Jeremiah 6; Jeremiah 7; Jeremiah 8; 1 Timothy 5

1 "Run for your lives, people of Benjamin! Run away from Jerusalem! Disaster is coming from the north; terrible destruction is coming to you.

2 Jerusalem, I will destroy you, you who are fragile and gentle.

3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against Jerusalem. They will set up their tents all around her, each shepherd taking care of his own section."

4 They say, "Get ready to fight against Jerusalem! But it is already getting late; the evening shadows are growing long.

5 So get up! We will attack at night.

6 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Cut down the trees around Jerusalem, and build an attack ramp to the top of its walls. This city must be punished. Inside it is nothing but slavery.

7 Jerusalem pours out her evil as a well pours out its water. The sounds of violence and destruction are heard within her. I can see the sickness and hurts of Jerusalem.

8 Listen to this warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn my back on you and make your land an empty desert where no one can live."

9 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Gather the few people of Israel who are left alive, as you would gather the last grapes on a grapevine. Check each vine again, like someone who gathers grapes."

10 To whom can I speak? Whom can I warn? Who will listen to me? The people of Israel have closed ears, so they cannot hear my warnings. They don't like the word of the Lord; they don't want to listen to it!

11 But I am full of the anger of the Lord, and I am tired of holding it in. "Pour out my anger on the children who play in the street and on the young men gathered together. A husband and his wife will both be caught in his anger, as will the very old.

12 Their houses will be turned over to others, along with their fields and wives, because I will raise my hand and punish the people of Judah," says the Lord.

13 "Everyone, from the least important to the greatest, is greedy for money. Even the prophets and priests all tell lies.

14 They tried to heal my people's serious injuries as if they were small wounds. They said, 'It's all right, it's all right.' But really, it is not all right.

15 They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act, but they are not ashamed at all. They don't even know how to blush about their sins. So they will fall, along with everyone else. They will be thrown to the ground when I punish them," says the Lord.

16 This is what the Lord says: "Stand where the roads cross and look. Ask where the old way is, where the good way is, and walk on it. If you do, you will find rest for yourselves. But they have said, 'We will not walk on the good way.'

17 I set watchmen over you and told you, 'Listen for the sound of the war trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen.'

18 So listen, all you nations, and pay attention, you witnesses. Watch what I will do to the people of Judah.

19 Hear this, people of the earth: I am going to bring disaster to the people of Judah because of the evil they plan. They have not listened to my messages and have rejected my teachings.

20 Why do you bring me offerings of incense from the land of Sheba? Why do you bring me sweet-smelling cane from a faraway land? Your burnt offerings will not be accepted; your sacrifices do not please me."

21 So this is what the Lord says: "I will put problems in front of Judah. Fathers and sons will stumble over them together. Neighbors and friends will die."

22 This is what the Lord says: "Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is coming from the far sides of the earth.

23 The soldiers carry bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring ocean when they ride their horses. That army is coming lined up for battle, ready to attack you, Jerusalem."

24 We have heard the news about that army and are helpless from fear. We are gripped by our pain, like a woman having a baby.

25 Don't go out into the fields or walk down the roads, because the enemy has swords. There is terror on every side.

26 My people, put on rough cloth and roll in the ashes to show how sad you are. Cry loudly for those who are dead, as if your only son were dead, because the destroyer will soon come against us.

27 "Jeremiah, I have made you like a worker who tests metal, and my people are like the ore. You must observe their ways and test them.

28 All my people have turned against me and are stubborn. They go around telling lies about others. They are like bronze and iron that became covered with rust. They all act dishonestly.

29 The fire is fanned to make it hotter, but the lead does not melt. The pure metal does not come out; the evil is not removed from my people.

30 My people will be called rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them."

1 This is the word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah:

2 "Stand at the gate of the Temple and preach this message there: "'Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of the nation of Judah! All you who come through these gates to worship the Lord, listen to this message!

3 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Change your lives and do what is right! Then I will let you live in this place.

4 Don't trust the lies of people who say, "This is the Temple of the Lord. This is the Temple of the Lord. This is the Temple of the Lord!"

