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The Broken Jar
19 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and some priests with you. 2 Go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the front of the Potsherd Gate.[a] I have a message I want you to announce there. 3 Say to those who are with you, ‘King of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: I will soon make a terrible thing happen to this place! Everyone who hears about it will be amazed and full of fear. 4 I will do these things because the people of Judah have stopped following me. They have made this a place for foreign gods. The people of Judah have burned sacrifices in this place to other gods. The people long ago did not worship those gods. Their ancestors did not worship them. These are new gods from other countries. The kings of Judah filled this place with the blood of innocent children. 5 The kings of Judah built high places for the god Baal. They use those places to burn their sons in the fire. They burned their sons as burnt offerings to the god Baal. I did not tell them to do that. I did not ask them to offer their sons as sacrifices. I never even thought of such a thing. 6 Now people call this place Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom. But I give you this warning. This message is from the Lord: The days are coming, when people will call this place the Valley of Slaughter. 7 At this place, I will ruin the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The enemy will chase them, and I will let the people of Judah be killed with swords in this place. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild animals. 8 I will completely destroy this city. People will whistle and shake their heads when they pass by Jerusalem. They will be shocked when they see how the city was destroyed. 9 The enemy will bring its army around the city. That army will not let people go out to get food, so the people in the city will begin to starve. They will become so hungry that they will eat the bodies of their own sons and daughters, and then they will begin to eat each other.’
10 “Jeremiah, tell this to the people, and while they are watching, break the jar. 11 Then say this: ‘The Lord All-Powerful says, I will break the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, just as someone breaks a clay jar! And like a broken jar, the nation of Judah cannot be put together again. It will be the same for the nation of Judah. The dead people will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room. 12 I will do this to these people and to this place. I will make this city like Topheth.’ This message is from the Lord. 13 ‘The houses in Jerusalem will become as “dirty” as this place, Topheth. The kings’ palaces will be ruined like this place, Topheth, because the people worshiped false gods on the roofs of their houses.[b] They worshiped the stars and burned sacrifices to honor them. They gave drink offerings to false gods.’”
14 Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had told him to speak. Jeremiah went to the Lord’s Temple and stood in the courtyard of the Temple. Jeremiah said to all the people: 15 “This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel says: ‘I said I would bring many disasters to Jerusalem and the villages around it. I will soon make this happen because the people are very stubborn. They refuse to listen and obey me.’”
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 Pashhur son of Immer was a priest. He was the highest officer in the Temple of the Lord. When he heard Jeremiah say those things in the Temple yard, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten. And he had Jeremiah’s hands and feet locked between large blocks of wood. This was at the Upper Gate of Benjamin of the Lord’s Temple. 3 The next day Pashhur took Jeremiah out from between the blocks of wood. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name for you is not Pashhur. Now his name for you is ‘Surrounded by Terror.’ 4 That is your name because of what the Lord says: ‘I will soon make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. You will watch enemies killing your friends with swords. I will give all the people of Judah to the king of Babylon. He will take them away to the country of Babylon, and his army will kill the people of Judah with their swords. 5 The people of Jerusalem worked hard to build things and become wealthy, but I will give all these things to their enemies. The king in Jerusalem has many treasures, but I will give all the treasures to the enemy. The enemy will take them and carry them away to the country of Babylon. 6 And, Pashhur, you and all the people living in your house will be taken away. You will be forced to go and live in the country of Babylon. You will die in Babylon, and you will be buried in that foreign country. You told lies to your friends. You said these things would not happen. But all your friends will also die and be buried in Babylon.’”
Jeremiah’s Fifth Complaint
7 Lord, you tricked me, and I certainly was fooled.
You are stronger than I am, so you won.
I have become a joke.
People laugh at me and make fun of me all day long.
8 Every time I speak, I shout.
I am always shouting about violence and destruction.
I tell the people about the message that I received from the Lord.
But they only insult me and make fun of me.
9 Sometimes I say to myself, “I will forget about him.
I will not speak anymore in his name.”
But when I say that, his message is like a fire burning inside me!
It feels like it is burning deep in my bones!
I get tired of trying to hold his message inside.
And finally, I am not able to hold it in.
10 I hear people whispering against me.
Everywhere, I hear things that frighten me.
Even my friends are speaking against me.
People are just waiting for me to make a mistake.
They are saying, “Let us lie and say that he did something bad.
Maybe we can trick Jeremiah.
Then we will have him.
We will finally be rid of him.
Then we will grab him
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me.
He is like a strong soldier.
So those who are chasing me will fall.
They will not defeat me.
They will fail.
They will be disappointed.
They will be ashamed,
and they will never forget that shame.
12 Lord All-Powerful, you test good people.
You look deeply into a person’s mind.
I told you my arguments against these people.
So let me see you give them the punishment they deserve.
13 Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
He saves the lives of the poor!
He saves them from the wicked!
Jeremiah’s Sixth Complaint
14 Curse the day that I was born!
Don’t bless the day my mother had me.
15 Curse the man who told my father the news that I was born.
“It’s a boy!” he said.
“You have a son.”
He made my father very happy
when he told him the news.
16 Let that man be like the cities the Lord destroyed.[c]
He had no pity on them.
