Isaiah 59
1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save;
nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.
2But your iniquities have separated you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies.
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4No one sues in righteousness,
and no one pleads in truth.
They trust in vanity
and speak lies.
They conceive mischief
and give birth to iniquity.
5They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web.
He who eats of their eggs dies;
and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6Their webs won’t become garments.
They won’t cover themselves with their works.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil,
and they hurry to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.
Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
8They don’t know the way of peace;
and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made crooked paths for themselves;
whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.
Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness doesn’t overtake us.
We look for light, but see darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10We grope for the wall like the blind.
Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
11We all roar like bears
and moan sadly like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
for salvation, but it is far off from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13transgressing and denying the LORD,
and turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14Justice is turned away backward,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has fallen in the street,
and uprightness can’t enter.
15Yes, truth is lacking;
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The LORD saw it,
and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor.
Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him;
and his righteousness sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
18According to their deeds,
he will repay as appropriate:
wrath to his adversaries,
recompense to his enemies.
He will repay the islands their due.
19So they will fear the LORD’s name from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come as a rushing stream,
which the LORD’s breath drives.
“A Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says the LORD.
21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now on and forever.”
Isaiah 60
1“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the LORD’s glory has risen on you!
2For behold, darkness will cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise on you,
and his glory shall be seen on you.
3Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
“Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
they all gather themselves together.
They come to you.
Your sons will come from far away,
and your daughters will be carried in arms.
5Then you shall see and be radiant,
and your heart will thrill and be enlarged;
because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you.
The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6A multitude of camels will cover you,
the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah.
All from Sheba will come.
They will bring gold and frankincense,
and will proclaim the praises of the LORD.
7All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you.
The rams of Nebaioth will serve you.
They will be accepted as offerings on my altar;
and I will beautify my glorious house.
“Who are these who fly as a cloud,
and as the doves to their windows?
9Surely the islands will wait for me,
and the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your sons from far away,
their silver and their gold with them,
for the name of the LORD your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has glorified you.
“Foreigners will build up your walls,
and their kings will serve you;
for in my wrath I struck you,
but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive.
12For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
“The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you;
and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet.
They will call you the LORD’s City,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
so that no one passed through you,
I will make you an eternal excellency,
a joy of many generations.
16You will also drink the milk of the nations,
and will nurse from royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.
17For bronze I will bring gold;
for iron I will bring silver;
for wood, bronze,
and for stones, iron.
I will also make peace your governor,
and righteousness your ruler.
18Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
nor desolation or destruction within your borders;
but you will call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.
19The sun will be no more your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you,
but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
20Your sun will not go down any more,
nor will your moon withdraw itself;
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and the days of your mourning will end.
21Then your people will all be righteous.
They will inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planting,
the work of my hands,
that I may be glorified.
22The little one will become a thousand,
and the small one a strong nation.
I, the LORD, will do this quickly in its time.”
Isaiah 61
1The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to those who are bound,
2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3to provide for those who mourn in Zion,
to give to them a garland for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they may be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD,
that he may be glorified.
They will rebuild the old ruins.
They will raise up the former devastated places.
They will repair the ruined cities
that have been devastated for many generations.
5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks.
Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.
6But you will be called the LORD’s priests.
Men will call you the servants of our God.
You will eat the wealth of the nations.
You will boast in their glory.
7Instead of your shame you will have double.
Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they will possess double.
Everlasting joy will be to them.
8“For I, the LORD, love justice.
I hate robbery and iniquity.
I will give them their reward in truth
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9Their offspring will be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge them,
that they are the offspring which the LORD has blessed.”
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD!
My soul will be joyful in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11For as the earth produces its bud,
and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Isaiah 62
1For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning lamp.
2The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory.
You will be called by a new name,
which the LORD’s mouth will name.
3You will also be a crown of beauty in the LORD’s hand,
and a royal diadem in your God’s hand.
4You will not be called Forsaken any more,
nor will your land be called Desolate any more;
but you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land will be married.
5For as a young man marries a virgin,
so your sons will marry you.
As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so your God will rejoice over you.
I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem.
They will never be silent day nor night.
You who call on the LORD, take no rest,
7and give him no rest until he establishes,
and until he makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth.
The LORD has sworn by his right hand,
and by the arm of his strength,
“Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored,
9but those who have harvested it will eat it, and praise the LORD.
Those who have gathered it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”
Go through, go through the gates!
Prepare the way of the people!
Build up, build up the highway!
Gather out the stones!
Lift up a banner for the peoples.
11Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your salvation comes!
Behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him!’”
12They will call them “The Holy People,
The LORD’s Redeemed”.
You will be called “Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken”.
Isaiah 63
1Who is this who comes from Edom,
with dyed garments from Bozrah?
Who is this who is glorious in his clothing,
marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I who speak in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
2Why is your clothing red,
and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?
“I have trodden the wine press alone.
Of the peoples, no one was with me.
Yes, I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath.
Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments,
and I have stained all my clothing.
4For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and the year of my redeemed has come.
5I looked, and there was no one to help;
and I wondered that there was no one to uphold.
Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me.
My own wrath upheld me.
6I trod down the peoples in my anger
and made them drunk in my wrath.
I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”
I will tell of the loving kindnesses of the LORD
and the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD has given to us,
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
which he has given to them according to his mercies,
and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
8For he said, “Surely, they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely;”
so he became their Savior.
9In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and in his pity he redeemed them.
He bore them,
and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
Therefore he turned and became their enemy,
and he himself fought against them.
Then he remembered the days of old,
Moses and his people, saying,
“Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?”
12Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand?
Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
13Who led them through the depths,
like a horse in the wilderness,
so that they didn’t stumble?
14As the livestock that go down into the valley,
the LORD’s Spirit caused them to rest.
So you led your people to make yourself a glorious name.
Look down from heaven,
and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory.
Where are your zeal and your mighty acts?
The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.
16For you are our Father,
though Abraham doesn’t know us,
and Israel does not acknowledge us.
You, LORD, are our Father.
Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
17O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways,
and harden our heart from your fear?
Return for your servants’ sake,
the tribes of your inheritance.
18Your holy people possessed it but a little while.
Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.
19We have become like those over whom you never ruled,
like those who were not called by your name.
Isaiah 64
1Oh that you would tear the heavens,
that you would come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2as when fire kindles the brushwood,
and the fire causes the water to boil.
Make your name known to your adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at your presence!
3When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for,
you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.
4For from of old men have not heard,
nor perceived by the ear,
nor has the eye seen a God besides you,
who works for him who waits for him.
5You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned.
We have been in sin for a long time.
Shall we be saved?
6For we have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf;
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7There is no one who calls on your name,
who stirs himself up to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.
But now, LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay and you our potter.
We all are the work of your hand.
9Don’t be furious, LORD.
Don’t remember iniquity forever.
Look and see, we beg you,
we are all your people.
10Your holy cities have become a wilderness.
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you
is burned with fire.
All our pleasant places are laid waste.
12Will you hold yourself back for these things, LORD?
Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?
Isaiah 65
1“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask.
I am found by those who didn’t seek me.
I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.
2I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
after their own thoughts;
3a people who provoke me to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens,
and burning incense on bricks;
4who sit among the graves,
and spend nights in secret places;
who eat pig’s meat,
and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5who say, ‘Stay by yourself,
don’t come near to me,
for I am holier than you.’
These are smoke in my nose,
a fire that burns all day.
“Behold, it is written before me:
I will not keep silence,
but will repay,
yes, I will repay into their bosom
7your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says the LORD,
“who have burned incense on the mountains,
and blasphemed me on the hills.
Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.”
The LORD says,
“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
that I may not destroy them all.
9I will bring offspring out of Jacob,
and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains.
My chosen will inherit it,
and my servants will dwell there.
10Sharon will be a fold of flocks,
and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in,
for my people who have sought me.
“But you who forsake the LORD,
who forget my holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune,
and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;
12I will destine you to the sword,
and you will all bow down to the slaughter;
because when I called, you didn’t answer.
When I spoke, you didn’t listen;
but you did that which was evil in my eyes,
and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
Therefore the Lord GOD says,
“Behold, my servants will eat,
but you will be hungry;
behold, my servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
Behold, my servants will rejoice,
but you will be disappointed.
14Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart,
but you will cry for sorrow of heart,
and will wail for anguish of spirit.
15You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen,
and the Lord GOD will kill you.
He will call his servants by another name,
16so that he who blesses himself on the earth will bless himself in the God of truth;
and he who swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten,
and because they are hidden from my eyes.
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
and the former things will not be remembered,
nor come into mind.
18But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create;
for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight,
and her people a joy.
19I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying
will be heard in her no more.
“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days,
nor an old man who has not filled his days;
for the child will die one hundred years old,
and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed.
21They will build houses and inhabit them.
They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22They will not build and another inhabit.
They will not plant and another eat;
for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree,
and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They will not labor in vain
nor give birth for calamity;
for they are the offspring of the LORD’s blessed
and their descendants with them.
24It will happen that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat straw like the ox.
Dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,”
says the LORD.
Isaiah 66
1The LORD says:
“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build to me?
Where will I rest?
2For my hand has made all these things,
and so all these things came to be,” says the LORD:
“but I will look to this man,
even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at my word.
3He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck;
he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood;
he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol.
Yes, they have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations.
4I also will choose their delusions,
and will bring their fears on them,
because when I called, no one answered;
when I spoke, they didn’t listen,
but they did that which was evil in my eyes,
and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
Hear the LORD’s word,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who hate you,
who cast you out for my name’s sake, have said,
‘Let the LORD be glorified,
that we may see your joy;’
but it is those who shall be disappointed.
6A voice of tumult from the city,
a voice from the temple,
a voice of the LORD that repays his enemies what they deserve.
“Before she travailed, she gave birth.
Before her pain came, she delivered a son.
8Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion travailed,
she gave birth to her children.
9Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to be delivered?” says the LORD.
“Shall I who cause to give birth shut the womb?” says your God.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her.
