Jeremiah 3; Jeremiah 4; Jeremiah 5; 1 Timothy 4

1 "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn't the land become completely unclean? But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me?" says the Lord.

2 "Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah. Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute? You have sat by the road waiting for lovers, like an Arab in the desert. You made the land unclean, because you did evil and were like a prostitute.

3 So the rain has not come, and there have not been any spring rains. But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute. You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.

4 Now you are calling to me, 'My father, you have been my friend since I was young.

5 Will you always be angry at me? Will your anger last forever?' Judah, you said this, but you did as much evil as you could!"

6 When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord said to me, "Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree.

7 I said to myself, 'Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,' but she didn't come back. And Israel's wicked sister Judah saw what she did.

8 Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel because of her adultery, but that didn't make Israel's wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute!

9 And she didn't care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country unclean and was guilty of adultery, because she worshiped idols made of stone and wood.

10 Israel's wicked sister didn't even come back to me with her whole heart, but only pretended," says the Lord.

11 The Lord said to me, "Unfaithful Israel had a better excuse than wicked Judah.

12 Go and speak this message toward the north: 'Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,' says the Lord. 'I will stop being angry at you, because I am full of mercy,' says the Lord. 'I will not be angry with you forever.

13 All you have to do is admit your sin -- that you turned against the Lord your God and worshiped gods under every green tree and didn't obey me,'" says the Lord.

14 "Come back to me, you unfaithful children," says the Lord, "because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two from every family group, and I will bring you to Jerusalem.

15 Then I will give you new rulers who will be faithful to me, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

16 In those days there will be many of you in the land," says the Lord. "At that time people will no longer say, 'I remember the Ark of the Agreement.' They won't think about it anymore or remember it or miss it or make another one.

17 At that time people will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will come together in Jerusalem to show respect to the Lord. They will not follow their stubborn, evil hearts anymore.

18 In those days the family of Judah will join the family of Israel. They will come together from a land in the north to the land I gave their ancestors.

19 "I, the Lord, said, 'How happy I would be to treat you as my own children and give you a pleasant land, a land more beautiful than that of any other nation.' and not turn away from me.

20 But like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, family of Israel, you have been unfaithful to me," says the Lord.

21 You can hear crying on the bare hilltops. for mercy. They have become very evil and have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 "Come back to me, you unfaithful children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful." "Yes, we will come to you, because you are the Lord our God.

23 It was foolish to worship idols on the hills and on the mountains. comes from the Lord our God.

24 Since our youth, shameful gods have eaten up in sacrifice everything our ancestors worked for -- their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us like a blanket. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors. From our youth until now, we have not obeyed the Lord our God."

1 "If you will return, Israel, then return to me," says the Lord. "If you will throw away your idols that I hate, then don't wander away from me.

2 If you say when you make a promise, 'As surely as the Lord lives,' and you can say it in a truthful, honest, and right way, then the nations will be blessed by him, and they will praise him for what he has done."

3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Plow your unplowed fields, and don't plant seeds among thorns.

4 Give yourselves to the service of the Lord, and decide to obey him, people of Judah and people of Jerusalem. If you don't, my anger will spread among you like a fire, and no one will be able to put it out, because of the evil you have done.

5 "Announce this message in Judah and say it in Jerusalem: 'Blow the trumpet throughout the country!' Shout out loud and say, 'Come together! Let's all escape to the strong, walled cities!'

6 Raise the signal flag toward Jerusalem! Run for your lives, and don't wait, because I am bringing disaster from the north There will be terrible destruction."

7 A lion has come out of his den; a destroyer of nations has begun to march. He has left his home to destroy your land. Your towns will be destroyed with no one left to live in them.

8 So put on rough cloth, show how sad you are, and cry loudly. has not turned away from us.

9 "When this happens," says the Lord, "the king and officers will lose their courage. The priests will be terribly afraid, and the prophets will be shocked!"

10 Then I said, "Lord God, you have tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem. You said, 'You will have peace,' but now the sword is pointing at our throats!"

11 At that time this message will be given to Judah and Jerusalem: "A hot wind blows from the bare hilltops of the desert toward the Lord's people. It is not a gentle wind to separate grain from chaff.

12 I feel a stronger wind than that. Now even I will announce judgments against the people of Judah."

13 Look! The enemy rises up like a cloud, and his chariots come like a tornado. His horses are faster than eagles.

14 People of Jerusalem, clean the evil from your hearts so that you can be saved. Don't continue making evil plans.

15 A voice from Dan makes an announcement and brings bad news from the mountains of Ephraim.

16 "Report this to the nations. 'Invaders are coming from a faraway country, shouting words of war against the cities of Judah.

17 The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem as men guard a field, because Judah turned against me,'" says the Lord.

18 "The way you have lived and acted has brought this trouble to you. This is your punishment. How terrible it is! The pain stabs your heart!"

19 Oh, how I hurt! How I hurt! I am bent over in pain. Oh, the torture in my heart! My heart is pounding inside me. I cannot keep quiet, because I have heard the sound of the trumpet. I have heard the shouts of war.

20 Disaster follows disaster; the whole country has been destroyed. My tents are destroyed in only a moment. My curtains are torn down quickly.

21 How long must I look at the war flag? How long must I listen to the war trumpet?

22 The Lord says, "My people are foolish. They do not know me. They are stupid children; they don't understand. They are skillful at doing evil, but they don't know how to do good."

