Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

The Broken Covenant

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

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

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

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? ^(A)Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can ^(B)we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us ^(C)who have been baptized ^(D)into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were ^(E)buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as ^(F)Christ was raised from the dead by ^(G)the glory of the Father, we too might walk in ^(H)newness of life.

⁵ For ^(I)if we have been united with him in ^(J)a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that ^(K)our old self^{[a] (L)}was crucified with him in order that ^(M)the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For ^(N)one who has died ^(O)has been set free^[b] from sin. ⁸ Now ^(P)if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that ^(Q)Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; ^(R)death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, ^(S)once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves ^(T)dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

³³ They answered him, ^(A)“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(B)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[a] to sin. ^35 (C)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(D)the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^(E)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38 (F)I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^(G)from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(H)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(I)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(J)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(K)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, ^(L)“We were not born of sexual immorality. We have ^(M)one Father—even God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(N)“If God were your Father, you would love me, for ^(O)I came from God and ^(P)I am here. ^(Q)I came not of my own accord, but ^(R)he sent me. ^43 (S)Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot ^(T)bear to hear my word. ^44 (U)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(V)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(W)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(X)When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ^47 (Y)Whoever is of God hears the words of God. ^(Z)The reason why you do not hear them is that ^(AA)you are not of God.”