Jeremiah 12; Jeremiah 13; Jeremiah 14; 2 Timothy 1

1 Lord, when I bring my case to you, you are always right. But I want to ask you about the justice you give. Why are evil people successful? Why do dishonest people have such easy lives?

2 You have put the evil people here like plants with strong roots. They grow and produce fruit. With their mouths they speak well of you, but their hearts are really far away from you.

3 But you know my heart, Lord. You see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag the evil people away like sheep to be butchered. Set them aside for the day of killing.

4 How much longer will the land stay dried up and the grass in every field be dead? The animals and birds in the land have died, because the people are evil. Yes, they are even saying, "God does not see what happens to us."

5 "If you get tired while racing against people, how can you race against horses? If you stumble in a country that is safe, what will you do in the thick thornbushes along the Jordan River?

6 Even your own brothers and members of your own family are making plans against you. They are crying out against you. Don't trust them, even when they say nice things to you!

7 "I have left Israel; I have left my people. I have given the people I love over to their enemies.

8 My people have become to me like a lion in the forest. They roar at me, so I hate them.

9 My people have become to me like a speckled bird attacked on all sides by hawks. Go, gather the wild animals. Bring them to get something to eat.

10 Many shepherds have ruined my vineyards and trampled the plants in my field. They have turned my beautiful field into an empty desert.

11 They have turned my field into a desert that is wilted and dead. The whole country is an empty desert, because no one who lives there cares.

12 Many soldiers have marched over those barren hills. from one end to the other. No one is safe.

13 The people have planted wheat, but they have harvested only thorns. They have worked hard until they were very tired, but they have nothing for all their work. They are ashamed of their poor harvest, because the Lord's terrible anger has caused this."

14 This is what the Lord said to me: "Here is what I will do to all my wicked neighbors who take the land I gave my people Israel. I will pull them up and throw them out of their land. And I will pull up the people of Judah from among them.

15 But after I pull them up, I will feel sorry for them again. I will bring each person back to his own property and to his own land.

16 I want them to learn their lessons well. In the past they taught my people to swear by Baal's name. But if they will now learn to swear by my name, saying 'As surely as the Lord lives . . .' I will allow them to rebuild among my people.

17 But if a nation will not listen to my message, I will pull it up completely and destroy it," says the Lord.

1 This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist. Don't let the belt get wet."

2 So I bought a linen belt, just as the Lord told me, and put it around my waist.

3 Then the Lord spoke his word to me a second time:

4 "Take the belt you bought and are wearing, and go to Perath. Hide the belt there in a crack in the rocks."

5 So I went to Perath and hid the belt there, just as the Lord told me.

6 Many days later the Lord said to me, "Now go to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there."

7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined; it was good for nothing.

8 Then the Lord spoke his word to me.

9 This is what the Lord said: "In the same way I will ruin the pride of the people of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 These evil people refuse to listen to my warnings. They stubbornly do only what they want to do, and they follow other gods to serve and worship them. So they will become like this linen belt -- good for nothing.

11 As a belt is wrapped tightly around a person's waist, I wrapped the families of Israel and Judah around me," says the Lord. "I did that so they would be my people and bring fame, praise, and honor to me. But my people would not listen.

12 "Say to them: 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: All leather bags for holding wine should be filled with wine.' People will say to you: 'Of course, we know all wine bags should be filled with wine.'

13 Then you will say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: I will make everyone in this land like a drunken person -- the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests and the prophets, and all the people who live in Jerusalem.

14 I will make them smash against one another, fathers and sons alike, says the Lord. I will not feel sorry or have pity on them or show mercy that would stop me from destroying them.'"

15 Listen and pay attention. Don't be too proud, because the Lord has spoken to you.

16 Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness and before you slip and fall on the dark hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it into thick darkness; he will change it into deep gloom.

17 If you don't listen to him, I will cry secretly because of your pride. I will cry painfully, and my eyes will overflow with tears, because the Lord's people will be captured.

18 Tell this to the king and the queen mother: "Come down from your thrones, because your beautiful crowns have fallen from your heads."

19 The cities of southern Judah are locked up, and no one can open them. foreign land; they will be carried away completely.

20 Jerusalem, look up and see the people coming from the north. Where is the flock God gave you to care for, the flock you bragged about?

21 What will you say when they appoint as your heads those you had thought were your friends? Won't you have much pain and trouble, like a woman giving birth to a baby?

22 You might ask yourself, "Why has this happened to me?" It happened because of your many sins. Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off and your body has been treated badly.

23 Can a person from Cush change the color of his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? In the same way, Jerusalem, you cannot change and do good, because you are accustomed to doing evil.

24 "I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the desert wind.

