Jeremiah 5 Cross References - ISV

¹ A Dialogue about Righteousness: The LORD Speaks “Wander through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and investigate; search through her squares and see whether you find anyone— even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth. Then I’ll forgive them. ² Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.”
³ The Prophet SpeaksLORD, don’t your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they didn’t flinch. You brought them to an end, but they refused to receive discipline. They made their faces harder than stone, and they refused to repent. ⁴ Then I said, “These are only the poor, they’re foolish, for they don’t know the LORD’s way, the requirement of their God. ⁵ Let me go to the leaders and speak to them. For they know the LORD’s way, the requirement of their God.”
The LORD Answers “But they, all together, have broken the yoke and torn off the restraints. ⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will devastate them. A leopard is watching their towns, and everyone who goes out of them will be torn to pieces. For their transgressions are many, and their apostasies numerous. ⁷ Why should I forgive you? Your sons have forsaken me, and you have sworn by those who aren’t gods. When I gave them enough food to satisfy them, they committed adultery and marched to the prostitute’s house. ⁸ They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife. ⁹ “Should I not punish them for these things?” asks the LORD, “And on a nation like this, should I not seek retribution?”
¹⁰ The People Reject God’s Warning“Go through her rows of vines and destroy them, but don’t completely destroy them. Strip away her branches, because they aren’t the LORD’s. ¹¹ For both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD. ¹² “They have lied about the LORD by saying, ‘He wouldn’t do that! Disaster won’t come on us. We won’t see sword and famine. ¹³ The prophets are nothing but wind, and the word is not in them. So may the disaster happen to them!’”
¹⁴ Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says: “Because you people have said this, my words in your mouth will become a fire and these people the wood. The fire will destroy them. ¹⁵ People of Israel, I’m now bringing a nation from far away to attack you,” declares the LORD. “It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know. And you won’t understand what they say. ¹⁶ Their quiver is like an open grave, and all of them are powerful warriors. ¹⁷ “They’ll devour your harvest and your food. They’ll devour your sons and your daughters. They’ll devour your vines and your fig trees. With their swords they’ll batter down your fortified cities in which you trust.
¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I won’t destroy you completely. ¹⁹ When the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you are to say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’”
²⁰ The LORD Warns a Stubborn People“Declare this to the descendants of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah: ²¹ ‘Hear this, you foolish and stupid people: They have eyes, but don’t see; they have ears, but don’t hear. ²² ‘You don’t fear me, do you?’ declares the LORD. ‘You don’t tremble before me, do you? I’m the one who put the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail against it, though they roar, they cannot cross it.’ ²³ But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away. ²⁴ They don’t say to themselves, ‘Let’s fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn and the spring rain. He sets aside for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ ²⁵ Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back from you what is good. ²⁶ “Evil men are found among my people. They lie in wait like someone who traps birds. They set a trap, but they do so to catch people. ²⁷ Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are filled with treachery. This is how they have become prominent and rich, ²⁸ and have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They don’t argue the case of the orphan to secure justice. They don’t defend the rights of the poor. ²⁹ ‘Should I not punish them for this?’ asks the LORD. ‘Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?’ ³⁰ “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: ³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

²³ Abraham Negotiates with GodAbraham approached and asked, “Will you actually destroy the righteous along with the wicked? ²⁴ Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won’t he?”
²⁶ The LORD said, “If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I’ll forgive the whole place for their sake.”
²⁷ Abraham answered, “Look, even though I am only dust and ashes, I’ve ventured to speak to my LORD. ²⁸ What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?”
The LORD said, “I won’t destroy it if I find 45 there.”
²⁹ Abraham continued to speak to him, asking, “What if 40 are found there?”
The LORD replied, “I won’t do it for the sake of those 40.”
³⁰ Abraham then asked, “I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?”
The LORD answered, “I won’t do it for the sake of those 30.”
³¹ “Look,” Abraham said, “I’ve presumed to speak to my LORD… so what if 20 are found there?”
“For the sake of those 20,” the LORD responded, “I won’t destroy it.”
³² Finally, Abraham inquired, “I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?”
He replied, “For the sake of those ten I won’t destroy it.”

¹⁰ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

⁹ The LORD’s eyes keep on roaming throughout the earth, looking for those whose hearts completely belong to him, so that he may strongly support them. But because you have acted foolishly in this, from now on you will have wars.”

¹ To the Director: On an eight stringed harp. A Davidic Psalm.
Human and Divine Words Contrasted Help, LORD, for godly people no longer exist; trustworthy people have disappeared from humanity.

³ All have turned away, together they have become corrupt; no one practices what is good, not even one.

² God looks down from the heavens upon humanity to see if anyone shows discernment as he searches for God. ³ All of them have fallen away; together they have become corrupt; no one does what is good, not even one. ⁴ Will those who do evil ever learn? They devour my people like they devour bread, and never call on God.

⁴ if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD and learn to know God. ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

³ Beside the gates, at the city entrance— at the entrance to the portals she cries aloud:

⁶ Many claim “I’m a loyal person!” but who can find someone who truly is?

²³ Purchase truth, but don’t sell it; store up wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

² I’ll get up and go all around the city, throughout the streets, and in the squares. I’ll seek the one I love. I sought him, but didn’t find him.

⁴ No one brings a lawsuit fairly, and no one goes to law honestly; they have relied on empty arguments and they tell lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.

¹⁴ I’ll drive back justice, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth has fallen in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. ¹⁵ Truth is missing, and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey.”
God Brings His Own Salvation “Then the LORD looked, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

³⁰ I sought for a man among them to build the wall and stand in the breach in my presence on behalf of the land so that it won’t be destroyed, but I found no one,

⁴ Now as for you, Daniel, roll up your scroll and seal your words until the time of the end. Many will rush around, while knowledge increases.’”

⁹ They swarm through the city, running upon its ramparts. Climbing atop the houses, they enter through windows like a thief.”

¹² People will stagger from sea to sea, from north to east. They will run back and forth, searching for a message from the LORD, but they won’t find it.

¹ The Evil Behavior of the People Poor me! I feel like those who harvest summer fruit, or like those who pick grapes— there are no clusters to eat or any fresh fruit that I want. ² The faithful have died off, and there is not one upright human being in the land. They all stalk one another with lethal intent, a man will even hunt his own brother with a net.

⁴ That other angel told him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be an inhabited city without walls due to the number of people and livestock within it.

²¹ “So the servant went back and reported all this to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and told his servant, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

¹⁰ and every type of evil to deceive those who are dying, those who refused to love the truth that would save them.

¹² “You are not to use my name to deceive, thereby defiling the name of your God. I am the LORD.

¹ God the Creator and Redeemer “Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who have come forth from Judah’s loins; you who swear oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel— but not in truth, nor in good faith.

² If you swear, ‘as surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast.”

⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don’t know,

¹ God Accuses Israel “Hear this message from the LORD, people of Israel. Indeed, the LORD brings a charge against the people who live in the land— for there is no truth and no gracious love or knowledge of God in the land. ² Swearing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery are rampant, and blood mingles with blood.

¹⁵ “Even though you prostitute yourself, Israel— let not Judah incur guilt— don’t go to Gilgal, or visit Beth-aven, or swear an oath using the LORD’s name.

⁴ Their word is falsely given as they make their agreements; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

³ He responded to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the surface of the whole earth, because, according to this side of the scroll, all thieves will be ejected, and according to the other side of the scroll, all liars will be ejected.”
⁴ “I am bringing this about,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. “The curse will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who lies in my name. The curse will remain in his house until that house has been completely destroyed, right down to its timber and stones.”

⁵ The Judgment of God“I’ll come near to you for judgment. I’ll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don’t fear me,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁰ for those involved in sexual immorality, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for false witnesses, and for whatever else goes against the healthy teaching

⁵ They will hold to an outward form of godliness but deny its power. Stay away from such people.

¹⁶ They claim to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.

²² The Apostasy and Death of Ahaz
In the midst of his troubles, King Ahaz became more and more unfaithful to the LORD.

⁴ The LORD is in his holy Temple; the LORD’s throne is in the heavens. His eyes see, his glance examines humanity. ⁵ The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence, he hates. ⁶ He rains on the wicked burning coals and sulfur; a scorching wind is their destiny. ⁷ Indeed, the LORD is righteous; he loves righteousness; the upright will see him face-to-face.

⁶ Indeed, you are pleased with truth in the inner person, and you will teach me wisdom in my innermost parts.

²⁹ The wicked man puts up a bold appearance, but the upright thinks about what he is doing.

¹² The LORD watches over anyone with knowledge, but he ruins the plans of the unfaithful.

³⁵ “They struck me,” you will say, “but I never felt it. They beat me, but I never knew it When will I wake up? I want another drink.”

