Jeremiah 9; Jeremiah 10; Jeremiah 11; 1 Timothy 6

1 If only my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for the wounds of my people.

2 If only I could flee for shelter in the desert, to leave my people and forget them— for they are all adulterers, a bunch of crooks.

3 They bend their tongues like bows to spew out lies; they are renowned in the land, but not for truth. They go from bad to worse. They don't know me! declares the LORD.

4 Be wary of your friends! Don't trust your sibling! Every sibling is a cheater, and every friend traffics in slander.

5 One cheats the other; no one tells the truth; they train themselves to lie; they wear themselves out by doing wrong.

6 You live in a world of deceit, and in their deceit they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.

7 Therefore, the LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: I'm going to refine and test them, for what else can I do with my people?

8 Their tongue is a lethal arrow; their words are deceitful. They wish their neighbors well, but in their hearts plot their ruin.

9 Shouldn't I punish them for this? declares the LORD; shouldn't I avenge such a nation?

10 I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the grazing lands in the wilderness. They are dried up and deserted; no sound of the flocks is heard; no sign of birds or animals is seen; all have vanished.

11 I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, a den for wild dogs. I will make the towns of Judah a wasteland, without inhabitant.

12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been taught by the LORD and can therefore explain it? Why has the land been reduced to rubble and laid waste like a desert, with no one passing through?

13 The LORD says: It is because they have abandoned my Instruction that I gave them, and haven't obeyed or followed it.

14 Instead, they have followed their own willful hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.

15 Therefore, this is what the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: I'm going to feed this people bitter food and give them poison to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations about whom neither they nor their ancestors have ever heard. I will pursue them with the sword until all are gone.

17 The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: Pay attention! Summon the women who mourn, let them come; send for those best trained, let them come.

18 Hurry! Let them weep for us so that our eyes fill up with tears and water streams down.

19 The sound of sobbing is heard from Zion: "We're devastated! We're so ashamed! We have to leave the land and abandon our homes!"

20 Women, hear the LORD's word. Listen closely to the word from his mouth: teach your daughters to mourn; teach each other to grieve.

21 Death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to eliminate children from the streets, the youth from the squares.

22 Declare what the LORD says: Dead bodies will lie like dung on the fields, like bundles of grain after the harvest, with no one to pick them up.

23 The LORD proclaims: the learned should not boast of their knowledge, nor warriors boast of their might, nor the rich boast of their wealth.

24 No, those who boast should boast in this: that they understand and know me. I am the LORD who acts with kindness, justice, and righteousness in the world, and I delight in these things, declares the LORD.

25 The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will deal with everyone who is physically circumcised:

26 whether they are Egyptians or Judeans, Edomites or Ammonites, Moabites or the desert dwellers who cut the hair on their foreheads. All these nations are really uncircumcised; even the people of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

1 Listen to the word that the LORD has spoken to you, people of Israel!

2 The LORD proclaims: Don't follow the ways of the nations or be troubled by signs in the sky, even though the nations are troubled by them.

3 The rituals of the nations are hollow: a tree from the forest is chopped down and shaped by the craftsman's tools.

4 It's overlaid with silver and gold, and fastened securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.

5 They are no different than a scarecrow in a cucumber patch: they can't speak; they must be carried because they can't walk. Don't be afraid of them, because they can't do harm or good.

6 LORD, no one is like you! You are great, and great is your mighty name.

7 Who wouldn't fear you, king of the nations? That is your due; among all the wise of the nations and in all their countries, there is no one like you!

8 But they are both foolish and silly; they offer nothing because they are mere wood.

9 Covered with silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, they are the work of a craftsman and the hands of a goldsmith. Clothed in blue and purple, all of them nothing more than the work of artisans.

10 But the LORD is the true God! He's the living God and the everlasting king! When he's angry, the earth quakes; the nations can't endure his rage.

11 Tell them this: The gods who didn't make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

12 But God made the earth by his might; he shaped the world by his wisdom, crafted the skies by his knowledge.

13 At the sound of his voice, the heavenly waters roar. He raises the clouds from the ends of the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain, the wind from his treasuries.

14 Everyone is too foolish to understand; every goldsmith is dishonored by his idols, for their images are shams; they aren't alive.

15 They are a delusion, a charade; at the appointed time they will vanish!

16 Jacob's portion is utterly different because God has formed all things, including Israel, his very own people— the LORD of heavenly forces is his name!

17 Pack your bags and get ready to leave, you who live under siege.

18 The LORD proclaims: I'm going to eject those who live in the land at this time; I will badger them until they leave.

19 How terrible for me, due to my injury; my wound is terrible. Yet I said to myself: This is my sickness, and I must bear it.

20 But now my tent is destroyed; all its ropes are cut, and my children are gone for good. There's no one left to set up my tent frame and to attach the fabric.

21 The shepherd kings have lost their senses and don't seek answers from the LORD. That is why they have failed and their flock is scattered.