23 I looked at the earth, and it was empty and had no shape. I looked at the sky, and its light was gone.

24 I looked at the mountains, and they were shaking. All the hills were trembling.

25 I looked, and there were no people. Every bird in the sky had flown away.

26 I looked, and the good, rich land had become a desert. All its towns had been destroyed by the Lord and his great anger.

27 This is what the Lord says: "All the land will be ruined, but I will not completely destroy it.

28 So the people in the land will cry loudly, and the sky will grow dark, because I have spoken and will not change my mind. I have made a decision, and I will not change it."

29 At the sound of the horsemen and the archers, all the people in the towns run away. They hide in the thick bushes and climb up into the rocks. All of the cities of Judah are empty; no one lives in them.

30 Judah, you destroyed nation, what are you doing? Why do you put on your finest dress and decorate yourself with gold jewelry? Why do you put color around your eyes? You make yourself beautiful, but it is all useless. Your lovers hate you; they want to kill you.

31 I hear a cry like a woman having a baby, distress like a woman having her first child. It is the sound of Jerusalem gasping for breath. She lifts her hands in prayer and says, "Oh! I am about to faint before my murderers!"

1 The Lord says, "Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and discover these things. Search the public squares of the city. If you can find one person who does honest things, who searches for the truth, I will forgive this city.

2 Although the people say, 'As surely as the Lord lives!' they don't really mean it."

3 Lord, don't you look for truth in people? You struck the people of Judah, but they didn't feel any pain. You crushed them, but they refused to learn what is right. They became more stubborn than a rock; they refused to turn back to God.

4 But I thought, "These are only the poor, foolish people. and what their God wants them to do.

5 So I will go to the leaders of Judah and talk to them. and know what God wants them to do." But even the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord; they had broken their ties with him.

6 So a lion from the forest will attack them. A wolf from the desert will kill them. A leopard is waiting for them near their towns. It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city, because the people of Judah have sinned greatly. many times.

7 The Lord said, "Tell me why I should forgive you. Your children have left me and have made promises to idols that are not gods at all. I gave your children everything they needed, but they still were like an unfaithful wife to me. They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.

8 They are like well-fed horses filled with sexual desire; each one wants another man's wife.

9 Shouldn't I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?" says the Lord. "Shouldn't I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

10 "Go along and cut down Judah's vineyards, but do not completely destroy them. Cut off all her people as if they were branches, because they do not belong to the Lord.

11 The families of Israel and Judah have been completely unfaithful to me," says the Lord.

12 Those people have lied about the Lord and said, "He will not do anything to us! Nothing bad will happen to us! We will never see war or hunger!

13 The prophets are like an empty wind; the word of God is not in them. Let the bad things they say happen to them."

14 So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful says: "The people said I would not punish them. So, the words I give you will be like fire, and these people will be like wood that it burns up.

15 Listen, family of Israel," says the Lord, "I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you. It is an old nation that has lasted a long time. The people there speak a language you do not know; you cannot understand what they say.

16 Their arrows bring death. All their people are strong warriors.

17 They will eat your crops and your food. They will eat your sons and daughters. They will eat your flocks and herds. They will eat your grapes and figs. They will destroy with their swords the strong, walled cities you trust.

18 "Yet even then," says the Lord, "I will not destroy you completely.

19 When the people of Judah ask, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these terrible things to us?' then give them this answer: 'You have left the Lord and served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.'

20 "Announce this message to the family of Jacob, and tell it to the nation of Judah:

21 Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense. They have eyes, but they don't really see. They have ears, but they don't really listen.

22 Surely you are afraid of me," says the Lord. "You should shake with fear in my presence. I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea, a border the water can never go past. The waves may pound the beach, but they can't win over it. They may roar, but they cannot go beyond it.

23 But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me. They have turned aside and gone away from me.

24 They do not say to themselves, 'We should fear the Lord our God, who gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons, who makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.'

25 But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest. Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.

26 There are wicked men among my people. Like those who make nets for catching birds, they set their traps to catch people.

27 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of lies. They have become rich and powerful.

28 They have grown big and fat. There is no end to the evil things they do. They won't plead the case of the orphan or help the poor be judged fairly.

29 Shouldn't I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?" says the Lord. "Shouldn't I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

30 "A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land of Judah:

31 The prophets speak lies, and the priests take power into their own hands, and my people love it this way. But what will you do when the end comes?

1 Now the Holy Spirit clearly says that in the later times some people will stop believing the faith. They will follow spirits that lie and teachings of demons.

2 Such teachings come from the false words of liars whose consciences are destroyed as if by a hot iron.

3 They forbid people to marry and tell them not to eat certain foods which God created to be eaten with thanks by people who believe and know the truth.

4 Everything God made is good, and nothing should be refused if it is accepted with thanks,

5 because it is made holy by what God has said and by prayer.

6 By telling these things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. You will be made strong by the words of the faith and the good teaching which you have been following.

7 But do not follow foolish stories that disagree with God's truth, but train yourself to serve God.

8 Training your body helps you in some ways, but serving God helps you in every way by bringing you blessings in this life and in the future life, too.

9 What I say is true, and you should fully accept it.

10 This is why we work and struggle: We hope in the living God who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

11 Command and teach these things.

12 Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead, be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life.

13 Until I come, continue to read the Scriptures to the people, strengthen them, and teach them.

14 Use the gift you have, which was given to you through prophecy when the group of elders laid their hands onn you.

15 Continue to do those things; give your life to doing them so your progress may be seen by everyone.

16 Be careful in your life and in your teaching. If you continue to live and teach rightly, you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.