The Daily Audio Bible
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Jeremiah’s Grief
19 My agony! My agony![a]
I am writhing in pain.
Oh my heart!
The walls of my heart are quivering!
I cannot keep silent,
because I hear the sound of the ram’s horn.
It is the signal for war!
20 One disaster after another is announced.
All the land is ruined.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed.
My tent curtains are torn apart in an instant.
21 How long must I see the battle flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?
The Lord’s Grief
22 My people are fools.
They do not know me.
They are ignorant children.
They do not understand.
They are experts at doing evil,
and they do not know how to do good.
23 I looked at the earth.
It was undeveloped and empty.[b]
I looked at the heavens,
but there were no lights.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking.
All the hills were shaking.
25 I looked and there was no one there.
Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked and saw that the fertile land was a wilderness.
All the cities were torn down,
because of the Lord and his burning anger.
27 This is what the Lord says.
The land will be laid waste,
but I will not destroy it completely.
28 Because of this, the earth will mourn,
and the sky above will grow dark.
I have spoken. I have made plans.
I will show no pity,
and I will not turn back from this.
29 At the sound of riders and archers,
the people of every city will flee.
They will go off into the brush.
They will climb up into the rocks.
Every city will be abandoned.
There will not be anyone to live in them.
30 You are destroyed!
What are you doing?
Why do you dress in scarlet
and put on gold jewelry?
Why do you put makeup on your eyes?
You are making yourself look beautiful for nothing.
Your lovers reject you.
They seek your life.
31 Listen, I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,
a cry of pain like that of a woman giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands and saying,
“Oh no, it is hopeless!
My life is slipping away in the presence of murderers.”
A Dialogue About Jerusalem’s Sin
The Lord[c]
5 Hurry here and there through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look and take note.
Search her public squares.
See if you can find just one person who deals justly
and who seeks to be faithful.
If you can, I will forgive her.
2 Though they say, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
they are still swearing falsely.
The Prophet
3 Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?
You struck them,
but they felt no pain.
You crushed them,
but they refused discipline.
They made their faces harder than rock
and refused to repent.
4 Then I said:
These are only the poor.
They are foolish,
because they do not know the way of the Lord
and the just verdict of their God.
5 I will go to the great men and speak to them.
Certainly they know the way of the Lord,
the just verdict of their God.
But all of them together have broken the yoke
and have torn off their chains.
6 That is why a lion from the forest will strike them.
A wolf from the desert will attack them,
and a leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who comes out of them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellions are so many,
and their unfaithfulness is so great.
The Lord
7 Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I satisfied their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and crowded into prostitutes’ houses.
8 They are well-fed, lusty[d] stallions,
each one neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for this? declares the Lord.
Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this one?
10 Go through her vineyards and destroy them,
but do not destroy them completely.
Cut away the branches,
because they do not belong to the Lord.
11 The house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been completely unfaithful to me, declares the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord.
They say, “He is nothing.
No disaster will come upon us.
We will not see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are only wind.
The word is not in them,
so let what they say come upon them.”[e]
14 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Armies, says.
Because they have said this,
I will make my words in your mouth a fire.
These people are the wood, and it will burn them up.
15 Now, O house of Israel, I am bringing against you
a nation from far away, declares the Lord.
I am bringing an enduring nation, an ancient nation.
They are a nation whose language you do not know,
nor can you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is like an open grave.
They are all strong warriors.
17 They will consume your harvest and your bread.
They will consume your sons and daughters.
They will consume your flocks and herds,
and they will consume your vines and fig trees.
With their swords they will beat down your fortified cities,
the places in which you trust.
18 Yet even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not destroy you completely. 19 When the people ask, “Why has the Lord our God done this to us?” answer them, “Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.”
20 Declare this to the house of Jacob!
Proclaim it in Judah!
21 Hear this, you foolish, senseless people!
You have eyes but you cannot see.
You have ears but you cannot hear.
22 Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I made sand as the boundary for the sea,
a permanent barrier that it cannot cross.
The waves toss back and forth,
but they cannot get past it.
The towering waves crash,
but they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart.
They have turned aside and wandered away.
24 They do not say to themselves,
“We should fear the Lord our God,
who sends autumn rains and spring rains at the right time,
who reserves for us enough weeks for the harvest.”
25 But your guilty actions have kept these things at a distance.
Your sins have kept these good things away from you.
26 Wicked men are found among my people.
Like men who trap birds, they lie in wait for my people
to set traps and catch people.[f]
27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit.
That is how they became powerful and rich.
28 They have become fat and sleek.
They have gone beyond evil words.[g]
They do not argue a case for the fatherless to help them win,
and they do not seek justice for the poor.
29 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord.
Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this one?
30 A terrible thing has taken place.
A horrible thing has happened in the land.
31 Prophets prophesy lies,
priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love this.
But what will you do in the end?
