Old/New Testament
9 (8:23)[a] I wish that my head were a well full of water[b]
and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!
If they were, I could cry day and night
for those of my dear people[c] who have been killed.
2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the wilderness
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.[d]
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation[e] of people that has been disloyal to him.”[f]
The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them
3 The Lord says,[g]
“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.
Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies.[h]
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have not done so by honest means.[i]
Indeed, they do one evil thing after another[j]
and do not pay attention to me.[k]
4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.
He must not even trust any of his relatives.[l]
For every one of them will find some way to cheat him.[m]
And all his friends will tell lies about him.
5 One friend deceives another
and no one tells the truth.
These people have trained themselves[n] to tell lies.
They do wrong and are unable to repent.
6 They do one act of violence after another,
and one deceitful thing after another.[o]
They refuse to pay attention to me,”[p]
says the Lord.
7 Therefore the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:[q]
“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction[r] and test them.
The wickedness of my dear people[s] has left me no choice.
What else can I do?[t]
8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows.[u]
They are always telling lies.[v]
Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths,
but their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.[w]
9 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.
“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!”[x]
The Coming Destruction Calls For Mourning
10 I said,[y]
“I will weep and mourn[z] for the grasslands on the mountains;[aa]
I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness
because they are so scorched no one travels through them.
The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.
Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields
have fled and are gone.”
11 The Lord said,[ab]
“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
Jackals will make their home there.[ac]
I will destroy the towns of Judah
so that no one will be able to live in them.”
12 I said,[ad]
“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?[ae]
Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it?[af]
Why does the land lie in ruins?
Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”
13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because these people have rejected my laws that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws.[ag] 14 Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to[ah] the gods called Baal,[ai] as their fathers[aj] taught them to do. 15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,[ak] say,[al] ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.[am] 16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors[an] have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords[ao] until I have destroyed them.’”[ap]
17 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies[aq] told me to say to this people:[ar]
“Take note of what I say.[as]
Call for the women who mourn for the dead!
Summon those who are the most skilled at it!”[at]
18 I said, “Indeed,[au] let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us.
Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes
and our eyelids overflow with water.
19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion,
‘We are utterly ruined![av] We are completely disgraced!
For we have left our land,
for our houses have been torn down!’”[aw]
20 I said,[ax]
“So now,[ay] you wailing women, listen to the Lord’s message.[az]
Open your ears to the message from his mouth.
Teach your daughters this mournful song,
and let every woman teach her neighbor this lament.
21 ‘Death has climbed in[ba] through our windows.
It has entered into our fortified houses.
It has taken away our children who play in the streets.
It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’
22 Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says:
“The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere
like manure scattered on a field.
They will lie scattered on the ground
like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’”[bb]
23 [bc] The Lord says,
“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.
Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful.[bd]
Rich people should not boast that they are rich.[be]
24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,”[bf]
says the Lord.
25 The Lord says, “Watch out![bg] The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh.[bh] 26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples.[bi] I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight.[bj] Moreover, none of the people of Israel[bk] are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.”[bl]
The Lord, not Idols, is the Only Worthy Object of Worship
10 You people of Israel,[bm] listen to what the Lord has to say to you.
2 The Lord says:
“Do not start following pagan religious practices.[bn]
Do not be in awe of signs that occur[bo] in the sky
even though the nations hold them in awe.
3 For the religion[bp] of these people is worthless.
They cut down a tree in the forest,
and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.[bq]
4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.
He uses hammer and nails to fasten it[br] together
so that it will not fall over.
5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.
They cannot talk.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them
because they cannot hurt you.
And they do not have any power to help you.”[bs]
6 I said,[bt]
“There is no one like you, Lord.[bu]
You are great,
and you are renowned for your power.[bv]
7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations,[bw]
because you deserve to be revered.[bx]
For there is no one like you
among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings.[by]
8 The people of those nations[bz] are both stupid and foolish.
Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless![ca]
9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish[cb]
and gold is brought from Ufaz[cc] to cover those idols.[cd]
They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths.[ce]
They are clothed in blue and purple clothes.[cf]
They are all made by skillful workers.[cg]
10 The Lord is the only true God.
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
When he shows his anger the earth shakes.
None of the nations can stand up to his fury.
11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:
‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.
They will disappear[ch] from the earth and from under the heavens.’[ci]
12 The Lord is the one who[cj] by his power made the earth.
He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.
And by his understanding he spread out the skies.
13 When his voice thunders,[ck] the heavenly ocean roars.
He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.[cl]
He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.
He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.[cm]
14 All these idolaters[cn] will prove to be stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.
For the image he forges is merely a sham.[co]
There is no breath in any of those idols.[cp]
15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked.[cq]
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
16 The Lord, who is the inheritance[cr] of Jacob’s descendants,[cs] is not like them.
He is the one who created everything.
And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own.[ct]
His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”[cu]
Jeremiah Laments for and Prays for the People Soon to be Judged
17 “Gather your belongings together and prepare to leave the land,
you people of Jerusalem who are being besieged.[cv]
18 For the Lord says, ‘I will now throw out
those who live in this land.