5 You must change your lives and do what is right. Be fair to each other.

6 You must not be hard on strangers, orphans, and widows. Don't kill innocent people in this place! Don't follow other gods, or they will ruin your lives.

7 If you do these things, I will let you live in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.

8 "'But look, you are trusting lies, which is useless.

9 Will you steal and murder and be guilty of adultery? Will you falsely accuse other people? Will you burn incense to the god Baal and follow other gods you have not known?

10 If you do that, do you think you can come before me and stand in this place where I have chosen to be worshiped? Do you think you can say, "We are safe!" when you do all these hateful things?

11 This place where I have chosen to be worshiped is nothing more to you than a hideout for robbers. I have been watching you, says the Lord.

12 "'You people of Judah, go now to the town of Shiloh, where I first made a place to be worshiped. See what I did to it because of the evil things the people of Israel had done.

13 You people of Judah have done all these evil things too, says the Lord. I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen to me. I called you, but you did not answer.

14 So I will destroy the place where I have chosen to be worshiped in Jerusalem. You trust in that place, which I gave to you and your ancestors, but I will destroy it just as I destroyed Shiloh.

15 I will push you away from me just as I pushed away your relatives, the people of Israel!'

16 "As for you, Jeremiah, don't pray for these people. Don't cry out for them or ask anything for them or beg me to help them, because I will not listen to you.

17 Don't you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The children gather wood, and the fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women make the dough for cakes of bread, and they offer them to the Queen Goddess. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to make me angry.

19 But I am not the one the people of Judah are really hurting, says the Lord. They are only hurting themselves and bringing shame upon themselves.

20 "'So this is what the Lord God says: I will pour out my anger on this place, on people and animals, on the trees in the field and the crops in the ground. My anger will be like a hot fire that no one can put out.

21 "'This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Offer burnt offerings along with your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves!

22 When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I did not speak to them and give them commands only about burnt offerings and sacrifices.

23 I also gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Do all that I command so that good things will happen to you.

24 But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention to me. They were stubborn and did whatever their evil hearts wanted. They went backward, not forward.

25 Since the day your ancestors left Egypt, I have sent my servants, the prophets, again and again to you.

26 But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention to me. They were very stubborn and did more evil than their ancestors.'

27 "Jeremiah, you will tell all these things to the people of Judah, but they will not listen to you. You will call to them, but they will not answer you.

28 So say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God. These people do nothing when I correct them. They do not tell the truth; it has disappeared from their lips.

29 "'Cut off your hair and throw it away. Go up to the bare hilltop and cry out, because the Lord has rejected these people. He has turned his back on them, and in his anger will punish them.

30 The people of Judah have done what I said was evil, says the Lord. They have set up their hateful idols in the place where I have chosen to be worshiped and have made it unclean.

31 The people of Judah have built places of worship at Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. There they burned their own sons and daughters as sacrifices, something I never commanded. It never even entered my mind.

32 So, I warn you. The days are coming, says the Lord, when people will not call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom anymore. They will call it the Valley of Killing. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no room to bury anyone else.

33 Then the bodies of the dead will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals. There will be no one left alive to chase them away.

34 I will end the happy sounds of the bride and bridegroom. There will be no happy sounds in the cities of Judah or in the streets of Jerusalem, because the land will become an empty desert!

1 "'The Lord says: At that time they will remove from their tombs the bones of Judah's kings and officers, priests and prophets, and the people of Jerusalem.

2 The bones will be spread on the ground under the sun, moon, and stars that the people loved and served and went after and searched for and worshiped. No one will gather up the bones and bury them. So they will be like dung thrown on the ground.

3 I will force the people of Judah to leave their homes and their land. Those of this evil family who are not dead will wish they were, says the Lord All-Powerful.'

4 "Say to the people of Judah: 'This is what the Lord says: When people fall down, don't they get up again? And when someone goes the wrong way, doesn't he turn back?

5 Why, then, have the people of Jerusalem gone the wrong way and not turned back? They believe their own lies and refuse to turn around and come back.

6 I have listened to them very carefully, but they do not say what is right. They do not feel sorry about their wicked ways, saying, "What have I done?" Each person goes his own way, like a horse charging into a battle.