25 This is what will happen to you; this is your part in my plans," says the Lord. "Because you forgot me and trusted in false gods,

26 I will pull your skirts up over your face so everyone will see your shame.

27 I have seen the terrible things you have done: your acts of adultery and your snorting, your prostitution, your hateful acts on the hills and in the fields. How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem. How long will you continue being unclean?"

1 These are the words that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the time when there was no rain:

2 "The nation of Judah cries as if someone has died, and her cities are very sad. They are distressed over the land. A cry goes up to God from Jerusalem.

3 The important men send their servants to get water. They go to the wells, but they find no water. So they return with empty jars. They are ashamed and embarrassed and cover their heads in shame.

4 The ground is dry and cracked open, because no rain falls on the land. The farmers are upset and sad, so they cover their heads in shame.

5 Even the mother deer in the field leaves her newborn fawn to die, because there is no grass.

6 Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills and sniff the wind like wild dogs. But their eyes go blind, because there is no food."

7 We know that we suffer because of our sins. Lord, do something to help us for the good of your name. We have left you many times; we have sinned against you.

8 God, the Hope of Israel, you have saved Israel in times of trouble. Why are you like a stranger in the land, or like a traveler who only stays one night?

9 Why are you like someone who has been attacked by surprise, like a warrior who is not able to save anyone? But you are among us, Lord, and we are called by your name so don't leave us without help!

10 This is what the Lord says about the people of Judah: "They really love to wander from me; they don't stop themselves from leaving me. So now the Lord will not accept them. He will now remember the evil they do and will punish them for their sins."

11 Then the Lord said, "Don't pray for good things to happen to the people of Judah.

12 Even if they give up eating, I will not listen to their prayers. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy the people of Judah with war, hunger, and terrible diseases."

13 But I said, "Oh, Lord God, the prophets keep telling the people, 'You will not suffer from an enemy's sword or from hunger. I, the Lord, will give you peace in this land.'"

14 Then the Lord said to me, "Those prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They have been prophesying false visions, idolatries, worthless magic, and their own wishful thinking.

15 So this is what I say about the prophets who are prophesying in my name. I did not send them. They say, 'No enemy will attack this country with swords. There will never be hunger in this land.' So those prophets will die from hunger and from an enemy's sword.

16 And the people to whom the prophets speak will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem. There they will die from hunger and from an enemy's sword. And no one will be there to bury them, or their wives, or their sons, or their daughters. I will punish them.

17 "Jeremiah, speak this message to the people of Judah: 'Let my eyes be filled with tears night and day, without stopping. My people have received a terrible blow; they have been hurt badly.

18 If I go into the country, I see people killed by swords. If I go into the city, I see much sickness, because the people have no food. Both the priests and the prophets have been taken to a foreign land.'"

19 Lord, have you completely rejected the nation of Judah? Why have you hurt us so badly that we cannot be made well again? We hoped for peace, but nothing good has come. We looked for a time of healing, but only terror came.

20 Lord, we admit that we are wicked and that our ancestors did evil things. We have sinned against you.

21 For your sake, do not hate us. Do not take away the honor from your glorious throne. Remember your agreement with us, and do not break it.

22 Do foreign idols have the power to bring rain? Does the sky itself have the power to send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. You are our only hope, because you are the one who made all these things.

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. God sent me to tell about the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

2 To Timothy, a dear child to me: Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God as I always mention you in my prayers, day and night. I serve him, doing what I know is right as my ancestors did.

4 Remembering that you cried for me, I want very much to see you so I can be filled with joy.

5 I remember your true faith. That faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I know you now have that same faith.

6 This is why I remind you to keep using the gift God gave you when I laid my hands onn you. Now let it grow, as a small flame grows into a fire.

7 God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

8 So do not be ashamed to tell people about our Lord Jesus, and do not be ashamed of me, in prison for the Lord. But suffer with me for the Good News. God, who gives us the strength to do that,

9 saved us and made us his holy people. That was not because of anything we did ourselves but because of God's purpose and grace. That grace was given to us through Christ Jesus before time began,

10 but it is now shown to us by the coming of our Savior Christ Jesus. He destroyed death, and through the Good News he showed us the way to have life that cannot be destroyed.

11 I was chosen to tell that Good News and to be an apostle and a teacher.

12 I am suffering now because I tell the Good News, but I am not ashamed, because I know Jesus, the One in whom I have believed. And I am sure he is able to protect what he has trusted me with until that day.

13 Follow the pattern of true teachings that you heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus.

14 Protect the truth that you were given; protect it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

15 You know that everyone in the country of Asia has left me, even Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 May the Lord show mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, who has often helped me and was not ashamed that I was in prison.

17 When he came to Rome, he looked eagerly for me until he found me.

18 May the Lord allow him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.