²² Though you crush a fool in a mortar and pestle as someone might crush grain, his stupidity still won’t leave him.

⁵ “Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is faint. ⁶ From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there’s no soundness evident— only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven’t been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil.”

¹³ Judgment for Not Repenting“But the people have not returned to rely on him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

²⁵ so he drenched him with the heat that is his anger, the violence of war. It enveloped him in flames, but still he had no insight. It burned him up, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

⁴ Because I knew that you are obstinate, and because your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze,

³⁰ “I’ve punished your children with no results, they have accepted no discipline. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.”

²⁶ But they didn’t listen to me, and they didn’t pay attention. They stiffened their necks, and they did more evil than their ancestors.

²⁸ You will say to them, ‘This is the nation that wouldn’t listen to the voice of the LORD its God and wouldn’t accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.’

¹⁵ “This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I’m about to bring on this city and all its towns all the disaster that I declared against it because they were determined not to obey my message.’”

¹⁹ You are great in regards to your purposes and mighty in regards to your works. Your eyes are open to everything that people do, and will reward each one according to their ways and just as their actions deserve.

⁷ But the house of Israel won’t listen to you, since they weren’t willing to listen to me. That’s because the entire house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ⁸ So pay attention! I’m going to make you just as obstinate and unyielding as they are. ⁹ I’m making you harder than flint—like diamond! So you are not to fear them or be intimidated by how they look at you, since they’re a rebellious group.”

¹³ There is wickedness in your obscene conduct. Even though I’ve cleansed you, your uncleanness cannot be washed away. You cannot be cleansed again until my rage against you has subsided.’

¹ The LORD’s Rebuke to Jerusalem Woe to this filthy, polluted, and oppressive city! ² It won’t obey anyone. It won’t accept discipline. It does not trust in the LORD. It does not approach God.

⁷ I have said, ‘If only you would fear me, if only you would take my instructions to heart.’ Then their houses would not have been torn down. I have chastened them, but they were eager to corrupt everything they were doing.”
The Future Deliverance of Israel

¹¹ But they refused to pay attention, turned their backs, and stopped listening. ¹² They made their hearts hard like a diamond, to keep from obeying the Law and the messages that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent by his Spirit through the former prophets.

² Now we know that God’s judgment against those who act like this is based on truth.

⁴ Or are you unaware of his rich kindness, forbearance, and patience, that it is God’s kindness that is leading you to repent?
⁵ But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are reserving wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁹ Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn’t we?

¹¹ When its branches are dry, they are broken off, and women come and kindle fires with them, since this is a people who show no consideration. That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion; the One who created them shows them no mercy.

⁹ Misuse of God’s WordTo whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? To children just weaned from milk? To those just taken from the breast? ¹⁰ For it is: “Do this and do that, do this and do that, Line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there.” ¹¹ Very well, then, through the mouths of foreigners and foreign languages the LORD will speak to this people ¹² to whom he said, “This is the resting place, so give rest to the weary”’ and, “This is the place of repose”— but they would not listen. ¹³ So, then, the message from the LORD to them will become: “Do this and do that, do this and do that, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there,” so that they will go, but fall backward, and be injured, snared, and captured.

²² The LORD’s Complaint about His People“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They’re stupid children, they have no understanding. They’re skilled at doing evil, but how to do good, they don’t know.”

⁸ “Look, you’re trusting in deceptive words that cannot benefit.

⁷ Even the stork in the sky knows its seasons, and the dove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time for migration. But my people don’t know the requirements of the LORD.

⁶ My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me. Because you rejected that knowledge, I will reject you as a priest for me. Since you forget the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.

⁵ the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the destitute hear the good news.

⁴⁸ None of the authorities or Pharisees has believed in him, have they? ⁴⁹ But this mob that does not know the Law—they’re under a curse!”

² As the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his anointed one, they say, ³ “Let us tear off their shackles from us, and cast off their chains.”

²⁰ “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, But you said, ‘I won’t serve you!’ Instead, on every high hill and under every green tree, you bend down to commit fornication.

¹³ “Indeed, from the least important to the most important, they’re all greedy for dishonest gain. From prophet to priest, they all act deceitfully.

⁶ “‘“Watch out! Each of the princes of Israel has misused his authority to shed blood. ⁷ They’ve treated mothers and fathers among you with contempt. They’ve oppressed the foreigner among you. They’ve maltreated the orphan and the widow among you.
⁸ “‘“You have despised my sacred things and profaned my Sabbaths.

²⁵ There’s a conspiracy of prophets within her, and like a roaring lion tearing its prey, they’ve devoured people, and confiscated treasures, and taken precious things. They’ve added to the population of widows within her. ²⁶ Her priests have violated my Law and profaned my sacred things. They didn’t differentiate between what’s sacred and what’s common. They didn’t instruct others to discern clean from unclean things. They refused to keep my Sabbaths.
“‘I’m constantly being profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes within her are like wolves tearing their prey apart. They shed blood, destroying souls, and make unjust gain.
²⁸ “‘Her prophets whitewashed all of these things through false visions and lying divinations. They kept on saying, “This is what the Lord GOD says…”, when the LORD has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land were vigorously oppressive and took possession of plunder by violence. They’ve afflicted the poor and the needy and unjustly treated the foreigner.

¹ Judgment on the Women of Israel “Listen to this message, you fat cows from Bashan, who live on the Samaritan mountains, who oppress the poor, who rob the needy, and who constantly ask your husbands for one more drink!”

¹ “He will say, ‘Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel! You should know justice, should you not?— ² you who despise good and love evil, who tear off the skin of my people, along with the flesh from their bones. ³ You eat the flesh of my people, flaying their skin from them. You break their bones, chopping them in pieces like meat for a pot, like meat destined for a soup kettle.’ ⁴ “Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not listen to them. In fact, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they were so wicked in what they were doing.”

¹¹ Her leaders judge for the money, her priests teach only when they’re paid, and her prophets prophesy for cash. Even so, don’t they all rely on the LORD as they ask, ‘The LORD is among us, is he not? Nothing bad can possibly happen to us!’

³ And speaking of evil, they practice it eagerly—with both hands! Both leader and judge demand a bribe, the famous confess their perverted desires, and they scheme together. ⁴ The best of them is like a thorn, and their most upright like a hedge of thorns. The day announced by your watchmen— and by your own calculations—approaches. Now it’s your time to be confused!

³ Its national officials are roaring lions; its judges are like wolves of the night that don’t leave the bones for the morning. ⁴ Its prophets are arrogant and treacherous. Its priests have contaminated the sanctuary. They give perverse interpretations of the Law. ⁵ The righteous LORD who lives within her will do no wrong; he will bring justice to light morning by morning. He never fails, but the unjust are shameless.
The Integrity of God’s Justice

⁷ For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he’s the messenger of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

²³ Salvation and Reward
Then Jesus told his disciples, “I tell all of you with certainty, it will be hard for a rich person to get into the kingdom from heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God.”
²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were completely astonished. “Who, then, can be saved?” they asked.
²⁶ Jesus looked at them intently and said, “For humans this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

²⁴ Salvation and Reward
So when Jesus saw how sad he was, he said, “How hard it is for rich people to get into the kingdom of God!

¹⁴ But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation to follow him and to announce, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us!’

²⁶ The kings of the earth take their stand, and rulers meet together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’
²⁷ For in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate actually met together with unbelievers and the people of Israel to oppose your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! God has chosen the poor in the world to become rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who keep on loving him, has he not? ⁶ But you have humiliated the man who is poor. Are not rich people the ones who oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷ Are not they the ones who blaspheme the noble Name by which you have been called?

¹⁴ And now, look! You’re acting just like your ancestors, like a brood of sinful men, who are provoking the fierce anger of the LORD against the Israelis one step at a time.

⁶ and said, “My God, I am too ashamed and hurt to turn to you, because we’re in our iniquities over our heads. Furthermore, my God, our sins have grown as high as the heavens.

¹⁰ Ezra the priest stood up and spoke to them, “You have sinned by marrying foreign wives, thereby increasing the transgressions of Israel.

²⁰ You bring darkness and it becomes night; when every beast of the forest prowls.

¹² “For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we acknowledge them:

¹⁵ Young lions roar at him, they cry out loudly. They have made his land into a wasteland, and his cities are destroyed so they are without inhabitants.

¹⁷ You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way?

¹⁹ Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it’s evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁷ A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, and without inhabitants.

¹² The Reason for JudgmentWho is the wise person who understands this, and to whom has the LORD spoken so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, ruined like the desert, without anyone passing through it? ¹³ The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my Law that I gave them. They didn’t obey me and didn’t live according to it. ¹⁴ Instead, they followed their rebellious hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

⁷ The People Cry for HelpLORD, even though our iniquities testify against us, do something for the sake of your name. Indeed, our apostasies are many, and we have sinned against you.

