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

Jeremiah 9

1 If my head were water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.

2 If only I had a traveler's lodging place in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a solemn assembly of treacherous people.

3 They bent their tongues [like] their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don't trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander.

5 Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong.

6 You live in [a world] of deception. In [their] deception they refuse to know Me. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of My dear people?

8 Their tongues are deadly arrows- they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush.

9 Should I not punish them for these things? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. Should I not take My revenge against a nation such as this?

10 I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals, [everything] has fled-they have gone away.

11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals' den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.

12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

13 The Lord said, "It is because they abandoned My law I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.

14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers taught them."

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous waters to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off."

17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.

18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.

19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion: How devastated we are. We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land; our dwellings have been torn down.

20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women. Pay attention to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a lament and one another a dirge,

21 for Death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets, young men from the squares.

22 Speak as follows: This is what the Lord says: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field, like newly cut grain after the reaper with no one to gather [it].

23 This is what the Lord says: The wise must not boast in his wisdom; the mighty must not boast in his might; the rich must not boast in his riches.

24 But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me- that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

25 "The days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:

26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, all those who clip the hair on their temples and reside in the wilderness. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."

Jeremiah 10

1 Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, house of Israel.

2 This is what the Lord says: Do not learn the way of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them,

3 for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; [it is] worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

4 He decorates it with silver and gold. It is fastened with hammer and nails, so it won't totter.

5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm- and they cannot do any good.

6 Lord, there is no one like You. You are great; Your name is great in power.

7 Who should not fear You, King of the nations? It is what You deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

8 They are both senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols [made of] wood!

9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz from the hands of a goldsmith, the work of a craftsman. Their clothing is blue and purple, all the work of skilled artisans.

10 But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His rage.

11 You are to say this to them: The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

12 He made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, and spread out the heavens by His understanding.

13 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.

14 Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by [his] carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them.

15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.

16 Jacob's Portion is not like these because He is the One who formed all things. Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of Hosts is His name.

17 Gather up your belongings from the ground, you who live under siege.

18 For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am slinging out the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.

19 Woe to me because of my brokenness- I am severely wounded! I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."

20 My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. [I have] no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.

21 For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.

22 Listen! A noise-it is coming- a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.

23 I know, Lord, that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.

24 Discipline me, Lord, but with justice- not in Your anger, or You will reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don't recognize You and on the families that don't call on Your name, for they have consumed Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off and made his homeland desolate.

Jeremiah 11

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 "Listen to the words of this covenant, and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

3 You must tell them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. I declared: 'Obey Me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God,'

5 in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give [them] a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today." I answered, "Amen, Lord."

6 The Lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.

7 For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again: Obey My voice.

8 Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded [them] to do."

9 The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.

11 "Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not hear them.

12 Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.

13 Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah, and the altars you have set up to Shame-altars to burn incense to Baal-as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

14 "As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.

15 What [right] does My beloved have to be in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meatprevent your disaster so you can rejoice?

16 The Lord named you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. He has set fire to it, and its branches are consumed with a great roaring sound.

17 "The Lord of Hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you, because of the harm the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

18 The Lord informed me, so I knew. Then You helped me to see their deeds,

19 for I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit; let's cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will no longer be remembered."

20 But, Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.

21 Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth who want to take your life. They warn, "You must not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will certainly die at our hand."

22 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: "I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.

23 They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth [in] the year of their punishment."

1 Timothy 6

1 All who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters to be worthy of all respect, so that God's name and His teaching will not be blasphemed.

2 And those who have believing masters should not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but should serve them better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. Teach and encourage these things.

3 If anyone teaches other doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness,

4 he is conceited, understanding nothing, but having a sick interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slanders, evil suspicions,

5 and constant disagreement among men whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.

6 But godliness with contentment is a great gain.

7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

11 Now you, man of God, run from these things; but pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

12 Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and have made a good confession before many witnesses.

13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you

14 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 which God will bring about in His own time. [He is] the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords,

16 the only One who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom none of mankind has seen or can see, to whom be honor and eternal might. Amen.

17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.

18 [Instruct them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share,

19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.

20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent, empty speech and contradictions from the "knowledge" that falsely bears that name.

21 By professing it, some people have deviated from the faith. Grace be with all of you.