I will bring so much trouble on them
that they will actually feel it.’[cw]
19 And I cried out,[cx] ‘We are doomed![cy]
Our wound is severe!’
We once thought, ‘This is only an illness.
And we will be able to bear it.’[cz]
20 But our tents have been destroyed.
The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart.[da]
Our children are gone and are not coming back.[db]
There is no survivor to put our tents back up,
no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.
21 For our leaders[dc] are stupid.
They have not sought the Lord’s advice.[dd]
So they do not act wisely,
and the people they are responsible for[de] have all been scattered.
22 Listen! News is coming even now.[df]
The rumble of a great army is heard approaching[dg] from a land in the north.[dh]
It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,
places where only jackals live.
23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny.[di]
It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.[dj]
24 Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure.[dk]
Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing.[dl]
25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you.[dm]
Vent it on the peoples[dn] who do not worship you.[do]
For they have destroyed the people of Jacob.[dp]
They have completely destroyed them[dq]
and left their homeland in utter ruin.”
The People Have Violated Their Covenant with God
11 The Lord said to Jeremiah:[dr] 2 “Hear[ds] the terms of the covenant[dt] I made with Israel[du] and pass them on[dv] to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.[dw] 3 Tell them that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Anyone who does not keep the terms of the covenant will be under a curse.[dx] 4 Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors[dy] to keep[dz] when I brought them out of Egypt, that place that was like an iron-smelting furnace.[ea] I said at that time,[eb] “Obey me and carry out the terms of the covenant[ec] exactly as I commanded you. If you do,[ed] you will be my people and I will be your God.[ee] 5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.”[ef] That is the very land that you still live in today.’”[eg] And I responded, “Amen. Let it be so,[eh] Lord.”
6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you[ei] and carry them out! 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me.[ej] I warned them again and again,[ek] ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. 8 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’”[el]
9 The Lord said to me, “The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have plotted rebellion against me.[em] 10 They have gone back to the evil ways[en] of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to[eo] other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah[ep] have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors. 11 So I, the Lord, say this:[eq] ‘I will soon bring disaster on them that they will not be able to escape! When they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them. 12 Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will[er] go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means be able[es] to save them when disaster strikes them. 13 This is in spite of the fact that[et] the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns[eu] and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’[ev] 14 But as for you, Jeremiah,[ew] do not pray for these people. Do not raise a cry of prayer for them.[ex] For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.”[ey]
15 The Lord says to the people of Judah,[ez]
“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people?[fa]
Many of you have done wicked things.[fb]
Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings[fc]
that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?[fd]
16 I, the Lord, once called[fe] you a thriving olive tree,
one that produced beautiful fruit.
But I will set you[ff] on fire,
fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.[fg]
Then all your branches will be good for nothing.[fh]
17 For though I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,[fi] planted you in the land,[fj]
I now decree that disaster will come on you[fk]
because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil
and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.”[fl]
A Plot Against Jeremiah is Revealed and He Complains of Injustice
18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding.[fm]
Then he showed me what the people were doing.[fn]
19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were making plans to kill me.[fo]
I did not know they were saying,[fp]
“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit![fq]
Let’s remove Jeremiah[fr] from the world of the living
so people will not even be reminded of him anymore.”[fs]
20 So I said,[ft]
“O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,[fu] you are a just judge!
You examine people’s hearts and minds.[fv]
I want to see you pay them back for what they have done
because I trust you to vindicate my cause.”[fw]
21 Then the Lord told me about[fx] some men from Anathoth[fy] who were threatening to kill me.[fz] They had threatened,[ga] “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!”[gb] 22 So the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[gc] said, “I will surely[gd] punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle.[ge] Their sons and daughters will die of starvation. 23 Not one of them will survive.[gf] I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you.[gg] A day of reckoning is coming for them.”[gh]
6 Those who are under the yoke as slaves[a] must regard their own masters as deserving of full respect. This will prevent[b] the name of God and Christian teaching[c] from being discredited.[d] 2 But those who have believing masters must not show them less respect[e] because they are brothers. Instead they are to serve all the more, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved.[f]
Summary of Timothy’s Duties
Teach them and exhort them about these things.[g] 3 If someone spreads false teachings[h] and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, 5 and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness[i] is a way of making a profit. 6 Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit. 7 For we have brought nothing into this world and so[j] we cannot take a single thing out either. 8 But if we have food and shelter, we will be satisfied with that.[k] 9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root[l] of all evils.[m] Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.
11 But you, as a person dedicated to God,[n] keep away from all that.[o] Instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Compete well[p] for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession[q] for[r] in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you[s] before God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who made his good confession[t] before Pontius Pilate, 14 to obey[u] this command[v] without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ 15 —whose appearing[w] the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will reveal at the right time. 16 He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.
17 Command those who are rich in this world’s goods[x] not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain,[y] but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to do good,[z] to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others.[aa] 19 In this way they will save up[ab] a treasure for themselves as a firm foundation[ac] for the future and so lay hold of[ad] what is truly life.
Conclusion
20 O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid[ae] the profane chatter and absurdities[af] of so-called “knowledge.”[ag] 21 By professing it, some have strayed from the faith.[ah] Grace be with you all.[ai]
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