Let him hear shouts of war in the morning;
let him hear battle cries at noontime,
17 because he did not kill me
while I was in my mother’s womb.
If he had killed me then,
my mother would have been my grave,
and I would not have been born.
18 Why did I have to come out of her body?
All I have seen is trouble and sorrow,
and my life will end in shame.
God Rejects King Zedekiah’s Request
21 This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. This was when King Zedekiah of Judah sent Pashhur[d] son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah. They brought a message for Jeremiah. 2 They said to Jeremiah, “Pray to the Lord for us. Ask him what will happen. We want to know, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will do great things for us, as he did in the past. Maybe he will make Nebuchadnezzar stop attacking us and leave.”
3 Then Jeremiah answered Pashhur and Zephaniah. He said, “Tell King Zedekiah, 4 ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: You have weapons of war in your hands that you are using to defend yourselves from the Babylonians and their king. But I will make those weapons worthless.
“‘The army from Babylon is outside the wall all around the city. Soon I will bring that army into Jerusalem. 5 I myself will fight against you people of Judah. I will fight against you with my own powerful hand. I am very angry with you, so I will fight against you with my own powerful arm. I will fight very hard against you and show how angry I am. 6 I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, both people and animals. They will die from a terrible disease that will spread all through the city. 7 After that happens,’” says the Lord, “‘I will give King Zedekiah of Judah and all his officials to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And I will give to Nebuchadnezzar the people who remain alive in Jerusalem—those who did not die from the terrible disease and the people who did not die in war or from hunger. I will give them all to King Nebuchadnezzar. The people of Judah will be captured by their enemies who want to kill them. Nebuchadnezzar’s army will use their swords to kill the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar will not show any mercy. He will not feel sorry for them.’
8 “Also tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Understand that I will let you choose to live or die. 9 Anyone who stays in Jerusalem will die in war or from hunger or disease. But anyone who goes out of Jerusalem and surrenders to the Babylonians attacking you will live. Only those who leave the city will win anything in this war—their lives! 10 I have decided to make trouble for the city of Jerusalem. I will not help this city! I will give it to the king of Babylon, who will burn it with fire.’” This message is from the Lord.
11 “Say this to Judah’s royal family: ‘Listen to the message from the Lord. 12 Family of David, this is what the Lord says:
“‘You must judge people fairly every day.
Protect the victims from the criminals.
If you don’t do that, I will become very angry.
My anger will be like a fire that no one will be able to put out.
This will happen because you have done evil things.’
13 “Jerusalem, I am against you.
You sit on top of the mountain.
You sit like a queen over this valley.
You people of Jerusalem say,
‘No one can attack us.
No one can come into our strong city.’”
This message is from the Lord.
14 “You will get the punishment you deserve.
I will start a fire in your forests
that will completely burn everything around you.”
This message is from the Lord.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not living in darkness. And so that day will not surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all people who belong to the light. You belong to the day. We don’t belong to the night or to darkness. 6 So we should not be like other people. We should not be sleeping. We should be awake and have self-control. 7 People who sleep, sleep at night. People who drink too much, drink at night. 8 But we belong to the day, so we should control ourselves. We should wear faith and love to protect us. And the hope of salvation should be our helmet.
9 God did not choose us to suffer his anger. God chose us to have salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 Jesus died for us so that we can live together with him. It is not important if we are alive or dead when Jesus comes. 11 So encourage each other and help each other grow stronger in faith, just as you are already doing.
Final Instructions and Greetings
12 Now brothers and sisters, we ask you to recognize the value of those who work hard among you—those who, as followers of the Lord, care for you and tell you how to live. 13 Show them the highest respect and love because of the work they do.
Live in peace with each other. 14 We ask you, brothers and sisters, to warn those who will not work. Encourage those who are afraid. Help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. 15 Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong. But always try to do what is good for each other and for all people.
16 Always be full of joy. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus.
19 Don’t stop the work of the Holy Spirit. 20 Don’t treat prophecy like something that is not important. 21 But test everything. Keep what is good, 22 and stay away from everything that is evil.
23 We pray that God himself, the God of peace, will make you pure—belonging only to him. We pray that your whole self—spirit, soul, and body—will be kept safe and be blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. 24 The one who chose you will do that for you. You can trust him.
25 Brothers and sisters, please pray for us. 26 Give all the brothers and sisters the special greeting of God’s people.[a] 27 I tell you by the authority of the Lord to read this letter to all the believers there. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
82 God stands in the assembly of the gods.[a]
He stands as judge among the judges.
2 He says, “How long will you judge unfairly
and show special favors to the wicked?” Selah
3 “Defend the poor and orphans.
Protect the rights of the poor.
4 Help those who are poor and helpless.
Save them from those who are evil.
5 “They[b] don’t know what is happening.
They don’t understand!
They don’t know what they are doing.
Their world is falling down around them!”
6 I, God Most High, say,
“You are gods,[c] my own sons.
7 But you will die as all people must die.
Your life will end like that of any ruler.”
8 Get up, God! You be the judge!
You be the leader over all the nations!
9 If you want to tell your friends about your own problems, tell them. But don’t discuss what someone told you in private. 10 Whoever hears it will lose their respect for you and will never trust you again.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International