¹⁰ “When you speak all these words to this people, they’ll say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ ¹¹ Then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors abandoned me,’ declares the LORD. ‘They followed other gods, served them, worshipped them, abandoned me, and didn’t keep my Law. ¹² You have done even more evil than your ancestors, and each one of you is stubbornly following his own evil desires, refusing to listen to me.

³⁸ Like a lion, he has left his den. Indeed, their land has become a waste because of the anger of the oppressor and because of the LORD’s fierce anger.”

¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you; they don’t seek you. Indeed, I’ve struck you down with the blow of an enemy, with the punishment of a cruel foe because your wickedness is great, and your sins are numerous.

²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD won’t turn back until he has accomplished and established the plan of his heart. In the days to come, you will understand this.

¹⁹ Look, like a lion comes up from the thicket of the Jordan to a pasture that grows year round, so I’ll drive them away from her in an instant, and I’ll appoint whomever is chosen over her. Indeed, who is like me? Who gives me counsel? Who is the shepherd who will stand against me?”

⁵ Her adversaries dominate her, her enemies prosper. For the LORD has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away, taken into captivity in the presence of the enemy.

¹⁶ then even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they wouldn’t be able to deliver even their sons or daughters. They would only save themselves, but the land would become desolate.
¹⁷ “Or if I were to bring war to that land and say, ‘Hey, sword! Pass throughout the land so I can destroy both man and beasts in it,’ ¹⁸ though these three men lived there, as I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “they couldn’t deliver their own sons and daughters. They would only save themselves.
¹⁹ “Or if I were to send a pestilence against that land and pour out my anger in it with bloodshed, destroying both man and beast in it, ²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were among them, as I live” says the Lord GOD, “they couldn’t save their own sons or daughters. They would only save their own souls due to their own righteousness.”
²¹ This is what the Lord GOD says, “I’m sending four of my most destructive judgments—military invasion, famine, wild animals, and pestilence—into Jerusalem to destroy both human beings and livestock in it.

²⁵ At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality.

²⁷ Her princes within her are like wolves tearing their prey apart. They shed blood, destroying souls, and make unjust gain.

¹⁹ “Nevertheless, she became even more sexually immoral, even reminiscing about when she was young, when she kept on practicing sexual immorality in the land of Egypt.

⁴ The first resembled a lion, but it had eagles’ wings. I continued to watch until its wings were plucked off, it was lifted up off the ground, and it was forced to stand on two feet like a man. A human soul was imparted to it.

⁶ “After this, I continued to watch—and look!—there was another one, resembling a leopard with four birds’ wings on its back. The animal also had four heads, and authority was imparted to it.

¹⁴ Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I—even I—will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue.

⁷ “So I will be like a lion to them. Like a leopard I will stalk them along the road. ⁸ I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their ribs. I will devour them like a lion— the wild beasts will rip them apart.

¹⁸ The Fearful Day of the LORD“Woe to those who are craving the Day of the LORD! How is it to your benefit, this Day of the LORD? It’s a day of darkness to you, and not light. ¹⁹ It will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to encounter a bear; or who comes home, leans his hand against a wall, and a serpent bites him!

¹¹ Nineveh: the Lion’s Den DestroyedWhere is this lion’s den? Where is the place where the young lions fed, where the lion and its mate walked with their young, the place where they feared nothing? ¹² This lion renders its prey to pieces to feed its whelps, and strangles enough prey for its mate, filling its lairs with prey and its dens with rendered flesh.

⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards, and more cunning than wolves that attack at night. Their horsemen are galloping as they approach from far away. They swoop in like ravenous vultures.

³ Its national officials are roaring lions; its judges are like wolves of the night that don’t leave the bones for the morning.

² The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear’s feet, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and complete authority.

¹⁰ Honoring the Seventh Commandment“If anyone commits adultery with another man’s wife, including when someone commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress are to die.

¹ Worship of Baal of PeorWhile Israel remained encamped in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who also invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. So the people ate what they had sacrificed and then worshipped their gods. ³ The people joined the Baal-peor cult. As a result, the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel,

¹⁵ Israel’s RebellionJacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation.

²¹ They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.

⁷ That way, you will not mingle with those nations that remain among you, nor mention the name of their gods, nor make oaths by them, nor serve them, nor worship them.

¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him, and you keep company with adulterers.

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed gods when they aren’t even gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

³¹ “You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam? We won’t come to you anymore.’

¹⁹ God’s Desire for His People“I said, ‘How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’ I said, ‘You will call me, my father, and won’t turn back from following me.’

² Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert, so that I could leave my people and go away from them. For all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors.

¹⁶ If they have learned the ways of my people well, to swear by my name: ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they’ll be built up among my people.

²⁷ I’ve seen your detestable behavior: your adulteries, your passionate neighing, your lewd immorality on the hills in the field. How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem! You are unclean. How much longer will this go on?”

¹⁰ Indeed, the land is full of adulterers. Indeed, the land mourns because of the curse; the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The adulterers’ lifestyles are evil, and they use their strength for what is not right.

²² What happens to them will be the basis for a curse for all the Judean exiles who are in Babylon. People will say, “May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the LORD roasted in the fire, ²³ because they did something stupid in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they spoke lies that I didn’t command them. I’m the one who knows, and I’m a witness,” declares the LORD.’”

⁴⁹ Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ In their arrogance, they committed detestable practices in my presence, so when I saw it, I removed them.

¹¹ One of you commits detestable practices with his neighbor’s wife. Another sexually defiles his daughter-in-law. Another humiliates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

² Swearing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery are rampant, and blood mingles with blood.

¹³ They offer sacrifices on the mountain tops, burning offerings on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees, since their shade is very good. Therefore your daughters are prostitutes and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. ¹⁴ However, I’m not going to punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because their men are themselves immoral— they offer sacrifices with prostitutes. These people who aren’t discerning will stumble. ¹⁵ “Even though you prostitute yourself, Israel— let not Judah incur guilt— don’t go to Gilgal, or visit Beth-aven, or swear an oath using the LORD’s name.

⁴ All of them are adulterers— they burn like an oven prepared by the baker, who has ceased stoking it until the dough is leavened.

⁸ “How can I give up on you, Ephraim? I will deliver you, will I not, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? I can’t make you like Zeboim, can I? My heart stirs within me; my compassion also fans into flame!

⁶ As their pastures flourished, all their desires were met. As they were satiated, they became arrogant and therefore ignored me.

¹⁴ Those who have been swearing oaths by the sin of Samaria, or who say, ‘As your god lives, Dan…’ or who say, ‘As the way of Beer-sheba lives…’— will fall, and will never rise again.”

⁵ I’ll wipe out those who worship the stars that they view from their housetops, those who bow down and swear to the LORD and who also swear by Milcom,

³⁷ Jesus Rebukes Jerusalem
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! ³⁸ Look! Your house is left abandoned!

⁹ You know that wicked people will not inherit the kingdom of God, don’t you? Stop deceiving yourselves! Sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals,

⁴ Now concerning eating food offered to idols: We know that no idol is real in this world and that there is only one God.

⁸ However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

⁴ Let marriage be kept honorable in every way, and the marriage bed undefiled. For God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.

⁴ You adulterers! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility with God? So whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.

¹ Advice for Rich PeopleNow listen, you rich people! Cry and moan over the miseries that are overtaking you. ² Your riches are rotten, your clothes have been eaten by moths, ³ your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures in these last days. ⁴ Look! The wages that you kept back from the workers who harvested your fields are shouting out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. ⁵ You have lived in luxury and pleasure on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

⁹ No one has more authority in this house than I do. He has withheld nothing from me, except you, and that’s because you’re his wife. So how can I commit such a horrible evil? How can I sin against God?”

¹⁴ “You are not to commit adultery.ח

¹⁷ “You are not to covet your neighbor’s house. You are not to covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ “‘You are not to commit adultery.ח

²¹ “‘You are not to desire your neighbor’s wife nor covet your neighbor’s house, his fields, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, nor anything that concerns your neighbor.’”

² Late one afternoon about dusk, David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there he watched a woman taking a bath, and she was very beautiful to look at.
³ David sent word to inquire about her, and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” ⁴ So David sent some messengers, took her from her home, and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.) Then she returned to her home.

⁹ No Adultery“If my heart has been seduced by a woman and I’ve laid in wait at my friend’s door,

²³ because they did something stupid in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they spoke lies that I didn’t command them. I’m the one who knows, and I’m a witness,” declares the LORD.’”