The Siege Is Coming
The Lord[h]
6 Flee for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem!
Blow the ram’s horn in Tekoa.[i]
Raise a signal over Beth Hakkerem!
Disaster and great destruction threaten from the north.
2 I will silence the beautiful, pampered daughter of Zion.[j]
3 Shepherds and their flocks will come against her.
They will pitch their tents all around.
Each one will pasture his flock in his own spot.
The Enemy
4 Consecrate yourselves for war against her.
Rise up, we will attack at noon!
The People of Judah
We are doomed! The day is ending.
The evening shadows are getting longer.
The Enemy
5 We should get up and attack at night
and destroy its citadels.
The Lord
6 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
Cut down her trees.
Raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished.
There is nothing but oppression inside her.
7 Just as a well pours out fresh[k] water,
she pours out fresh evil.
Violence and destruction are heard in her.
Sickness and wounds are always before me.
8 Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you.
I will make your land desolate,
so that no one can live there.
9 This is what the Lord of Armies says.
They will glean what remains of Israel
as thoroughly as a vine.
Like someone gathering grapes,
pass your hand over the branches again.
10 Who can I speak to?
Who will listen to my warning?[l]
Look! Their ears are uncircumcised.
They will not be able to hear.
Indeed, to them the word of the Lord is an embarrassment.
They take no pleasure in it.
11 I am full of the Lord’s wrath,[m]
and I cannot hold it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the young men gathered together.
Both husband and wife will be taken,
the old along with the very old.
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
because I will stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,
declares the Lord.
13 From the least of them to the greatest,
all of them are greedy for gain.
From prophets to priests, they all practice deceit.
14 They have treated the wound of my people as if it were nothing serious.
They say, “Peace, peace,” but there is no peace!
15 Are they ashamed of the detestable things they have done?
No, they are not ashamed at all!
They do not know how to be ashamed.
So they will fall with the fallen.
They will be thrown down when I punish them, says the Lord.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in all things he might have the highest rank. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself (whether things on earth or in heaven) by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Reconciled Through Christ’s Death
21 At one time, you were alienated from God and hostile in your thinking as expressed through your evil deeds. 22 But now Christ reconciled you in his body of flesh through death, in order to present you holy, blameless, and faultless before him— 23 if you continue steadfast and firm in faith, without being moved away from the hope of the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a minister.
Paul’s Service in Preaching the Gospel
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church. 25 I became a minister of the church for your benefit when God gave me the task of fully proclaiming the word of God, 26 namely, the mystery that was hidden for past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known to them what is the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles—this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 We proclaim him as we admonish and teach everyone with all wisdom, so that we might present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 This is the goal I am laboring to reach, striving with his strength, which is powerfully at work in me.
2 Indeed, I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those in Laodicea, and for all those who have not seen me personally. 2 I am doing this so that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, and into all the wealth of assurance that understanding brings, into the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ.[a] 3 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.
4 I say this so that no one deceives you with persuasive speech that sounds reasonable. 5 For though I am absent bodily, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderliness and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
The Fullness That Is Ours in Christ
6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 by being rooted and built up in him, and strengthened in the faith just as you were taught, while you overflow in faith[b] with thanksgiving.
Psalm 77
Will the Lord Reject Forever?
Heading
For the choir director. According to Jeduthun.[a] By Asaph. A psalm.
The Question
1 With my voice to God—
with my voice I cried out to God,
and he listened to me.
2 In the day when I was distressed I sought the Lord.
At night my hand was stretched out,
and it never grew tired,
but my soul refused to be comforted.
3 God, I remembered and I groaned. Interlude
I pondered, and my spirit became weak.
4 You propped my eyelids open.
I was troubled but did not speak.
5 I thought about the days of long ago, the years long past.
6 During the night I remembered my music.
With my heart I pondered, and my spirit asked,
7 “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never again show favor?
8 Has his mercy vanished to the end?
Has what he said failed for all generations?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Interlude
Has he really shut up his compassion in anger?”
The Answer
10 Then I said, “This is what hurts me:
the change of the right hand of the Most High.”[b]
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord.[c]
Yes, I will remember your wonderful work from long ago.
12 I will meditate on all your work,
and I will ponder all your deeds.
13 O God, your way is carried out in holiness.
What god is as great as God?
14 You are the God who performs a wonderful deed.
You made known your power among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude
16 The waters saw you, O God.
The waters saw you and swirled.
Even the depths were turbulent.
17 The clouds poured down water.
The skies echoed with thunder.
Indeed, your arrows shot back and forth.
18 The sound of your thunder was heard in the tornado.
Lightning lit up the world.
The earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your route led through the sea.
Your trail went through the mighty waters,
but your footprints were not detected.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
More Words of the Wise
23 These sayings also are by the wise:
To show partiality when administering justice is not good.
24 If anyone says to a guilty person, “You are innocent,”
people will curse him. Nations will denounce him.
25 However, it will be pleasant for those who convict the guilty.
A wonderful blessing will come upon them.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.