7 Even the birds in the sky know the right times to do things. The storks, doves, swifts, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate. But my people don't know what the Lord wants them to do.

8 "'You keep saying, "We are wise, because we have the teachings of the Lord." But actually, those who explain the Scriptures have written lies with their pens.

9 These wise men refused to listen to the word of the Lord, so they are not really wise at all. They will be ashamed. They will be shocked and trapped.

10 So I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. Everyone, from the least important to the greatest, is greedy for money. Even the prophets and priests all tell lies.

11 They tried to heal my people's serious injuries as if they were small wounds. They said, "It's all right, it's all right." But really, it is not all right.

12 They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act, but they are not ashamed at all. They don't even know how to blush about their sins. So they will fall, along with everyone else. They will be thrown to the ground when I punish them, says the Lord.

13 "'I will take away their crops, says the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. Even the leaves will dry up and die. I will take away what I gave them.'"

14 "Why are we just sitting here? Let's get together! We have sinned against the Lord, so he has given us poisoned water to drink. Come, let's run to the strong, walled cities. The Lord our God has decided that we must die, so let's die there.

15 We hoped to have peace, but nothing good has come. We hoped for a time when he would heal us, but only terror has come.

16 From the land of Dan, the snorting of the enemy's horses is heard. The ground shakes from the neighing of their large horses. They have come and destroyed the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there."

17 "Look! I am sending poisonous snakes to attack you. These snakes cannot be charmed, and they will bite you," says the Lord.

18 God, you are my comfort when I am very sad and when I am afraid.

19 Listen to the sound of my people. They cry from a faraway land: "Isn't the Lord still in Jerusalem? But God says, "Why did the people make me angry by worshiping idols, useless foreign idols?"

20 And the people say, "Harvest time is over; summer has ended, and we have not been saved."

21 Because my people are crushed, I am crushed. I cry loudly and am afraid for them.

22 Isn't there balm in the land of Gilead? Isn't there a doctor there? So why aren't the hurts of my people healed?

1 Do not speak angrily to an older man, but plead with him as if he were your father. Treat younger men like brothers,

2 older women like mothers, and younger women like sisters. Always treat them in a pure way.

3 Take care of widows who are truly widows.

4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to do their duty to their own family and to repay their parents or grandparents. That pleases God.

5 The true widow, who is all alone, puts her hope in God and continues to pray night and day for God's help.

6 But the widow who uses her life to please herself is really dead while she is alive.

7 Tell the believers to do these things so that no one can criticize them.

8 Whoever does not care for his own relatives, especially his own family members, has turned against the faith and is worse than someone who does not believe in God.

9 To be on the list of widows, a woman must be at least sixty years old. She must have been faithful to her husband.

10 She must be known for her good works -- works such as raising her children, welcoming strangers, washing the feet of God's people, helping those in trouble, and giving her life to do all kinds of good deeds.

11 But do not put younger widows on that list. After they give themselves to Christ, they are pulled away from him by their physical needs, and then they want to marry again.

12 They will be judged for not doing what they first promised to do.

13 Besides that, they learn to waste their time, going from house to house. And they not only waste their time but also begin to gossip and busy themselves with other people's lives, saying things they should not say.

14 So I want the younger widows to marry, have children, and manage their homes. Then no enemy will have any reason to criticize them.

15 But some have already turned away to follow Satan.

16 If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should care for them herself. The church should not have to care for them. Then it will be able to take care of those who are truly widows.

17 The elders who lead the church well should receive double honor, especially those who work hard by speaking and teaching,

18 because the Scripture says: "When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating," and "A worker should be given his pay."

19 Do not listen to someone who accuses an elder, without two or three witnesses.

20 Tell those who continue sinning that they are wrong. Do this in front of the whole church so that the others will have a warning.

21 Before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels, I command you to do these things without showing favor of any kind to anyone.

22 Think carefully before you lay your hands onn anyone, and don't share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

23 Stop drinking only water, but drink a little wine to help your stomach and your frequent sicknesses.

24 The sins of some people are easy to see even before they are judged, but the sins of others are seen only later.

25 So also good deeds are easy to see, but even those that are not easily seen cannot stay hidden.