²⁷ Teaching about Adultery“You have heard that it was said, ‘You are not to commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you, anyone who stares at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁵ I’ll bring the sword against you to execute the vengeance of my covenant. When you gather in your cities, I’ll send a pestilence. As a result, you’ll be delivered into the control of your enemies.

³⁵ To me belong vengeance and recompense. In due time their feet will slip, because their time of calamity is near and the things prepared for them draw near.

⁴³ “Sing for joy, nations! Sing for joy, people who belong to him! For he’ll avenge the blood of his servants, turn on his adversary, and cleanse both his land and his people.”

²⁴ Restoration and RedemptionTherefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel’s Mighty One, declares: “Now I’ll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

²⁹ ‘Should I not punish them for this?’ asks the LORD. ‘Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?’

⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?” asks the LORD, “and should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?”

² Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, “You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t taken care of them, and now I’m about to take care of you because of your evil deeds,” declares the LORD.

²² The LORD could no longer bear it because of your evil deeds and the repulsive things that you did. So your land has become a ruin and an object of horror and ridicule without an inhabitant, as is the case today.

²² The punishment for your sin is complete, you women of Zion, and God will no longer exile you. He will punish your iniquity, you women of Edom, and he will expose your sins.

¹³ “Only then will I stop being angry—my burning in anger. Then they’ll know that I’ve spoken out in my arduous anger. Only then will my burning anger against them be exhausted. ¹⁴ I’m also going to turn you into a waste and an object of insult among the nations that surround you and in front of every person who passes by. ¹⁵ As a result, Jerusalem will become an insult, an object of taunt, an example of chastisement, and a useless waste to all the nations that surround you when I carry out my sentence against you in my anger, my burning rage, and my burning rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.

⁹ I won’t be showing pity or compassion. I’ll repay you according to your behavior while your detestable practices remain among you. And you’ll know that I, the LORD, have been attacking you.’”

¹³ I’ll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals, to whom she burned incense, and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels so she could go after her lovers and forget me,” declares the LORD.

¹³ They offer me meat from the sacrifices of my offerings, and they eat from it, but the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their transgression and pay them back for their sins; to Egypt they will return.

² The LORD’s Anger against AssyriaA jealous God, the LORD avenges. The LORD avenges; The Lord is an angry husband. The LORD takes vengeance on his enemies, reserving anger for his adversaries.

² The LORD sent raiding parties from the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in keeping with the message from the LORD that he had spoken through his servants, the prophets. ³ It was truly by the command of the LORD against Judah that it came, in order to remove them from his sight, because of every sin that Manasseh had committed, ⁴ as well as for the innocent blood that he had shed. He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not forgive them.

¹⁷ Therefore he brought up the king of the Chaldeans against them, who executed their young men in the holy Temple, showing no compassion on young man or young virgin, adult men or the aged. God gave them all into the king’s control,

⁶¹ Then he sent his might into captivity and his glory into the control of the adversary. ⁶² He delivered his people over to the sword and was angry with his possession.

⁵ Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment“How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands! ⁶ I’m sending my fury against a godless nation, and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. ⁷ But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations.

¹ The Destruction of BabylonA message that Amoz’s son Isaiah received about Babylon: ² “Raise a banner on a bare hilltop! Cry out loud to them! Give a wave of the hand, signaling for them to enter the gates of the nobles. ³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also summoned my warriors, those who rejoice in my triumph, to carry out my angry judgments. ⁴ “Listen! There’s a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There’s an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle. ⁵ They’re coming from a faraway land, from the distant horizon— the LORD and the weapons of his anger— to destroy the entire land.”

²⁷ For this is what the LORD says: “The entire land will be devastated, but I won’t completely destroy it.

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I won’t destroy you completely.

⁴ Prepare for war against her. Get ready, let’s attack at noon! How terrible for us that the day is coming to an end, and that the evening shadows are lengthening. ⁵ Get ready, let’s attack at night, and destroy her fortresses.”
⁶ Instructions for the AttackersFor this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “Cut down trees and set up siege works against Jerusalem. It is the city to be judged, and there is oppression throughout the entire city.

⁴ Don’t trust deceptive words like these, and say, ‘The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,’ ⁵ but rather, truly change your ways and your deeds. If you truly practice justice between each person and his neighbor, ⁶ and if you don’t oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don’t shed an innocent person’s blood in this place, and if you don’t follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I’ll let you dwell in this land, the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever. ⁸ “Look, you’re trusting in deceptive words that cannot benefit. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don’t know, ¹⁰ and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, ‘We’re delivered’ so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God? ¹¹ Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I’m watching,” declares the LORD. ¹² “Go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I first caused my name to dwell. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

⁹ I’m now sending for all the tribes from the north, declares the LORD, and for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I’ll bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I’ll utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting desolation.

¹¹ For I’ll be with you to save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I’ll put an end to all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you. I’ll discipline you justly, but I certainly won’t leave you unpunished.’

⁸ The Chaldeans burned the palace and the houses of the people with fire, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

²⁸ “As for you, my servant Jacob, don’t be afraid, and Israel, don’t be dismayed,” declares the LORD, “for I am with you. Indeed, I’ll make an end of all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you! I’ll discipline you justly, but I’ll certainly not leave you unpunished.”

²⁰ The LORD’s Instrument of Judgment“You are my war-club and weapons of war. I’ll smash nations with you and destroy kingdoms with you. ²¹ I’ll smash the horse and its rider with you. I’ll smash the chariot and its rider with you. ²² I’ll smash man and woman with you. I’ll smash old man and young boy with you. I’ll smash young man and young woman with you. ²³ I’ll smash the shepherd and his flock with you. I’ll smash the farmer and his team of oxen with you. I’ll smash governors and officials with you.

⁵ As I continued to listen, he also told the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing. Don’t spare anyone you see, and don’t show pity of any kind. ⁶ You are to execute old men, young men, young women, little children, and women. But don’t touch anyone who has been marked. Begin at my Holy Place!” And so they started with the elders who were in standing in front of the Temple.
⁷ “Desecrate my Temple,” he told them, “and fill its courtyard with the dead!” So they went out and began striking down people throughout the city.

¹⁶ The Purpose of the Surviving Remnant“But I’ll preserve a few people out of the violent death, famine, and pestilence, so they can recount their detestable practices among the nations when they’ll go there. Then they’ll know that I am the LORD.”

¹⁷ “Or if I were to bring war to that land and say, ‘Hey, sword! Pass throughout the land so I can destroy both man and beasts in it,’

⁹ so the LORD told Hosea, “Name him ‘Lo-ammi,’ because you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

⁸ Look! The eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth; but I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.

⁷ Then the king became outraged. He sent his troops, and they destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ And neither had you heard, nor did you understand, nor did you open your ear long ago. Indeed, I knew that you would act very deceitfully, and they would call you a rebel from birth.

⁶ The Example of SamariaIn the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there. ⁷ I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’ But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. ⁸ I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery. ⁹ She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the LORD.
¹¹ A Call for RepentanceThen the LORD told me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

²⁰ Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

⁷ They have been unfaithful to the LORD, having raised unbelieving children. In the coming month they will be devoured, along with their fields.

⁷ “But like Adam, they broke the covenant; in this they have acted deceitfully against me.

¹⁹ because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he will bless himself and say: ‘I will have a peaceful life, even though I’m determined to be stubborn.’ By doing this he will be sweeping away both watered and parched ground alike.’

⁹ Keep watching it. If it goes up along the road to its own territory to Beth-shemesh, it’s the LORD who has done this great evil to us. But if it does not, then we will know that he wasn’t pressuring us. It happened to us as a natural event.”

¹⁶ but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people.

⁶ They say to themselves, “We will not be moved throughout all time, and we will not experience adversity.”

¹⁴ God’s Precious Cornerstone“Therefore hear the message from the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people that are in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Because you said: ‘We have entered into a covenant with death, and we have an agreement with Sheol, so when the overwhelming scourge makes its choice, it cannot reach us, since we have made lies our refuge and have concealed ourselves inside falsehood’

¹⁰ Then I replied, “Ah, Lord GOD, you have completely deceived this people and Jerusalem when you said, ‘You will have peace,’ while the sword is at their throat!”

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

¹³ Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, look! The prophets are saying to them, ‘You won’t see the sword and you won’t experience famine. Rather, I’ll give you lasting peace in this place.’”
¹⁴ Then the LORD told me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I didn’t send them, I didn’t command them, and I didn’t speak to them. They’re proclaiming to you false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own minds.

