Old/New Testament
Chapter 24[a]
The Good and Bad Figs. 1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. This occurred after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had exiled from Jerusalem Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, the artisans, and the skilled workers, and brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket contained excellent figs that tend to ripen early; the other basket had figs of an extremely poor quality, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “Figs,” I answered. “The good figs are superb, but the poor ones are so bad that they are not fit to eat.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Just as these figs are good, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will watch over them carefully to ensure their welfare, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart that will enable them to know that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.
8 As for the bad figs that are so dreadful that they cannot be eaten, thus says the Lord: In the same way I will treat King Zedekiah of Judah and his princes, the remnant of Jerusalem remaining in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them. 10 And I will send against them the sword, famine, and pestilence, until they have completely vanished from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.
Chapter 25[b]
Seventy Years of Captivity.[c] 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah, which was the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 2 The prophet Jeremiah thus spoke as follows to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah, the son of Amon, until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you unceasingly, but you have not listened. 4 And though the Lord continued to send all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you refused to listen or to pay any heed to their message when they warned, 5 “If you turn back, each of you, from your evil ways and your wicked deeds, says the Lord, you can remain in the land that I have given to you and to your fathers forever. 6 If you do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and you do not provoke me with what your hands have made, then I will not harm you. 7 But you have not listened to me, says the Lord, and thus you have provoked me to anger with your handiwork to your own harm.”
8 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I intend to summon all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, as well as my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will totally destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn and everlasting disgrace. 10 No longer will there emerge from them the sounds of rejoicing and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This entire country will become a wasteland of desolation, and these nations will be enslaved to the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 However, at the end of those seventy years, says the Lord, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will turn it into a desolate wasteland. 13 [d]I will inflict upon that land all the scourges that I threatened against it, everything written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 Mighty nations and powerful kings will reduce them to a life of slavery, and thus I will requite them as their deeds and their handiwork deserve.
15 The Cup of Wrath on the Nations. For these are the words that the Lord, the God of Israel, proclaimed to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and command all the nations to whom I send you to drink from it. 16 After they drink, they will stagger and become mad because of the sword that I am inflicting upon them.”
17 Therefore, I took the cup from the hand of the Lord and ordered all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me to drink from it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to transform them into a desolate ruin and a desert, an object of ridicule and cursing, as they are today; 19 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people, 20 with the various groupings of people: all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and all the kings of the coastland across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, both close neighbors and those who are distant from each other—in other words, all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And, last of all, the king of Sheshach[e] shall drink.
27 Then say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink! Get drunk and vomit! Fall down, never to rise again, because of the sword that I am sending against you. 28 Should they refuse to accept the cup from your hand and drink, then you are to say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! 29 Behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name. Do you believe that you can possibly avoid punishment? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.
30 Therefore, prophesy against them all these words and proclaim to them:
The Lord roars from on high;
he thunders from his holy dwelling place.
He will roar mightily against his fold;
like those who tread the grapes, she shouts aloud
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The uproar will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against the nations,
he will pass judgment upon all mankind
and put the wicked to the sword.
This the Lord has sworn.
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Behold, disaster is spreading
from nation to nation,
and a mighty storm has been unleashed
from the farthest corners of the earth.
33 Those whom the Lord has slain on that day will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them. Nor will they be gathered up for burial. Rather, they will become like dung spread over the surface of the ground.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and weep aloud;
roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
The time for you to be slaughtered has arrived;
you will fall and be shattered
like a valuable vase.
35 The shepherds have no place to seek refuge;
the leaders of the flock have no way of escape.
36 Listen to the cry of the shepherds
and the wails from the lords of the flock.
For the Lord has ravaged their pasture,
37 and their peaceful sheepfolds lie in ruins
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 Like a lion he has abandoned his lair,
for their land has become a desolate waste
because of the sword of the oppressor
and the fierce anger of the Lord.
Chapter 26
Jeremiah’s Arrest and Conviction.[f][g] 1 At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah, this word came from the Lord to Jeremiah: 2 Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people from the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I order you to say, without omitting a single word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and all of them will turn from their evil ways, causing me to relent in my determination to inflict disaster upon them because of their evil deeds.
4 Say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you refuse to listen to me and to live according to my law that I have set before you, 5 and if you fail to heed the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you time and again even though you do not listen to them, 6 then I will treat this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth.
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord. 8 But when Jeremiah had finished saying everything that the Lord had commanded him to proclaim to all the people, then the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him and cried out, “You will be put to death for this. 9 Why have you prophesied in the Lord’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and that this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the high officials of Judah heard what was happening, they came up from the king’s palace to the house of the Lord and took their places there at the entry of the New Gate[h] of the house of the Lord. 11 The priests and the prophets then addressed the officials and all the people, saying, “This man deserves to be condemned to death because he has prophesied against this city all the things that you heard with your own ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah replied to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord himself sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13 Now, therefore, if you amend your ways and your actions and listen to the word of the Lord, your God, the Lord will relent in his determination to inflict the disaster that he has decreed for you. 14 As for me, I am in your hands. Do with me whatever seems right and proper to you. 15 However, you can be certain that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants. For truly the Lord sent me to speak all these things for you to hear.”
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve to be sentenced to death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord, our God.” 17 And some of the elders of the land came forward and said to all the assembled people, 18 “Micah of Moresheth, who prophesied during the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, proclaimed this to all the people of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Zion will become a plowed field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the temple mount a wooded height.
19 “Did King Hezekiah of Judah and the people of Judah put him to death for this? Rather, did they not fear the Lord and entreat his favor, and did the Lord then not revoke the disaster with which he had threatened them? Are we not on the verge of inflicting a terrible disaster upon ourselves?”
20 The Prophet Uriah’s Fate. There was also another man who used to prophesy in the name of the Lord, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied exactly the same things against this city and this land just as Jeremiah had done. 21 When King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and officials, heard his words, the king was determined to put Uriah to death. However, Uriah learned of this plot and fled in fear to Egypt.
22 Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan, the son of Achbor, to Egypt with some other men. 23 They brought back Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and consigned his dead body into the burial place used for common people.
24 However Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, gave his support to Jeremiah, and as a result, Jeremiah was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
Proper Conduct for Christians
Chapter 2
Teach What Is Consistent with Sound Doctrine.[a] 1 As for you, teach what is consistent with sound doctrine. 2 Exhort the older men to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance.
3 Similarly, exhort the older women to be reverent in their behavior, not to be slanderous or slaves of drink, and eager to teach what is good. 4 They can then instruct the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to be self-controlled and chaste, to be diligent homemakers, to be agreeable, and to respect the authority of their husbands so that the word of God may not be derided.
6 Likewise, exhort the younger men to exercise self-control. 7 Show yourself to them in all respects as a model of good works, while in your teaching exhibit integrity and dignity 8 and a soundness of speech that cannot be criticized. Then any opponent will be put to shame when he can find nothing evil to say about us.
9 Exhort slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction in every respect. They are not to talk back to them, 10 nor are they to steal from them. Rather, they should show themselves to be completely trustworthy so that in every way they may add luster to the doctrine of God our Savior.
11 The Grace of God Has Appeared.[b] For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to the entire human race. 12 It teaches us to reject godless ways and worldly desires, and in the present age to lead lives that are temperate, just, and godly, 13 while we await our blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.[c] 14 He gave himself for us in order to deliver us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people as his own who are eager to do good.
15 The Goodness of God Our Savior.[d] These are the things you should expound. Exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
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