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;
11that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts;
that you may drink deeply,
and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
For the LORD says, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you will nurse.
You will be carried on her side,
and will be dandled on her knees.
13As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones will flourish like the tender grass.
The LORD’s hand will be known among his servants;
and he will have indignation against his enemies.
For, behold, the LORD will come with fire,
and his chariots will be like the whirlwind;
to give his anger with fierceness,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16For the LORD will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh;
and those slain by the LORD will be many.
17“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the middle, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says the LORD.
18“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see my glory.
19“I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the LORD’s house. 21Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says the LORD.
22“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says the LORD, “so your offspring and your name shall remain. 23It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says the LORD. 24“They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Jeremiah 1
1The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. 2The LORD’s word came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 4Now the LORD’s word came to me, saying,
5“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
Before you were born, I sanctified you.
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”
7But the LORD said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. 8Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says the LORD.
9Then the LORD stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. Then the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
11Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.”
13The LORD’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”
14Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 15For behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the LORD.
“They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
16I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness,
in that they have forsaken me,
and have burned incense to other gods,
and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. 18For behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 19They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says the LORD, “to rescue you.”
Jeremiah 2
1The LORD’s word came to me, saying, 2“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘The LORD says,
“I remember for you the kindness of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you went after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.
3Israel was holiness to the LORD,
the first fruits of his increase.
All who devour him will be held guilty.
Evil will come on them,”’ says the LORD.”
4Hear the LORD’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 5The LORD says,
“What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me,
that they have gone far from me,
and have walked after worthless vanity,
and have become worthless?
6They didn’t say, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits,
through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,
through a land that no one passed through,
and where no man lived?’
7I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruit and its goodness;
but when you entered, you defiled my land,
and made my heritage an abomination.
8The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is the LORD?’
and those who handle the law didn’t know me.
The rulers also transgressed against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed things that do not profit.
9“Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says the LORD,
“and I will contend with your children’s children.
10For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see.
Send to Kedar, and consider diligently,
and see if there has been such a thing.
11Has a nation changed its gods,
which really are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.
12“Be astonished, you heavens, at this
and be horribly afraid.
Be very desolate,” says the LORD.
13“For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters,
and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
14Is Israel a slave?
Is he born into slavery?
Why has he become a captive?
15The young lions have roared at him and raised their voices.
They have made his land waste.
His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17“Haven’t you brought this on yourself,
in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way?
18Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor?
Or why do you go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19“Your own wickedness will correct you,
and your backsliding will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,
that you have forsaken the LORD your God,
and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, GOD of Armies.
20“For long ago I broke off your yoke,
and burst your bonds.
You said, ‘I will not serve;’
for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself,
playing the prostitute.
21Yet I had planted you a noble vine,
a pure and faithful seed.
How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?
22For though you wash yourself with lye,
and use much soap,
yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord GOD.
23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled.
I have not gone after the Baals’?
See your way in the valley.
Know what you have done.
You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways,
24a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving.
When she is in heat, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.
25“Keep your feet from being bare,
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is in vain.
No, for I have loved strangers,
and I will go after them.’
26As the thief is ashamed when he is found,
so the house of Israel is ashamed—
they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
27who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’
and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’
for they have turned their back to me,
and not their face,
but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’
28“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?
Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble,
for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
29“Why will you contend with me?
You all have transgressed against me,” says the LORD.
30“I have struck your children in vain.
They received no correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.
31Generation, consider the LORD’s word.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel?
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose.
We will come to you no more’?
32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
33How well you prepare your way to seek love!
Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways.
34Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts.
You didn’t find them breaking in,
but it is because of all these things.
35“Yet you said, ‘I am innocent.
Surely his anger has turned away from me.’
“Behold, I will judge you,
because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36Why do you go about so much to change your ways?
You will be ashamed of Egypt also,
as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37You will also leave that place with your hands on your head;
for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you won’t prosper with them.
Jeremiah 3
1“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says the LORD.
2“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed. 4Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth!’?
5“‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”
6Moreover, the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there. 7I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear, but she also went and played the prostitute. 9Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. 10Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says the LORD.
11The LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not look in anger on you, for I am merciful,’ says the LORD. ‘I will not keep anger forever. 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’” says the LORD. 14“Return, backsliding children,” says the LORD, “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of the LORD’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The LORD’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the LORD’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.
19“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’
20“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says the LORD. 21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God. 22Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are the LORD our God. 23Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God. 24But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the LORD our God’s voice.”
Jeremiah 4
1“If you will return, Israel,” says the LORD, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 2and you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.”
3For the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. 4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let’s go into the fortified cities!’ 6Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 8For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn’t turned back from us. 9“It will happen at that day,” says the LORD, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.”
10Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”
11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind blows from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse. 12A full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.”
13Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. 14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you? 15For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: 16“Tell the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah. 17As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says the LORD. 18“Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”
19My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20Destruction on destruction is decreed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone in a moment. 21How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.” 23I saw the earth and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light. 24I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 25I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 26I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, before his fierce anger. 27For the LORD says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”
29Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. 30You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life. 31For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”