¹⁴ Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, for they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one repents of his evil. All of them are like Sodom to me, and her residents like Gomorrah.”
¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says about the prophets, “I’m about to make them eat wormwood and drink poisoned water, because godlessness has spread from the prophets of Jerusalem throughout the land.” ¹⁶ This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you; they’re giving you false hopes. They declare visions from their own minds— they don’t come from the LORD! ¹⁷ They keep on saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace.”’ To all who stubbornly follow their own desires they say, ‘Disaster won’t come upon you.’

⁴ I’ll bring back Jehoiakim’s son Jeconiah, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon to this place,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I’ll break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁵ The prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD didn’t send you, and you are causing these people to trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I’m about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you will die because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’”
¹⁷ So the prophet Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year.

² Hoshaiah’s son Azariah, Kareah’s son Johanan, and all the arrogant men told Jeremiah, “You’re lying! The LORD our God didn’t send you to say, ‘Don’t go to Egypt to settle there.’ ³ Indeed, Neriah’s son Baruch is inciting you against us in order to give us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, or to take us into exile to Babylon.”

²² “Son of Man, what’s this proverb you have concerning Israel’s land that says, ‘The days pass slowly and every vision ends in nothing.’? ²³ Therefore you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says, “I’m about to put an end to use of this proverb in Israel. It will never be used again as a proverb in Israel. Instead, tell them that the days are drawing near when every vision will be fulfilled. ²⁴ There will no longer be worthless visions and flattering divinations in the midst of Israel’s house. ²⁵ Because I am the LORD, I’ll speak and the message that I communicate will be accomplished without delay. While you continue to be a rebellious house, I’ll speak the message and then fulfill it,” declares the Lord GOD.’”
²⁶ The Imminent FulfillmentLater, this message came to me from the LORD: ²⁷ “Son of Man, pay attention! The house of Israel keeps on saying, ‘The vision that he’s talking about concerns the distant future. He’s prophesying concerning times that are far in the future!’ ²⁸ Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says, “None of my messages will be delayed any longer. Any message that I speak will be fulfilled,” declares the Lord GOD.’”

⁶ Instead, they crafted false prophecies and divination.
“‘They say, “…declares the LORD,” even though the LORD didn’t send them. And they hope for the fulfillment of their message.

¹¹ Suppose a man who keeps company with a deceiving spirit prophesies like this: ‘Drink wine and strong drink!’ Won’t the people accept him as a prophet?”

⁵ God’s Response: The Coming Chaldean Invasion“Look out at the nations and pay attention! Be astounded! Be really astounded! Because something is happening in your lifetime that you won’t believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail. ⁶ Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans, that cruel and impetuous people, who sweep across the earth dispossessing people from homes not their own.

² for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ When people say, “There is peace and security,” destruction will strike them as suddenly as labor pains come to a pregnant woman, and they will not be able to escape.

¹⁰ The person who believes in the Son of God believes this testimony personally. The person who does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that he has given about his Son.

²⁶ Did you intend your words to reprove, even though the speech of a desperate person is just wind?

² “How long will you keep talking like this? How long will you keep talking like a wind storm?

¹³ Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, look! The prophets are saying to them, ‘You won’t see the sword and you won’t experience famine. Rather, I’ll give you lasting peace in this place.’”

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the false prophets who prophesy in my name, ‘There will be no sword and famine in this land’ (though I haven’t sent them): ‘By the sword and by famine these prophets will be finished off!

¹⁸ Jeremiah Reacts to the Plot against HimThen they said, “Come, let’s make up a plot against Jeremiah. After all, the priest’s instruction, the wise man’s counsel, and the prophet’s message won’t be destroyed. So let’s verbally attack him. Pay no attention to anything he says!”

⁸ Indeed, as often as I speak, I cry out, and shout, “Violence and destruction!” For this message from the LORD has caused me constant reproach and derision. ⁹ When I say, “I won’t remember the LORD, nor will I speak in his name anymore, then there is this burning fire in my heart. It is bound up in my bones, I grow weary of trying to hold it in, and I cannot do it! ¹⁰ Indeed, I hear many people whispering, “Terror on every side. Denounce him, let’s denounce him!” All my close friends watch my steps and say, “Perhaps he will be deceived, and we can prevail against him and take vengeance on him.” ¹¹ But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, those who pursue me will stumble and won’t prevail. They’ll be put to great shame, when they don’t succeed. Their everlasting disgrace won’t be forgotten.

³ and within two years I’ll bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s Temple that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and carried to Babylon.

⁷ The time for your judgment has now come; payday is here— and Israel knows it. The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is insane. Because of your great sin, the hatred against you is great.

¹⁰ Elijah responded to the leader who was in charge of the 50 soldiers, “So I’m a man of God, am I? If so, may fire fall from heaven and devour you and your 50 soldiers…” Just then, fire fell from heaven and devoured that leader and his 50 soldiers.
¹¹ Later the king tried again—he sent another company of 50 soldiers, along with their leader, who ordered Elijah, “Hey, man of God! This is what the king orders: ‘Come down!’”
¹² Elijah responded to the leader and to his entire company, “So I’m a man of God, am I? If so, may fire fall from heaven and devour you and your 50 soldiers…” Just then, fire fell from heaven and devoured him and his 50 soldiers.
¹³ Then the king tried yet again! The king sent a third company of 50 soldiers along with their leader. The third leader went up the hill, approached Elijah, fell on his knees in front of him, and begged him, “Hey, man of God, please treat my life and the lives of these servants of yours as precious! ¹⁴ Look how fire fell from heaven and devoured the two other companies of 50 soldiers, along with their captains, but now please treat me as if my life were precious!”

⁹ The LORD stretched out his hand, touched my mouth, and then told me, “Look, I’ve put my words in your mouth.

²⁹ “My message is like fire or like a hammer that shatters rock, is it not?” declares the LORD.

⁵ Therefore I cut them to pieces by the prophets, killing them by the words from my mouth. The verdict against you shines like a beacon.

⁶ But my words and my statutes that I gave as commands to my servants the prophets—did they not overwhelm your ancestors? And they returned to me: ‘The LORD of the Heavenly Armies acted toward us just as he planned to do—in keeping with our lifestyles and in keeping with our actions.’”

⁵ And if anyone should want to hurt them, fire comes out of their mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed in this manner. ⁶ These witnesses have authority to close the heavens in order to keep rain from falling while they are prophesying. They also have authority to turn bodies of water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague, as often as they desire.

⁴⁹ “The LORD will raise a distant nation against you from the other side of the earth. Swooping down like a vulture,

⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden in which he delights. He looked for justice, but saw only bloodshed; he searched for righteousness, but heard only an outcry!

²⁶ The LORD will signal for nations far away, whistling for them to come from the ends of the earth. Look how quickly and how swiftly they come!

¹¹ Very well, then, through the mouths of foreigners and foreign languages the LORD will speak to this people

³ Then I’ll encamp against you like David, and I’ll lay siege to you with towers, raise siege works against you,

⁶ you will be visited by the LORD of the Heavenly Armies— with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise, with a windstorm, a tempest, and flames from a devouring fire.

¹⁹ No longer will you see those arrogant people, those people with their obscure speech you cannot comprehend, stammering in a language you cannot understand.

¹⁵ because I’m about to summon all the families and kingdoms from the north,” declares the LORD. “They’ll come and each one will set up his seat at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all of its surrounding walls, and against all of the towns of Judah.

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced when he’s caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced— they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,

¹⁶ The LORD Speaks“Tell the nations, ‘Here they come!’ Proclaim to Jerusalem, ‘The besieging forces are coming from a distant land. They cry out against the cities of Judah.

¹¹ For both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.

²² The Invaders from the NorthThis is what the LORD says: “Look, people are coming from a northern country. A great nation is stirring from the ends of the earth.

²⁶ Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, all those who live in the desert and shave the corners of their beard; indeed all the other nations that are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel that is uncircumcised of heart.”

³¹ Stop your transgressing—the deeds by which you’ve rebelled—and then make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, you house of Israel?

³⁷ You, your majesty, king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory, ³⁸ so that wherever people, wild animals, or birds of the sky live, he has placed them under your control, giving you dominion over them all—you’re that head of gold.

⁷ “After this, I continued to observe the night visions. And look!—there was a fourth awe-inspiring, terrifying, and viciously strong animal! It had large, iron teeth. It devoured and crushed things, and trampled under its feet whatever remained. Different from all of the other previous animals, it had ten horns.

⁵ God’s Response: The Coming Chaldean Invasion“Look out at the nations and pay attention! Be astounded! Be really astounded! Because something is happening in your lifetime that you won’t believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail. ⁶ Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans, that cruel and impetuous people, who sweep across the earth dispossessing people from homes not their own. ⁷ They are terrible and fearsome; their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves! ⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards, and more cunning than wolves that attack at night. Their horsemen are galloping as they approach from far away. They swoop in like ravenous vultures. ⁹ “They all come to oppress— hordes of them, their faces pressing onward— they take prisoners as numerous as the desert sand! ¹⁰ They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them.

