To The Word – Day 178

₁This book is the account of what was said by Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests of the town of Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. ₂The LORD spoke to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah, ₃and he spoke to him again when Josiah's son Jehoiakim was king. After that, the LORD spoke to him many times, until the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah. In the fifth month of that year the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.

₄The LORD said to me, ₅“I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations.”

₆I answered, “Sovereign LORD, I don't know how to speak; I am too young.”

₇But the LORD said to me, “Do not say that you are too young, but go to the people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. ₈Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

₉Then the LORD stretched out his hand, touched my lips, and said to me, “Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak. ₁₀Today I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

₁₁The LORD asked me, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

I answered, “A branch of an almond tree.”

₁₂“You are right,” the LORD said, “and I am watching to see that my words come true.”

₁₃Then the LORD spoke to me again. “What else do you see?” he asked.

I answered, “I see a pot boiling in the north, and it is about to tip over this way.”

₁₄He said to me, “Destruction will boil over from the north on all who live in this land, ₁₅because I am calling all the nations in the north to come. Their kings will set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem and round its walls, and also round the other cities of Judah. ₁₆I will punish my people because they have sinned; they have abandoned me, have offered sacrifices to other gods, and have made idols and worshipped them. ₁₇Get ready, Jeremiah; go and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them now, or I will make you even more afraid when you are with them. _18-19Listen, Jeremiah! Everyone in this land — the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests, and the people — will be against you. But today I am giving you the strength to resist them; you will be like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. They will not defeat you, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁The LORD told me ₂to proclaim this message to everyone in Jerusalem.

₄Listen to the LORD's message, you descendants of Jacob, you tribes of Israel. ₅The LORD says:

₂₀The Sovereign LORD says,

₂₆The LORD says, “Just as a thief is disgraced when caught, so all you people of Israel will be disgraced — your kings and officials, your priests and prophets. ₂₇You will all be disgraced — you that say that a tree is your father and that a rock is your mother. This will happen because you turned away from me instead of turning to me. But when you are in trouble, you ask me to come and save you.

₂₈“Where are the gods that you made for yourselves? When you are in trouble, let them save you — if they can! Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. ₂₉What is your complaint? Why have you rebelled against me? ₃₀I punished you, but it did no good; you would not let me correct you. Like a raging lion, you have murdered your prophets. ₃₁People of Israel, listen to what I am saying. Have I been like a desert to you, like a dark and dangerous land? Why, then, do you say that you will do as you please, that you will never come back to me? ₃₂Does a young woman forget her jewellery, or a bride her wedding dress? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can be counted. ₃₃You certainly know how to chase after lovers. Even the worst of women can learn from you. ₃₄Your clothes are stained with the blood of the poor and innocent, not with the blood of burglars.

“But in spite of all this, ₃₅you say, ‘I am innocent; surely the LORD is no longer angry with me.’ But I, the LORD, will punish you because you deny that you have sinned. ₃₆You have cheapened yourself by turning to the gods of other nations. You will be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were by Assyria. ₃₇You will turn away from Egypt, hanging your head in shame. I, the LORD, have rejected those you trust; you will not gain anything from them.”

₁The LORD says, “If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he cannot take her back again. This would completely defile the land. But, Israel, you have had many lovers, and now you want to return to me! ₂Look up at the hilltops. Is there any place where you have not acted like a prostitute? You waited for lovers along the roadside, as an Arab waits for victims in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution. ₃That is why the rains were held back, and the spring showers did not come. You even look like a prostitute; you have no shame.

₄“And now you say to me, ‘You are my father, and you have loved me ever since I was a child. ₅You won't always be angry; you won't be cross with me for ever.’ Israel, that is what you said, but you did all the evil you could.”

₆When Josiah was king, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what Israel, that unfaithful woman, has done? She has turned away from me, and on every high hill and under every green tree she has acted like a prostitute. ₇I thought that after she had done all this, she would surely return to me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it all. ₈Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute ₉and was not at all ashamed. She defiled the land, and she committed adultery by worshipping stones and trees. ₁₀And after all this, Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, only pretended to return to me; she was not sincere. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁₁Then the LORD told me that, even though Israel had turned away from him, she had proved to be better than unfaithful Judah. ₁₂He told me to go and say to Israel, “Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you for ever. ₁₃Only admit that you are guilty and that you have rebelled against the LORD, your God. Confess that under every green tree you have given your love to foreign gods and that you have not obeyed my commands. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₁₄“Unfaithful people, come back; you belong to me. I will take one of you from each town and two from each clan, and I will bring you back to Mount Zion. ₁₅I will give you rulers who obey me, and they will rule you with wisdom and understanding. ₁₆Then when you have become numerous in that land, people will no longer talk about my Covenant Box. They will no longer think about it or remember it; they will not even need it, nor will they make another one. ₁₇When that time comes, Jerusalem will be called ‘The Throne of the LORD’, and all nations will gather there to worship me. They will no longer do what their stubborn and evil hearts tell them. ₁₈Israel will join with Judah, and together they will come from exile in the country in the north and will return to the land that I gave your ancestors as a permanent possession.”

