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16 Now, I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 First I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.
19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
and my refuge in the day of affliction,
the nations will come to You
from the remote parts of the earth, and will say:
Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity,
and things in which there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods for himself,
which are not gods?
21 “Therefore, surely I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
and they shall know
that My name is the Lord.”
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
17 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen
and with a diamond point;
it is engraved on the tablet of their heart
and on the horns of their altars;
2 as they remember their children,
so they remember their altars
and their groves by the green trees
on the high hills.
3 O My mountain in the field,
I will give your wealth
and all your treasures to the destroyer,
and your high places
for sin throughout all your borders.
4 You, even yourself, will discontinue
from your heritage that I gave you;
and I will cause you to serve your enemies
in the land which you do not know;
for you have kindled a fire in My anger
which will burn forever.
5 Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
and whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert
and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
and whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreads out its roots by the river,
and shall not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf shall be green,
and it shall not be anxious in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is more deceitful than all things
and desperately wicked;
who can understand it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
even to give to every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruit of his deeds.
11 As the partridge sits on eggs which it has not laid,
so is he who gets riches, but not justly;
it will forsake him in the midst of his days,
and in the end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel,
all who forsake You will be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me in the earth will be written down,
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the fountain of living waters.”
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for You are my praise.
15 See how they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”
16 As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,
nor have I desired the woeful day;
You Yourself know that which came out of my lips was in Your presence.
17 Do not be a terror to me;
You are my hope in the day of disaster.
18 Let those who persecute me be humiliated,
but let me not be humiliated;
let them be dismayed,
but let me not be dismayed.
Bring upon them the day of evil,
and destroy them with double destruction.
Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
19 Thus the Lord said to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people whereby the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 And say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates. 21 Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and do not bear any load on the Sabbath day nor bring anything in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they did not obey or incline their ears, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. 24 It shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to Me, says the Lord, to bring in no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but sanctify the Sabbath day to do no work in it, 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever. 26 They will come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you will not listen to Me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a load, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it will not be quenched.
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was making something on the wheel. 4 Yet the vessel that he made of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the Lord. As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it. 8 If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to do to it. 9 Or at another moment I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it. 10 If it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would bless it.
11 Now therefore speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Repent now, everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your deeds good. 12 But they say, “There is no hope! But we will walk after our own devices, and each of us will do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask now among the nations,
who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel
has done a very horrible thing.
14 Shall a man leave the snow of Lebanon,
which comes from the rock of the field?
Shall the cold flowing water that comes from another place
be forsaken?
15 Because My people have forgotten Me,
they have burned incense to vain gods
and they have stumbled in their ways
from the ancient paths,
to walk in bypaths,
not on a highway,
16 to make their land desolate,
and a perpetual hissing;
everyone who passes by shall be astonished
and shake his head.
17 I will scatter them before the enemy
as with an east wind;
I will show them the back and not the face
in the day of their calamity.
Jeremiah Persecuted
18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. For the law will not be lost from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good?
For they have dug a pit for my soul.
Remember that I stood before You
to speak good for them,
and to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, deliver up their children to the famine
and pour out their blood by the power of the sword;
and let their wives be bereaved of their children and become widows
and let their men be put to death;
let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
when You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
for they have dug a pit to take me
and hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know
all their counsel against me to slay me.
Do not forgive their iniquity
nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
but let them be overthrown before You;
deal thus with them in the time of Your anger.
A Life Pleasing to God
4 Finally, brothers, we urge and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have learned from us how you ought to walk and to please God, you should excel more and more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality, 4 that each one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the lust of depravity, even as the Gentiles who do not know God, 6 and that no man take advantage of and defraud his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. 8 Therefore he that despises does not despise man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
9 As concerning brotherly love, you do not need me to write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. 10 And indeed, you do have love for all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, that you increase more and more. 11 Learn to be calm, and to conduct your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 so that you may walk honestly toward those who are outsiders and that you may lack nothing.
The Lord’s Coming
13 But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and arose again, so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall be forever with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
5 Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you. 2 For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
Psalm 81
For the Music Director. According to The Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength;
make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Lift up a melody, and sound the tambourine,
the pleasant lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
at the full moon on our feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
5 This He ordained in Joseph as a decree
when He went out against the land of Egypt.
I heard a voice that I had not known:
6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were released from holding the basket.
7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O My people, and I will testify against you.
O Israel, if you would listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
neither shall you bow down to any strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But My people would not listen to My voice;
Israel would not submit to Me.
12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts,
to walk in their own counsels.
13 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
and Israel would follow in My ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn My hand against their adversaries.
15 Let those who hate the Lord cower before Him
and their fate might last forever.
16 But I would feed them with the finest of wheat,
and with honey out of the rock I would satisfy you.”
6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,
and do not stand in the place of great men;
7 for it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,”
than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,
whom your eyes have seen.
8 Do not go forth hastily to strive;
lest you do not know what to do in the end,
when your neighbor has put you to shame.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.