⁹ Don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have father Abraham!’ because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰ The ax already lies against the roots of the trees. So every tree that isn’t producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

²¹ In the Law it is written, “By means of foreign languages and through the mouths of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,” declares the Lord.

⁹ But as for the wicked, they do not speak truth at all. Inside them there is only wickedness. Their throat is an open grave, on their tongue is deceitful flattery.

²⁸ Their arrows are sharp, all their bows ready for action. Their horses’ hooves seem like flint, and their chariot wheels spin like a whirlwind.

¹³ Their throats are open graves. With their tongues they deceive. The venom of poisonous snakes is under their lips.

¹⁶ then I will certainly do this to you: I’ll appoint sudden terror to infect you like tuberculosis and fever. Your eyes will fail and your life will waste away. You’ll plant in vain, because your enemies will consume what you plant.

³⁰ You’ll be engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You’ll build a house but you won’t live in it. You’ll plant a vineyard but you won’t harvest it. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered in front of you, and you won’t be able to eat it. Your donkey will be stolen from you while you watch and won’t be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be handed to your enemies and there will be no deliverer.

³³ “A people whom you don’t know will devour what your land and labor produces. You’ll be only oppressed and discouraged continuously

³ Whenever the Israelis sowed their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups from the east would come up and invade them. ⁴ They set up their military encampments to fight them, destroyed the harvest of the land as far as Gaza, and left nothing in Israel, whether harvested grain, sheep, oxen, or donkeys.

⁹ but surely those who harvest it will eat it and praise the name of the LORD, and those who gather it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary,’ says your God.”

²² They won’t build for others to inhabit; they won’t plant for others to eat— for like the lifetime of a tree, so will the lifetime of my people be, and my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.

²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land had become a desert. All its towns were broken down because of the LORD, because of his burning anger.

¹⁶ The LORD’s Warning“The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan. At the neighing of their stallions, the whole earth quakes. They’re coming to devour the land and all it contains, the city and all who live in it.

⁷ All who find them devour them, but their enemies say, ‘We’re not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.’

¹⁷ Hope for Israel“Israel is a scattered flock, driven out by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria, and then afterward King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnawed his bones.

² The Lord swallowed up without pity all of Jacob’s habitations. In his wrath he tore down the strongholds of fair Judah. He cast to the ground in dishonor both her kingdom and its rulers.

⁴ “Therefore listen to what the Lord GOD has to say, you mountains of Israel: ‘This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains, to the hills, to the waterways, to the valleys, to the desolate wastelands, and to the abandoned cities that have become an object of derision to the mountains that surround you:

¹⁴ “Israel has neglected its maker in building palaces. Judah has multiplied its fortified cities, but I will send fire to their cities, and it will consume their fortresses.”

¹⁷ Even though the fig tree does not blossom, and there are no grapes on the vines; even if the olive harvest fails, and the fields produce nothing edible; even if the flock is snatched from the sheepfold, and there is no herd in the stalls— ¹⁸ as for me, I will rejoice in the LORD. I will find my joy in the God who delivers me.

⁶ “I have destroyed nations— their fortifications are deserted. I have turned their main thoroughfares into wastelands where no one will travel. Their cities are desolate; as a result, not one man remains— no, not even a single resident.

¹⁰ The People Reject God’s Warning“Go through her rows of vines and destroy them, but don’t completely destroy them. Strip away her branches, because they aren’t the LORD’s.

⁸ Ezekiel Intercedes for IsraelWhile they were out carrying out the executions, I was left alone. So I fell on my face and cried out, “O Lord GOD, are you going to destroy all of the survivors of Israel when you pour out your anger on Jerusalem?”

¹³ Ezekiel Reacts to Pelatiah’s DeathWhile I was prophesying, Benaiah’s son Pelatiah died, so I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice. “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “are you going to put an end to the survivors within Israel?”

¹ God’s Love for His PeopleSo I ask, “God has not rejected his people, has he?” Of course not! I am an Israeli myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not rejected his people whom he chose long ago. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the story about Elijah, when he pleads with God against Israel? ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and demolished your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life.” ⁴ But what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for myself 7,000 people who have not knelt to worship Baal.” ⁵ So it is at the present time: there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

²⁵ Warnings against Angering God“After you’ve borne children and grandchildren, have been there for a long time in the land, have become so corrupted that you make images of any form, and have done evil in the eyes of the LORD your God, you will provoke him to anger. ²⁶ Heaven and earth will testify against what has occurred today: you’ll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess by crossing the Jordan River. You won’t live long in it, because you’ll certainly be exterminated. ²⁷ Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among the nations, and you’ll be fewer in number in the nations where the LORD your God will drive you. ²⁸ There you’ll serve gods made by human hands, serving trees and stones that cannot see, hear, eat, nor smell.

⁴⁷ Servitude and Bondage“Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God joyfully and wholeheartedly, despite the abundance of everything you have, ⁴⁸ you’ll serve your enemies whom the LORD your God will send against you. You will serve in famine and in drought, in nakedness, and in lack of everything. They’ll set a yoke of iron upon your neck until they have exterminated you.

²⁴ All the nations will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this land? What is the meaning of this fierce and great anger?’ ²⁵ Then they will answer themselves, ‘Because they’ve abandoned the covenant of their LORD, the God of their ancestors that he had made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶ They followed and worshipped other gods whom they had not known and whom he did not assign to them. ²⁷ For this reason, the anger of the LORD raged against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that were written in this book. ²⁸ The LORD uprooted them from the land in his anger, wrath, and great fury, deporting them to another land, and that’s the way things are today.’

⁸ “This Temple will become a pile of ruins. Everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this land and to this Temple?’ ⁹ They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and served them. That’s why the Lord has brought all of this disaster on them.’”

²¹ “Furthermore, even though this Temple seems so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this land and to this Temple?’ ²² They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors, who brought them from the land of Egypt, adopted other gods, worshipped them, and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all of this disaster on them.’”

¹³ “Indeed, my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

³⁵ you say, ‘I’m innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’” “I’m about to bring charges against you because you say, ‘I haven’t sinned.’

²² When you say to yourselves, ‘Why have all these things happened to me?’ It’s because of the extent of your iniquity that your skirt has been lifted up, and your heels have suffered violence.

¹⁰ “When you speak all these words to this people, they’ll say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ ¹¹ Then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors abandoned me,’ declares the LORD. ‘They followed other gods, served them, worshipped them, abandoned me, and didn’t keep my Law.

¹³ I’ll throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I’ll show you no favor.’

⁸ “Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this great city?’ ⁹ Then people will respond, ‘It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.’

⁸ Slaves rule over us, and no one delivers us from their control.

⁴ Yet to this day, the LORD hasn’t given you a heart that understands, eyes that perceive, and ears that discern.

⁶ This is not the way to repay the LORD, is it, you foolish and witless people? Is he not your father, who bought you, formed you, and established you?

⁸ Pay attention, you dull ones among the crowds! You fools! Will you ever become wise?

¹⁶ What is this? A fool has enough money to buy wisdom, but is senseless?

⁹ “Go!” he responded. “Tell this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ ¹⁰ Dull the mind of this people, deafen their ears, and blind their eyes. By doing so, they won’t see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.”

¹⁸ They don’t realize; they don’t understand, because their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds, too, so they cannot understand.

⁴ Then I said, “These are only the poor, they’re foolish, for they don’t know the LORD’s way, the requirement of their God.

⁸ Everyone is stupid and senseless. They follow worthless instruction from a piece of wood!

² “Son of Man, you live in a rebellious house that has eyes to see, but they can’t see, and ears to hear, but they can’t hear, since they’re a rebellious house.

¹¹ “Ephraim is also like a silly dove, lacking sense: They call out to Egypt, and turn toward Assyria.

¹³ That’s why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but don’t see, and they listen but don’t hear or understand.’
¹⁴ “With them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says: ‘You will listen and listen but never understand. You will look and look but never comprehend, ¹⁵ for this people’s heart has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing. They have shut their eyes so that they might not see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁸ Do you have eyes, but fail to see? Do you have ears, but fail to hear? Don’t you remember?

⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not perceive with their eyes, and understand with their mind and turn, and I would heal them.”

²⁶ He said, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will listen and listen but never understand, and you will look and look but never see!

⁸ As it is written, “To this day God has put them into deep sleep. Their eyes do not see, and their ears do not hear.”

⁵⁸ Reduction in Population“If you aren’t careful to observe all the words of this Law that have been written in this book, instructing you to fear this glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God,

¹⁰ He has delimited a boundary over the surface of the oceans as a limit between light and darkness.

