^(DX)Can you then exult? ¹⁶The Lord once called you ^(DY)‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But ^(DZ)with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and ^(EA)its branches will be consumed. ¹⁷The Lord of hosts, ^(EB)who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, ^(EC)provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

¹⁸The Lord made it known to me and I knew;
    then you showed me their deeds.
¹⁹But I was ^(ED)like a gentle lamb
    led to the slaughter.
I did not know ^(EE)it was against me
    they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
    ^(EF)let us cut him off from ^(EG)the land of the living,
    that his name be remembered no more.”
²⁰But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
    who ^(EH)tests ^(EI)the heart and the mind,
^(EJ)let me see your vengeance upon them,
    for to you have I committed my cause.

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^(EK)Anathoth, ^(EL)who seek your life, and say, ^(EM)“Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”— ²²therefore 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, ²³and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of ^(EN)Anathoth, ^(EO)the year of their punishment.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew
Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew
Jeremiah 9:3 Septuagint; Hebrew and not for truth they have grown strong
Jeremiah 10:3 Or vapor, or mist
Jeremiah 10:5 Hebrew They
Jeremiah 10:11 This verse is in Aramaic

Matthew 22:1-22

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

22 And again Jesus ^(A)spoke to them in parables, saying, ²^(B)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave ^(C)a wedding feast for his son, ³and ^(D)sent his servants^[a] to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴^(E)Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my ^(F)dinner, ^(G)my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵But ^(H)they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his servants, ^(I)treated them shamefully, and ^(J)killed them. ⁷The king was angry, and he sent his troops and ^(K)destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not ^(L)worthy. ⁹Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰And those servants went out into the roads and ^(M)gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ^(N)a man who had no wedding garment. ¹²And he said to him, ^(O)‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ^(P)cast him into the outer darkness. In that place ^(Q)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴For many are ^(R)called, but few are ^(S)chosen.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁵^(T)Then the Pharisees went and plotted how ^(U)to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶And they sent ^(V)their disciples to him, along with ^(W)the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, ^(X)we know that you are true and teach ^(Y)the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for ^(Z)you are not swayed by appearances.^[b] ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay ^(AA)taxes to ^(AB)Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why ^(AC)put me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.^[c] ²⁰And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, ^(AD)“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²²When they heard it, they marveled. And they ^(AE)left him and went away.