22 Listen! The sound is getting louder, a mighty uproar from the land of the north; it will reduce the towns of Judah to ruins, a den for wild dogs.

23 I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own, that we're not able to direct our paths.

24 So correct me, LORD, but with justice, not in your anger, or else you will reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that ignore you and on the people who don't call on you, since they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and ruined his country.

1 Jeremiah received the LORD's word:

2 Listen to the terms of this covenant and proclaim them to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

3 Say to them: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed are those who don't heed the terms of this covenant

4 that I commanded your ancestors when I bought them out of the land of Egypt, that iron crucible, saying, Obey me and observe all that I instruct you. Then you will be my people and I, even I, will be your God.

5 I will fulfill my solemn pledge that I made to your ancestors to give them a land full of milk and honey, as is the case today. And I replied, "As you say, LORD!"

6 The LORD said to me: Announce all these words in the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the terms of this covenant and perform them.

7 I repeatedly and tirelessly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt to this very day, saying, Obey me.

8 But they didn't listen or pay attention; they followed their own willful ambitions. So I brought upon them all the punishments I prescribed for violating this covenant—for refusing to obey.

9 The LORD said to me: A conspiracy is taking place among the people of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.

10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey my words. They too are following other gods and serving them. The people of Israel and the people of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their ancestors.

11 Therefore, the LORD proclaims: I will bring upon them a disaster from which they won't be able to escape. They will cry out to me, but I won't listen to them.

12 Then the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will call upon the gods they worship, but they won't save them when disaster strikes.

13 You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah, and you have as many shameful altars for worshipping Baal as you have streets in Jerusalem.

14 As for you, don't pray for these people, don't cry out or plead for them, for I won't listen when they cry out to me on account of their distress.

15 What are my loved ones doing in my temple while working out their many evil schemes? Can sacred offerings cancel your sin so that you revel in your evil deeds?

16 The LORD named you, "A blossoming olive tree, fair and fruitful"; but with the blast of a powerful storm he will set it ablaze, until its branches are completely consumed.

17 The LORD of heavenly forces who planted you has announced disaster for you, because the people of Israel and Judah have done evil and made me angry by worshipping Baal.

18 The LORD informed me and I knew. Then he helped me see what they were up to.

19 I was like a young lamb led to the slaughter; I didn't realize that they were planning their schemes against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit; let's cut him off from the land of the living so that even any knowledge of him will be wiped out."

20 LORD of heavenly forces, righteous judge, who tests the heart and mind, let me see your revenge upon them, because I have committed my case to you.

21 This is what the LORD says concerning the men from Anathoth who seek your life and say, "Don't prophesy in the LORD's name or else you will die at our hands."

22 Therefore, the LORD of heavenly forces proclaims, I'm going to punish them. Their young men will die in war, and their sons and daughters will die by famine.

23 No one will be left because I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth when their time comes.

1 Those who are under the bondage of slavery should consider their own masters as worthy of full respect so that God's name and our teaching won't get a bad reputation.

2 And those who have masters who are believers shouldn't look down on them because they are brothers. Instead, they should serve them more faithfully, because the people who benefit from your good service are believers who are loved. Teach and encourage these things.

3 If anyone teaches anything different and doesn't agree with sound teaching about our Lord Jesus Christ and teaching that is consistent with godliness,

4 that person is conceited. They don't understand anything but have a sick obsession with debates and arguments. This creates jealousy, conflict, verbal abuse, and evil suspicions.

5 There is constant bickering between people whose minds are ruined and who have been robbed of the truth. They think that godliness is a way to make money!

6 Actually, godliness is a great source of profit when it is combined with being happy with what you already have.

7 We didn't bring anything into the world and so we can't take anything out of it:

8 we'll be happy with food and clothing.

9 But people who are trying to get rich fall into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful passions that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

10 The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some have wandered away from the faith and have impaled themselves with a lot of pain because they made money their goal.

11 But as for you, man of God, run away from all these things. Instead, pursue righteousness, holy living, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness.

12 Compete in the good fight of faith. Grab hold of eternal life—you were called to it, and you made a good confession of it in the presence of many witnesses.

13 I command you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who made the good confession when testifying before Pontius Pilate.

14 Obey this order without fault or failure until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 The timing of this appearance is revealed by God alone, who is the blessed and only master, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

16 He alone has immortality and lives in light that no one can come near. No human being has ever seen or is able to see him. Honor and eternal power belong to him. Amen.

17 Tell people who are rich at this time not to become egotistical and not to place their hope on their finances, which are uncertain. Instead, they need to hope in God, who richly provides everything for our enjoyment.

18 Tell them to do good, to be rich in the good things they do, to be generous, and to share with others.

19 When they do these things, they will save a treasure for themselves that is a good foundation for the future. That way they can take hold of what is truly life.

20 Timothy, protect what has been given to you in trust. Avoid godless and pointless discussions and the contradictory claims of so-called "knowledge."

21 When some people adopted this false knowledge, they missed the goal of faith. May grace be with you all.