¹⁰ when I proscribed a boundary for it, set in place bars and doors for it; ¹¹ and said, ‘You may come only this far and no more. Your majestic waves will stop here.’?

⁷ He gathered the oceans into a single place; he put the deep water into storehouses.

³ The rivers have flooded, LORD; the rivers have spoken aloud, the rivers have lifted up their crushing waves. ⁴ More than the sound of surging waters— the majestic waves of the sea— the LORD on high is majestic.

¹ The LORD is Holy The LORD reigns— let people tremble; he is seated above the cherubim— let the earth quake.

⁹ You have set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never again cover the earth.

¹²⁰ My flesh trembles out of fear of you, and I am in awe of your judgments.

²⁹ when he set a boundary for the sea so the waters would not exceed his limits, when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

² Why is it that when I came, no one was there? Why was there no answer when I called? Was my arm too short to redeem you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? Look! By my mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert. Their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.

⁵ The LORD Vindicates Zion“Hear this message from the LORD, you who tremble at his words: “Your own brothers who hate you and exclude you because of my name have said: ‘Let the LORD be glorified; he will see your joy,’ yet it is they who will be put to shame.

⁷ Who wouldn’t fear you, king of the nations? This is what you deserve! Indeed, among all the wise men of the nations, and throughout all their kingdoms, there is no one like you!

²⁶ “I hereby decree that in every area of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, who endures forever. His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed, and his dominion continues forever.

⁶ who is building his stairway to heaven and setting its foundation on earth; who is calling for the waters of the sea and pouring them out over the surface of the land— the LORD is his name!

⁴ He rebukes the sea, and it evaporates; he dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, while the flowers of Lebanon languish.

²⁸ Stop being afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

³⁹ Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and told the sea, “Calm down! Be still!” Then the wind stopped blowing, and there was a great calm.

⁵ I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the authority to throw you into hell after killing you. Yes, I tell you, be afraid of him!

⁴ Lord, who won’t fear and praise your name? For you alone are holy, and all the nations will come and worship you because your judgments have been revealed.”

¹⁸ Death to a Rebellious Son“If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents, and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them,

¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said, “They are a people whose hearts continuously err, and they have not understood my ways.”

⁵ “Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is faint.

⁶ Turn back to him, yes to him whom your people have so greatly betrayed, you people of Israel.

⁵ Let me go to the leaders and speak to them. For they know the LORD’s way, the requirement of their God.”
The LORD Answers “But they, all together, have broken the yoke and torn off the restraints.

²⁸ All of them are very rebellious, going around as slanderers. They’re bronze and iron, and all of them are corrupt.

⁹ The Deceitfulness of the Human Heart“The heart is more deceitful than anything. It is incurable— who can know it?

⁸ They feed on the sin of my people; they purpose in their heart to transgress.

⁷ My people are determined to turn away from me; though they call to the Most High, no one is worshiping.

¹² See to it, my brothers, that no evil, unbelieving heart is found in any of you, as shown by your turning away from the living God.

²² “Never again, as long as the earth exists, will sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night ever cease.”

¹³ Delights of a Bountiful Land“If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, ¹⁴ then he will send rain on the land in its season—the early and latter rains—then you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil.

¹² “The LORD will open his rich treasury, the heavens, to release rain upon your land in season and bless everything you undertake so that you’ll lend to many nations but won’t borrow.

¹ Elijah Calls for a DroughtElijah the foreigner, who was an alien resident from Gilead, told Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, in whose presence I’m standing, there will be neither dew nor rain these next several years, except when I say so.”

¹⁰ He sends rain on the surface of the earth, and waters the surface of the open country.

²⁷ He draws up drops of water, distilling it to rain and mist. ²⁸ When the clouds pour down; they drop their rain on all of humanity.

³⁷ Who has the wisdom to be able to count the clouds, or to empty the water jars of heaven,

⁸ He shields the heavens with clouds, preparing rain for the earth and making grass grow on the hills.

⁷ There is no one who calls on your name or rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have given us into the control of our iniquity.

²² ‘You don’t fear me, do you?’ declares the LORD. ‘You don’t tremble before me, do you? I’m the one who put the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail against it, though they roar, they cannot cross it.’

²² Can any of the worthless gods of the nations make it rain? Can the heavens themselves bring forth showers? Aren’t you the one who does this, LORD our God? So we hope in you, for you are the one who does all these things.

⁵ They’ll ask the way to Zion, turning their faces in that direction. They’ll come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that won’t be forgotten.

⁵ Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the last days.

¹ A Call for Israel to Repent “Come, let us return to the LORD; even though he has torn us, he will heal us. Even though he has wounded us, he will bind our wounds.

²³ And so be glad, children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, because he has given you the right amount of early rain, and he will cause the rain to fall for you, both the early rain and the later rain as before.

⁷ “I therefore have withheld the rain from you three months before the harvest, causing rain to come upon one city, but not upon another, and upon one field but not upon another, so that it would wither.

¹ The LORD’s Care for Judah “Ask the LORD for rain in the spring— the LORD who fashions lightning thunderstorms, giving rain showers to mankind along with grain in the fields.

⁴⁵ so that you will become children of your Father in heaven, because he makes his sun rise on both evil and good people, and he lets rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁷ yet he has not abandoned his witness: he continues to do good, to give you rain from heaven, to give you fruitful seasons, and to fill you with food and your hearts with joy.”

⁷ Be PatientSo be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious crop from his land, being patient with it until it receives the fall and the spring rains.

¹⁷ Elijah was a person just like us, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and rain never came to the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and the skies poured out rain, and the ground produced its crops.

⁶ These witnesses have authority to close the heavens in order to keep rain from falling while they are prophesying. They also have authority to turn bodies of water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague, as often as they desire.

²³ The sky above your head will become bronze while the ground beneath you will become iron. ²⁴ The LORD will change the rain on your land to powder and dust. It will come down from the sky until you are exterminated.”

¹⁷ Because of their rebellious ways, fools suffered for their iniquities.

³⁴ and a fruitful land into a salty waste, due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.

² Instead, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have concealed his face from you so that he won’t listen.

¹⁷ You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way? ¹⁸ Now, what are you doing on the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? And what are you doing on the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? ¹⁹ Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it’s evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

³ This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot’s look and you refuse to be ashamed.

³⁹ Why should anyone living complain, any mortal, about being punished for sin?

¹⁰ Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he jumped away from Saul and the spear stuck in the wall. That night David escaped and fled.
¹¹ Michal Helps David EscapeSaul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him so they could kill him in the morning. David’s wife, Michal, told him, “If you don’t escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be put to death.”

⁹ Their eyes secretly watch the helpless, lying in wait like a lion in his den. They lie in wait to catch the afflicted. They catch the afflicted when they pull him into their net. ¹⁰ The victim is crushed, and he sinks down; the helpless fall by their might.

⁵ They concoct an evil scheme for themselves; they enumerate their hidden snares; they say, “Who will see them?”

¹¹ If they say, “Come with us! Let’s lie in wait for blood; let’s ambush some innocent person for no reason at all.

¹⁷ Look, it is useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds, ¹⁸ but these people lie in wait for their own blood. They ambush only themselves.

¹ False and True Worship “Shout aloud! Don’t hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their rebellions, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses because you have brought a raiding party against them suddenly. For they have dug a pit to capture me and have set traps for my feet.

² “Now, Son of Man, will you truly judge that blood-stained city? Then make her aware of all of her detestable practices.
³ “You are to say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “The city keeps on shedding blood within her, hastening her time to be judged. She crafts idols that defile her.
⁴ “‘“You’re guilty because of the blood that you’ve shed. You were defiled by the idols that you’ve made. You’ve caused your judgment day to draw near and have even come to the end of your life. Therefore, I’ve made you an object of derision among the nations and to other lands. ⁵ Those who are both near and far away from you will scoff at you, because your reputation will be infamous and full of turmoil.
⁶ “‘“Watch out! Each of the princes of Israel has misused his authority to shed blood. ⁷ They’ve treated mothers and fathers among you with contempt. They’ve oppressed the foreigner among you. They’ve maltreated the orphan and the widow among you.
⁸ “‘“You have despised my sacred things and profaned my Sabbaths. ⁹ Slanderous men live among you, intent on shedding blood. They’ve eaten at the top of mountain shrines. They’ve crafted plans to do evil things among you. ¹⁰ They’ve revealed the nakedness of their father in your midst. They’ve humiliated those among you who were unclean due to their impurity. ¹¹ One of you commits detestable practices with his neighbor’s wife. Another sexually defiles his daughter-in-law. Another humiliates his sister, his own father’s daughter. ¹² They take bribes among you to shed blood. You’ve taken usury and exacted interest. You’ve gained control over your neighbor through extortion. And you’ve forgotten me,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁴ “You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean, like creeping things that have no ruler. ¹⁵ The adversary captures them with a hook, gathering them up in a fishing net. He collects them with a dragnet, rejoicing and gloating over his catch.