₁₉The LORD says,

You say, “Yes, we are coming to the LORD, because he is our God. ₂₃We were not helped at all by our pagan worship on the hilltops. Help for Israel comes only from the LORD our God. ₂₄But the worship of Baal, the god of shame, has made us lose flocks and herds, sons and daughters — everything that our ancestors have worked for since ancient times. ₂₅We should lie down in shame and let our disgrace cover us. We and our ancestors have always sinned against the LORD our God; we have never obeyed his commands.”

₁The LORD says, “People of Israel, if you want to turn, then turn back to me. If you are faithful to me and remove the idols I hate, ₂it will be right for you to swear by my name. Then all the nations will ask me to bless them, and they will praise me.”

₃The LORD says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “Plough up your unploughed fields; do not sow your seeds among thorns. ₄Keep your covenant with me, your LORD, and dedicate yourselves to me, you people of Judah and Jerusalem. If you don't, my anger will burn like fire because of the evil things you have done. It will burn, and there will be no one to put it out.”

₉The LORD said, “On that day kings and officials will lose their courage; priests will be shocked and prophets will be astonished.”

₁₀Then I said, “Sovereign LORD, you have completely deceived the people of Jerusalem! You have said there would be peace, but a sword is at their throats.”

₁₁The time is coming when the people of Jerusalem will be told that a scorching wind is blowing in from the desert towards them. It will not be a gentle wind that only blows away the chaff — ₁₂the wind that comes at the LORD's command will be much stronger than that! It is the LORD himself who is pronouncing judgement on his people.

₁₃Look, the enemy is coming like clouds. Their war chariots are like a whirlwind, and their horses are faster than eagles. We are lost! We are doomed!

₁₄Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?

₁₅Messengers from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim announce the bad news. ₁₆They have come to warn the nations and to tell Jerusalem that enemies are coming from a country far away. These enemies will shout against the cities of Judah ₁₇and will surround Jerusalem like men guarding a field, because her people have rebelled against the LORD. The LORD has spoken.

₁₈Judah, you have brought this on yourself by the way you have lived and by the things you have done. Your sin has caused this suffering; it has stabbed you through the heart.

₂₇(The LORD has said that the whole earth will become a wilderness, but that he will not completely destroy it.)

₁₂The LORD's people have denied him and have said, “He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine.” _13-14They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the LORD. The LORD God Almighty said to me, “Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up.”

₁₅People of Israel, the LORD is bringing a nation from afar to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. ₁₆Their bowmen are mighty soldiers who kill without mercy. ₁₇They will devour your crops and your food; they will kill your sons and your daughters. They will slaughter your flocks and your herds and destroy your vines and fig trees. The fortified cities in which you trust will be destroyed by their army.

₁₈The LORD says, “Yet even in those days I will not completely destroy my people. ₁₉When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs.”

₂₀The LORD says, “Tell the descendants of Jacob, tell the people of Judah: ₂₁Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear. ₂₂I am the LORD; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through. ₂₃But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me. ₂₄You never thought to honour me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year. ₂₅Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.

₂₆“Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who spread nets to catch birds, but they have set their traps to catch people. ₂₇Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich, ₂₈why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.

₂₉“But I, the LORD, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation. ₃₀A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: ₃₁prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?”

₁People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north. ₂The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed; ₃kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents round the city, and they will each camp wherever they want. ₄They will say, “Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!” But then they will say, “It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long. ₅We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses.”

₆The LORD Almighty has ordered these kings to cut down trees and build mounds in order to besiege Jerusalem. He has said, “I will punish this city because it is full of oppression. ₇As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. I hear violence and destruction in the city; sickness and wounds are all I see. ₈People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives.”

₉The LORD Almighty said to me, “Israel will be stripped clean like a vineyard from which every grape has been picked. So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time.”

₁₀I answered, “Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say. ₁₁Your anger against them burns in me too, LORD, and I can't hold it in any longer.”

Then the LORD said to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared. ₁₂Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land. ₁₃Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people. ₁₄They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well. ₁₅Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁₆The LORD said to his people, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk on it, and you will live in peace.”

But they said, “No, we will not!” ₁₇Then the LORD appointed watchmen to listen for the trumpet's warning. But they said, “We will not listen.”

₁₈So the LORD said, “Listen, you nations, and learn what is going to happen to my people. ₁₉Listen, earth! As punishment for all their schemes I am bringing ruin on these people, because they have rejected my teaching and have not obeyed my words. ₂₀What do I care about the incense they bring me from Sheba, or the spices from a distant land? I will not accept their offerings or be pleased with their sacrifices. ₂₁And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbours.”

₂₂The LORD says, “People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war. ₂₃They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem.”

₂₄“We have heard the news,” say the people of Jerusalem, “and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labour. ₂₅We dare not go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all round us.”

₂₆The LORD says to his people, “Put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter tears as you would for an only son, because the one who comes to destroy you will suddenly attack. ₂₇Jeremiah, test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like. ₂₈They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going round and spreading gossip. ₂₉The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away. ₃₀They will be called worthless dross, because I, the LORD, have rejected them.”