16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
    but hounded to death the poor
    and the needy(A) and the brokenhearted.(B)
17 He loved to pronounce a curse—
    may it come back on him.(C)
He found no pleasure in blessing—
    may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing(D) as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,(E)
    into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped(F) about him,
    like a belt tied forever around him.
20 May this be the Lord’s payment(G) to my accusers,
    to those who speak evil(H) of me.

21 But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;(I)
    out of the goodness of your love,(J) deliver me.(K)
22 For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;(L)
    I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give(M) way from fasting;(N)
    my body is thin and gaunt.(O)
25 I am an object of scorn(P) to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.(Q)

26 Help me,(R) Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.
27 Let them know(S) that it is your hand,
    that you, Lord, have done it.
28 While they curse,(T) may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.(U)
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame(V) as in a cloak.

30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
    in the great throng(W) of worshipers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand(X) of the needy,
    to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

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15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
    No, they have no shame at all;
    they do not even know how to blush.(A)
So they will fall among the fallen;
    they will be brought down when I punish(B) them,”
says the Lord.

16 This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,(C)
ask where the good way(D) is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest(E) for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I appointed watchmen(F) over you and said,
    ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’(G)
    But you said, ‘We will not listen.’(H)
18 Therefore hear, you nations;
    you who are witnesses,
    observe what will happen to them.
19 Hear, you earth:(I)
    I am bringing disaster(J) on this people,
    the fruit of their schemes,(K)
because they have not listened to my words(L)
    and have rejected my law.(M)
20 What do I care about incense from Sheba(N)
    or sweet calamus(O) from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;(P)
    your sacrifices(Q) do not please me.”(R)

21 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“I will put obstacles before this people.
    Parents and children alike will stumble(S) over them;
    neighbors and friends will perish.”

22 This is what the Lord says:

“Look, an army is coming
    from the land of the north;(T)
a great nation is being stirred up
    from the ends of the earth.(U)
23 They are armed with bow and spear;
    they are cruel and show no mercy.(V)
They sound like the roaring sea(W)
    as they ride on their horses;(X)
they come like men in battle formation
    to attack you, Daughter Zion.(Y)

24 We have heard reports about them,
    and our hands hang limp.(Z)
Anguish(AA) has gripped us,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.(AB)
25 Do not go out to the fields
    or walk on the roads,
for the enemy has a sword,
    and there is terror on every side.(AC)
26 Put on sackcloth,(AD) my people,
    and roll in ashes;(AE)
mourn with bitter wailing(AF)
    as for an only son,(AG)
for suddenly the destroyer(AH)
    will come upon us.

27 “I have made you a tester(AI) of metals
    and my people the ore,
that you may observe
    and test their ways.
28 They are all hardened rebels,(AJ)
    going about to slander.(AK)
They are bronze and iron;(AL)
    they all act corruptly.
29 The bellows blow fiercely
    to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining(AM) goes on in vain;
    the wicked are not purged out.
30 They are called rejected silver,(AN)
    because the Lord has rejected them.”(AO)

False Religion Worthless

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand(AP) at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:

“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways(AQ) and your actions, and I will let you live(AR) in this place. Do not trust(AS) in deceptive(AT) words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” If you really change(AU) your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,(AV) if you do not oppress(AW) the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood(AX) in this place, and if you do not follow other gods(AY) to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land(AZ) I gave your ancestors(BA) for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting(BB) in deceptive(BC) words that are worthless.

“‘Will you steal(BD) and murder,(BE) commit adultery(BF) and perjury,[a](BG) burn incense to Baal(BH) and follow other gods(BI) you have not known, 10 and then come and stand(BJ) before me in this house,(BK) which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?(BL) 11 Has this house,(BM) which bears my Name, become a den of robbers(BN) to you? But I have been watching!(BO) declares the Lord.

12 “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh(BP) where I first made a dwelling(BQ) for my Name,(BR) and see what I did(BS) to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke(BT) to you again and again,(BU) but you did not listen;(BV) I called(BW) you, but you did not answer.(BX) 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh(BY) I will now do to the house that bears my Name,(BZ) the temple(CA) you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. 15 I will thrust you from my presence,(CB) just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’(CC)

16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea(CD) or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen(CE) to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.(CF) They pour out drink offerings(CG) to other gods to arouse(CH) my anger. 19 But am I the one they are provoking?(CI) declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?(CJ)

20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign(CK) Lord says: My anger(CL) and my wrath will be poured(CM) out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.(CN)

21 “‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices(CO) and eat(CP) the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands(CQ) about burnt offerings and sacrifices,(CR) 23 but I gave them this command:(CS) Obey(CT) me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.(CU) Walk in obedience to all(CV) I command you, that it may go well(CW) with you. 24 But they did not listen(CX) or pay attention;(CY) instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.(CZ) They went backward(DA) and not forward. 25 From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again(DB) I sent you my servants(DC) the prophets.(DD) 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention.(DE) They were stiff-necked(DF) and did more evil than their ancestors.’(DG)

27 “When you tell(DH) them all this, they will not listen(DI) to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.(DJ) 28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction.(DK) Truth(DL) has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

29 “‘Cut off(DM) your hair and throw it away; take up a lament(DN) on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned(DO) this generation that is under his wrath.

The Valley of Slaughter

30 “‘The people of Judah have done evil(DP) in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols(DQ) in the house that bears my Name and have defiled(DR) it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth(DS) in the Valley of Ben Hinnom(DT) to burn their sons and daughters(DU) in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.(DV) 32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter,(DW) for they will bury(DX) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 33 Then the carcasses(DY) of this people will become food(DZ) for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.(EA) 34 I will bring an end to the sounds(EB) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom(EC) in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem,(ED) for the land will become desolate.(EE)

“‘At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones(EF) of the people of Jerusalem will be removed(EG) from their graves. They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served(EH) and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped.(EI) They will not be gathered up or buried,(EJ) but will be like dung lying on the ground.(EK) Wherever I banish them,(EL) all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life,(EM) declares the Lord Almighty.’

Sin and Punishment

“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?(EN)
    When someone turns away,(EO) do they not return?
Why then have these people turned away?
    Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;(EP)
    they refuse to return.(EQ)
I have listened(ER) attentively,
    but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent(ES) of their wickedness,
    saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course(ET)
    like a horse charging into battle.
Even the stork in the sky
    knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
    observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know(EU)
    the requirements of the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 7:9 Or and swear by false gods

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,(A) which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world(B) rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness(C) of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head(D) over every power and authority.(E) 11 In him you were also circumcised(F) with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b](G) was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism,(H) in which you were also raised with him(I) through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.(J)

13 When you were dead in your sins(K) and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive(L) with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,(M) 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,(N) which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.(O) 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities,(P) he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them(Q) by the cross.[e]

Freedom From Human Rules

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you(R) by what you eat or drink,(S) or with regard to a religious festival,(T) a New Moon celebration(U) or a Sabbath day.(V) 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come;(W) the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility(X) and the worship of angels disqualify you.(Y) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head,(Z) from whom the whole body,(AA) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.(AB)

20 Since you died with Christ(AC) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,(AD) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:(AE) 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish(AF) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.(AG) 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility(AH) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

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Footnotes

  1. Colossians 2:8 Or the basic principles; also in verse 20
  2. Colossians 2:11 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13.
  3. Colossians 2:11 Or put off in the circumcision of
  4. Colossians 2:13 Some manuscripts us
  5. Colossians 2:15 Or them in him

26 An honest answer
    is like a kiss on the lips.

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