¹⁰ and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons and Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus told Simon, “Stop being afraid. From now on you will be catching people.”

¹¹ If they say, “Come with us! Let’s lie in wait for blood; let’s ambush some innocent person for no reason at all. ¹² Let’s swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those who go down into the Pit. ¹³ We’ll find all kinds of valuable wealth, and we’ll fill our houses with spoil.

⁶ You yourself live in the midst of deception, and because they are deceived they do not know me,” declares the LORD.

⁷ “Now as for the merchant, deceitful balances remain in his hand, and he loves to defraud. ⁸ Ephraim claims, ‘I have become rich, I have made a fortune! Because of all my wealth, no one will find any iniquity or sin in me.’

⁴ “Hear this, you who are swallowing up the needy, who intend to make the poor of the land fail, ⁵ and who are saying, ‘When will the New Moon fade so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath conclude so we may market winnowed wheat?— shortchanging the measure, raising the price, falsifying the scales by treachery, ⁶ buying the poor for cash, and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling chaff mixed in with the wheat.’

¹² Even though the inhabitants of Maroth long for success, nevertheless evil descended from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ Are there still wicked treasures in the house of the wicked, along with deceitful and abominable measuring standards? ¹¹ Will I tolerate those who maintain deceptive standards and who use deceitful weights in their business?

⁹ Judgment on Those who Think They are Safe“Woe to the one who amasses profit upon unjust profit in order to establish his household, so he can establish a secure place on the heights and escape from the power of evil. ¹⁰ You have brought shame to yourself by killing many people— you are forfeiting your own life. ¹¹ Indeed, the stone will cry out from the wall and the rafter will respond from the woodwork.”

² He cried out in a powerful voice, “Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean bird, and a prison for every unclean and hated beast.

⁶ The tents of robbers are at rest, and those who provoke God are secure, that is, those who carry their god in their pocket.

²⁷ Though he covered his face with fat, and is grossly overweight at the waist, ²⁸ He will live in devastated towns, in abandoned houses that are about to become heaps of rubble.

²³ Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. ²⁴ His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy.

¹² because I delivered the poor who were crying for help, along with orphans who had no one to help them. ¹³ Those who were about to die blessed me, and I made widows sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness like clothing; my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

⁴ May he defend the afflicted of the people and deliver the children of the poor, but crush the oppressor.

⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace and violence covers them like a garment. ⁷ Their eyes bulge from obesity and the imaginations of their mind cross the border into sin.

¹² Just look at these wicked people! They’re perpetually carefree as they increase their wealth.

² “How long will you judge partially by showing favor on the wicked? Interlude ³ “Defend the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the afflicted and the poor. ⁴ Rescue the poor and the needy, delivering them from the power of the wicked.

⁷⁰ Their minds are clogged as with greasy fat, but I find joy in your instruction.

²³ Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. All of them are lovers of bribes and are runners after gifts. They don’t bring justice to orphans, and the widow’s case never comes up for review in their court.”

³³ How well you perfect your techniques for seeking love. Therefore you can teach even the most immoral women your techniques.

⁶ and if you don’t oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don’t shed an innocent person’s blood in this place, and if you don’t follow other gods to your own harm,

¹ Jeremiah’s Complaint about Justice You are righteous, LORD, even when I bring a complaint to you. But I want to discuss justice with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper, while all who are treacherous are at ease?

¹⁵ Are you a king because you try to outdo everyone with cedar? Your father ate and drank and upheld justice and righteousness, did he not? And then it went well for him. ¹⁶ He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn’t this what it means to know me? ¹⁷ But your eyes and heart are on nothing but your dishonest gain, shedding the blood of innocent people, and practicing oppression and extortion.”
¹⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, “They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!’ They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!’ ¹⁹ He will receive a donkey’s burial, dragged out and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

⁶ But she rebelled against my ordinances and my statutes. She practiced more evil than all the nations and territories around her. They rejected my ordinances and didn’t live by my statutes.’
⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you’re more disrespectful than the nations that surround you, you didn’t follow my statutes or follow my ordinances. You didn’t even follow the ordinances of the surrounding nations!’

⁴⁷ It wasn’t just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!”
⁴⁸ Sins of Sodom“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “your sister Sodom and her daughters didn’t do what you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ In their arrogance, they committed detestable practices in my presence, so when I saw it, I removed them. ⁵¹ Samaria didn’t commit half of your sins—you practiced more detestable deeds than they did! You’ve caused your sister to be more righteous than you, because of the detestable practices that you’ve committed. ⁵² So now, bear your own shame as you mediate for your sisters. The sins that you’ve committed are more detestable than theirs. That makes them more righteous than you. Indeed, be ashamed and bear your reproach, because you’ve made your sisters to be more righteous than you.”

¹⁰ You are not to wrong the widow, orphans, the foreigner, or the poor, and you are not to plan evil against each other.

¹ Disciplining for Sexual ImmoralityIt is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, and of a kind that is not found even among the gentiles. A man is actually living with his father’s wife!

⁹ “Should I not punish them for these things?” asks the LORD, “And on a nation like this, should I not seek retribution?”

⁴ Look! The wages that you kept back from the workers who harvested your fields are shouting out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.

² Rebellious JudahListen, you heavens, and let the earth pay attention, because the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them to adulthood, but then they rebelled against me.

¹² Heavens, be appalled at this, be shocked, be utterly devastated,” declares the LORD.

¹⁴ Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, for they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one repents of his evil. All of them are like Sodom to me, and her residents like Gomorrah.”

¹⁰ I have seen a horrible evil in the house of Israel— Ephraim’s promiscuity. Israel is defiled.

²⁹ O, that they were wise to understand this and consider their future!

³ What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

⁶ At that time, the inhabitants of this coastland will say, ‘See, this is what has happened to those on whom we counted and relied for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How, then, can we escape?’”

¹⁰ They say to the seers, ‘Don’t see visions,’ and to the prophets, ‘Don’t give us visions of what is right! Instead, tell us welcome things, prophesy illusions, ¹¹ get out of the way, turn aside from the path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.”

¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”

³⁰ You are ruined! What are you doing dressing in scarlet, putting on golden ornaments, and highlighting your eyes with makeup? You are making yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers reject you— they’re out to kill you. ³¹ I heard a cry like that of a woman in labor, anguish like one giving birth to her firstborn, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for air, stretching out her hand: “Woe is me! I’m about to faint in front of killers!”

¹⁴ Then the LORD told me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I didn’t send them, I didn’t command them, and I didn’t speak to them. They’re proclaiming to you false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own minds.

²² The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into exile. Indeed, you will then be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. ²³ You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth.

²⁵ “I’ve heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said: ‘I had a dream; I had a dream.’ ²⁶ How long will this go on? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy from the deceit that is in their hearts?

⁹ Uncleanness has soiled her skirts, and she gave no thought to what would follow. She fell in such a startling way, with no one to comfort her. Look, LORD, upon my affliction, because my enemy is boasting.

¹⁴ Your prophets look on your behalf; they see false and deceptive visions. They did not expose your sins in order to restore what had been captured. Instead, they crafted oracles for you that are false and misleading.

¹⁴ Can your heart stand up to this? Can your hands remain strong when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken and will fulfill this.

⁶ To those who speak out, they will declare, ‘Don’t prophesy to anyone!’ so their shame won’t go away.

² Before the decree is carried out, before the day flies away like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD visits you, before the Day of the LORD’s wrath surprises you, ³ seek the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who do what he commands. Seek righteousness! Seek humility! Maybe you will be protected in the Day of the LORD’s anger.”
The Coming Destruction of Philistine Cities

¹⁵ A Tree is Known by Its Fruit
“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are savage wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruit. Grapes aren’t gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles, are they? ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad fruit.

¹⁹ And this is the basis for judgment: The light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who practices wickedness hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his actions may not be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may become evident that his actions have God’s approval.”

¹³ Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of the Messiah. ¹⁴ And no wonder, since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their doom will match their deeds!

⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the power of Satan. He will use every kind of power, including miraculous signs, lying wonders, ¹⁰ and every type of evil to deceive those who are dying, those who refused to love the truth that would save them. ¹¹ For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.

³ For the time will come when people will not tolerate healthy doctrine, but with itching ears will surround themselves with teachers who cater to their people’s own desires. ⁴ They will refuse to listen to the truth and will turn to myths.

¹ Warning against False TeachersNow there were false prophets among the people, just as there also will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned.