Old/New Testament
Chapter 6
The Enemy at the Gates
1 Seek refuge, Benjaminites,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
raise a signal over Beth-haccherem;
For disaster threatens from the north,
and mighty destruction.(A)
2 Lovely and delicate
daughter Zion, you are ruined!
3 Against her, shepherds come with their flocks;[a]
all around, they pitch their tents against her;
each one grazes his portion.(B)
4 “Prepare for war against her,
Up! let us rush upon her at midday!”
“Woe to us! the day is waning,
evening shadows lengthen!”
5 “Up! let us rush upon her by night,
destroy her palaces!”(C)
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Hew down her trees,
throw up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
Woe to the city marked for punishment;
there is nothing but oppression within her!(D)
7 As a well keeps its waters fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
ever before me are wounds and blows.(E)
8 Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will be estranged from you,
And I will turn you into a wilderness,
a land where no one dwells.
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean, glean like a vine
the remnant of Israel;
Pass your hand, like a vintager,
repeatedly over the tendrils.
10 To whom shall I speak?
whom shall I warn, and be heard?
See! their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot pay attention;
See, the word of the Lord has become for them
an object of scorn, for which they have no taste.(F)
11 But the wrath of the Lord brims up within me,
I am weary of holding it in.
I will pour it out upon the child in the street,
upon the young men gathered together.
Yes, husband and wife will be taken,
elder with ancient.(G)
12 Their houses will fall to others,
their fields and their wives as well;
For I will stretch forth my hand
against those who dwell in the land—oracle of the Lord.(H)
13 Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain;
prophet and priest, all practice fraud.(I)
14 They have treated lightly
the injury to my people:
“Peace, peace!” they say,
though there is no peace.(J)
15 They have acted shamefully, committing abominations,
yet they are not at all ashamed,
they do not know how to blush.
Therefore they will fall among the fallen;
in the time of their punishment they shall stumble,
says the Lord.(K)
16 Thus says the Lord:
Stand by the earliest roads,
ask the pathways of old,[b]
“Which is the way to good?” and walk it;
thus you will find rest for yourselves.
But they said, “We will not walk it.”(L)
17 I raised up watchmen[c] for them:
“Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!”
But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O earth,
what I will do with them:
19 See, I bring evil upon this people,
the fruit of their own schemes,
Because they did not pay attention to my words,
because they rejected my law.(M)
20 Of what use to me is incense that comes from Sheba,
or sweet cane from far-off lands?
Your burnt offerings find no favor with me,
your sacrifices do not please me.(N)
21 Therefore, thus says the Lord:
See, I will place before this people
obstacles to trip them up;
Parents and children alike,
neighbors and friends shall perish.(O)
22 Thus says the Lord:
See, a people comes from the land of the north,
a great nation, rising from the very ends of the earth.(P)
23 Bow and javelin they wield;
cruel and pitiless are they.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride forth on horses,
Each in his place for battle
against you, daughter Zion.
24 We hear news of them;
our hands hang helpless,
Anguish takes hold of us,
pangs like a woman in childbirth.(Q)
25 Do not go out into the field,
do not step into the street,
For the enemy has a sword;
terror on every side!
26 Daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth,
roll in the ashes.
Mourn as for an only child
with bitter wailing:
“How suddenly the destroyer
comes upon us!”(R)
27 [d]A tester for my people I have appointed you,
to search and test their way.(S)
28 Arch-rebels are they all,
dealers in slander,
bronze and iron, all of them,
destroyers they are.
29 The bellows are scorched,
the lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain has the refiner refined,
the wicked are not drawn off.
30 “Silver rejected” they shall be called,
for the Lord has rejected them.
II. Oracles Primarily from the Days of Jehoiakim
Chapter 7
The Temple Sermon.[e] 1 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message there: Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord! 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds so that I may dwell with you in this place.(T) 4 Do not put your trust in these deceptive words: “The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!”(U) 5 Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor; 6 if you no longer oppress the alien,[f] the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow after other gods to your own harm,(V) 7 only then will I let you continue to dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors long ago and forever.(W)
8 But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive words to your own loss! 9 Do you think you can steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal, follow other gods that you do not know,(X) 10 and then come and stand in my presence in this house, which bears my name, and say: “We are safe! We can commit all these abominations again!”?(Y) 11 Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I have seen it for myself!—oracle of the Lord.(Z) 12 Go to my place at Shiloh,[g] where I made my name dwell in the beginning. See what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.(AA) 13 And now, because you have committed all these deeds—oracle of the Lord—because you did not listen, though I spoke to you untiringly, and because you did not answer, though I called you, 14 I will do to this house, which bears my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your ancestors, exactly what I did to Shiloh.(AB) 15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast away all your kindred, all the offspring of Ephraim.(AC)
Abuses in Worship. 16 You, now, must not intercede for this people! Do not raise a cry or prayer in their behalf!(AD) Do not press me, for I will not listen to you! 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven,[h] while libations are poured out to other gods—all to offend me!(AE) 19 Are they really offending me—oracle of the Lord—or rather themselves, to their own disgrace?(AF) 20 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: my anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place, upon human being and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth; it will burn and not be quenched.(AG)
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices; eat up the meat! 22 In speaking to your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command[i] concerning burnt offering or sacrifice. 23 This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper.(AH)
24 But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.(AI) 25 From the day that your ancestors left the land of Egypt even to this day, I kept on sending all my servants the prophets to you.(AJ) 26 Yet they have not listened to me nor have they paid attention; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their ancestors.(AK) 27 When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
29 (AL)Cut off your hair[j] and throw it away!
on the heights raise a lament;
The Lord has indeed rejected and cast off
the generation that draws down his wrath.
30 The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes—oracle of the Lord. They have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, thereby defiling it.(AM) 31 In the Valley of Ben-hinnom[k] they go on building the high places of Topheth to sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire, something I never commanded or considered. 32 Be assured! Days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when they will no longer say “Topheth” or “Valley of Ben-hinnom” but “Valley of Slaughter.” For want of space, Topheth will become burial ground.(AN) 33 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and beasts of the earth, which no one will drive away.(AO) 34 I will silence the cry of joy, the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will be turned to rubble.(AP)
Chapter 8
1 At that time—oracle of the Lord—the bones of the kings and princes of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves(AQ) 2 and spread out before the sun, the moon, and the whole host of heaven,[l] which they loved and served, which they followed, consulted, and worshiped. They will not be gathered up for burial, but will lie like dung upon the ground.(AR) 3 Death will be preferred to life by all the survivors of this wicked people who remain in any of the places to which I banish them—oracle of the Lord of hosts.
Israel’s Conduct Incomprehensible
4 Tell them: Thus says the Lord:
When someone falls, do they not rise again?
if they turn away, do they not turn back?
5 Why then do these people resist
with persistent rebellion?
Why do they cling to deception,
refuse to turn back?(AS)
6 I have listened closely:
they speak what is not true;
No one regrets wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Everyone keeps on running their course,
like a horse dashing into battle.(AT)
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows its seasons;
Turtledove, swift, and thrush
observe the time of their return,
But my people do not know
the order of the Lord.(AU)
8 How can you say, “We are wise,(AV)
we have the law of the Lord”?
See, that has been changed into falsehood
by the lying pen of the scribes![m]
9 The wise are put to shame,
terrified, and trapped;
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what sort of wisdom do they have?(AW)
Shameless in Their Crimes
10 Therefore, I will give their wives to other men,
their fields to new owners.
Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain,
prophet and priest, all practice fraud.(AX)
11 They have treated lightly
the injury to the daughter of my people:[n]
“Peace, peace!” they say,
though there is no peace.(AY)
12 They have acted shamefully; they have done abominable things,
yet they are not at all ashamed,
they do not know how to blush.
Hence they shall be among those who fall;
in their time of punishment they shall stumble,
says the Lord.(AZ)
Threats of Punishment
13 I will gather them all in—oracle of the Lord:
no grapes on the vine,
No figs on the fig trees,
foliage withered!
Whatever I have given them is gone.
14 Why do we remain here?
Let us assemble and flee to the fortified cities,
where we will meet our doom;
For the Lord our God has doomed us,
he has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.(BA)
15 We wait for peace to no avail;
for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.(BB)
16 From Dan is heard
the snorting of horses;
The neighing of stallions
shakes the whole land.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and its inhabitants.
17 Yes, I will send against you
poisonous snakes.
Against them no charm will work
when they bite you—oracle of the Lord.(BC)
The Prophet’s Grief over the People’s Suffering
18 My joy is gone,
grief is upon me,
my heart is sick.
19 Listen! the cry of the daughter of my people,
far and wide in the land!
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,
is her King no longer in her midst?”
Why do they provoke me with their idols,
with their foreign nonentities?(BD)
20 “The harvest is over, the summer ended,
but we have not yet been saved!”
21 I am broken by the injury of the daughter of my people.
I am in mourning; horror has seized me.(BE)
22 Is there no balm in Gilead,[o]
no healer there?
Why does new flesh not grow
over the wound of the daughter of my people?(BF)
23 Oh, that my head were a spring of water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
over the slain from the daughter of my people!
IV. Duties Toward Others
Chapter 5
1 [a]Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as a father. Treat younger men as brothers,(A) 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters with complete purity.
Rules for Widows. 3 Honor widows who are truly widows. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these first learn to perform their religious duty to their own family and to make recompense to their parents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The real widow, who is all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.(B) 6 But the one who is self-indulgent is dead while she lives. 7 Command this, so that they may be irreproachable. 8 And whoever does not provide for relatives and especially family members has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years old, married only once, 10 with a reputation for good works, namely, that she has raised children, practiced hospitality, washed the feet of the holy ones, helped those in distress, involved herself in every good work.(C) 11 But exclude younger widows, for when their sensuality estranges them from Christ, they want to marry 12 and will incur condemnation for breaking their first pledge. 13 And furthermore, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers but gossips and busybodies as well, talking about things that ought not to be mentioned.(D) 14 So I would like younger widows to marry, have children, and manage a home, so as to give the adversary no pretext for maligning us.(E) 15 For some have already turned away to follow Satan. 16 If any woman believer[b] has widowed relatives, she must assist them; the church is not to be burdened, so that it will be able to help those who are truly widows.
Rules for Presbyters.[c] 17 Presbyters who preside well deserve double honor, especially those who toil in preaching and teaching.(F) 18 For the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is threshing,” and, “A worker deserves his pay.”(G) 19 Do not accept an accusation against a presbyter unless it is supported by two or three witnesses.(H) 20 Reprimand publicly those who do sin, so that the rest also will be afraid.(I) 21 I charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to keep these rules without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism. 22 Do not lay hands too readily on anyone, and do not share in another’s sins. Keep yourself pure.(J) 23 Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
24 Some people’s sins are public, preceding them to judgment; but other people are followed by their sins. 25 Similarly, good works are also public; and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.