Jeremiah 22; Jeremiah 23; Titus 1

1 The LORD proclaims: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and declare this message:

2 Listen to the LORD's word, king of Judah, you who sit on David's throne—you and your attendants, and all those who go through these gates.

3 The LORD proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don't exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow. Don't spill the blood of the innocent in this place.

4 If you obey this command, then through the gates of this palace will come kings who occupy the throne of David, riding on chariots and horses along with their entourage and subjects.

5 But if you ignore these words, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that this palace will become a ruin.

6 The LORD proclaims concerning the palace of the king of Judah: Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, I will turn you into a desert—uninhabited cities.

7 I will summon destroyers against you, who will use their weapons to cut down your finest cedars and hurl them into the fire.

8 People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: "Why has the LORD treated that great city like this?"

9 And the answer will be, "Because they abandoned the covenant with the LORD their God and worshipped and served other gods."

10 Don't weep or lament for the dead king. Weep instead for the one who has gone away, for he will never return to see his native soil.

11 This is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Judah's King Josiah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king but who is now gone from this place: He will never return!

12 He will die where he's been exiled and never see this land again.

13 How terrible for Jehoiakim, who builds his house with corruption and his upper chambers with injustice, working his countrymen for nothing, refusing to give them their wages.

14 He says, "I'll build myself a grand palace, with huge upper chambers, ornate windows, cedar paneling, and rich red decor."

15 Is this what makes you a king, having more cedar than anyone else? Didn't your father eat and drink and still do what was just and right? Then it went well for him!

16 He defended the rights of the poor and needy; then it went well. Isn't that what it means to know me? declares the LORD.

17 But you set your eyes and heart on nothing but unjust gain; you spill the blood of the innocent; you practice cruelty; you oppress your subjects.

18 Therefore, this is what the LORD says to Jehoiakim son of Judah's King Josiah: They won't grieve for him, saying, "My brother, my sister!" They won't grieve for him, saying, "My master, my majesty!"

19 They will give him a donkey's burial, dragging him outside the gates of Jerusalem and dumping him there.

20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out, lift up your voice in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, because all your lovers have been ravished.

21 I spoke to you when you felt safe and secure, but you said, "I won't listen." You have been that way since your youth: not listening to a word I say.

22 Your shepherds will be tossed to the wind, your lovers taken off to exile. Then you will be embarrassed and humiliated by all your wickedness.

23 You who live in Lebanon, nestled in cedar, who will pity you when you are overcome in pain, like that of childbirth?

24 As surely as I live, declares the LORD, even if Coniah, King Jehoiakim's son from Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still remove you from there.

25 I would hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you dread, even Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.

26 I will banish you and your mother who bore you to a land far from your native soil, and there the two of you will die.

27 You will never return to the land you long to go back to.

28 Is this man Coniah merely a defiled and broken pottery jar that no one wants? Why then have he and his children been hurled out and cast into an unfamiliar land?

29 Land, land, land, hear the LORD's word:

30 The LORD proclaims: Mark this man as childless; he will not prosper during his lifetime. None of his children will sit on David's throne and rule again in Judah.

1 Watch out, you shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the LORD.

2 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, proclaims about the shepherds who "tend to" my people: You are the ones who have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven't attended to their needs, so I will take revenge on you for the terrible things you have done to them, declares the LORD.

3 I myself will gather the few remaining sheep from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

4 I will place over them shepherds who care for them. Then they will no longer be afraid or dread harm, nor will any be missing, declares the LORD.

5 The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from David's line, and he will rule as a wise king. He will do what is just and right in the land.

6 During his lifetime, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And his name will be The LORD Is Our Righteousness.

7 So the time is coming, declares the LORD, when no one will say, "As the LORD lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt."

8 Instead, they will say, "As the LORD lives who brought up the descendants of the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them so that they can live in their own land."

9 As for the prophets: My heart inside me is broken; my body aches. I stagger like a drunk who has had too much wine to drink, because of the LORD and because of God's holy words.

10 Because the country teems with adulterers, because of them, yes, because their might isn't right and their way is evil, the land dries up, and the grazing areas in the wilderness wither.

11 Both prophet and priest are godless; I even find their evil in my temple, declares the LORD.

12 Therefore, they will find themselves on slippery ground and will be thrust into darkness, where they will collapse. I will bring disaster upon them, when their time comes, declares the LORD.

13 In the prophets of Samaria I saw something shocking: They prophesied by Baal and led astray my people Israel.

14 In the prophets of Jerusalem I saw something horrible: They commit adultery and tell lies. They encourage evildoers so that no one turns from their wickedness. In my eyes, they are no better than Sodom; its people are like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore, this is what the LORD of heavenly forces proclaims concerning the prophets: I'm going to feed them bitter food and give them poison to drink. Wickedness has spread from the prophets of Jerusalem throughout the land.

16 The LORD proclaims: Don't listen to the prophets who are speaking to you; they are deceiving you. Their visions come from their own hearts, not from the LORD's mouth.

17 They keep saying to those who scorn God's message, "All will go well for you," and to those who follow their own willful hearts, "Nothing bad will happen to you."

18 But who has stood in the LORD's council to listen to God's word? Who has paid attention to his word and announced it?

19 Look! The LORD's angry storm breaks out; it whirls around the heads of the wicked.

20 The LORD's fierce anger won't turn back until it accomplishes all that he has planned. In the days to come, you will understand what this means.

21 I didn't send the prophets, yet they ran anyway. I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied anyway.

22 If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people; they would have turned them from their evil ways and deeds.

23 The LORD declares, Am I a God who is only nearby and not far off?

24 Can people hide themselves in secret places so I might not see them? Don't I fill heaven and earth?

25 I have heard the prophets prophesying lies in my name. They claim, "I've had a dream; I've had a dream!"

26 How long will deceitful prophecies dominate the minds of the prophets? Those prophets are treacherous.

27 They scheme to make my people forget me by their dreams that people tell each other, just as their ancestors forgot me because of Baal.

28 Let the prophet who has a dream declare it, but let the one who has my word proclaim it faithfully. What a difference between straw and wheat! declares the LORD.

29 Isn't my word like fire and like a hammer that shatters rock? declares the LORD.

30 Therefore, I'm against the prophets who steal my words from each other, declares the LORD.

31 I'm against the prophets who carelessly deliver oracles, declares the LORD.

32 I'm against the prophets who dream up lies and then proclaim them, declares the LORD. With their reckless lies, they lead my people astray. I didn't send them; I didn't commission them. They are completely useless to these people, declares the LORD.

33 When these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, "What is the LORD's message?" say to them, "What message? I will cast you off, declares the LORD."

34 I will punish anyone, including prophet or priest, who says, "This is the LORD's message."

35 This is what you should ask each other: "What has the LORD said?""What has the LORD declared?"

36 But you are no longer to mention the LORD's message, because everyone thinks they have received a message from the LORD. You destroy the very word of the living God, the LORD of heavenly forces, our God.

37 So this is what you should say to the prophet: "What has the LORD said to you?""What has the LORD declared?"

38 But if you insist on saying, "This is the LORD's message," the LORD says to you: Because you have made this claim—this is the LORD's message—when I told you not to proclaim the LORD's message,

39 I will lift you up and cast you out of my presence, together with the city that I gave to your ancestors.

40 I will make you an object of disgrace and enduring shame that no one will ever forget.

1 From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I'm sent to bring about the faith of God's chosen people and a knowledge of the truth that agrees with godliness.

2 Their faith and this knowledge are based on the hope of eternal life that God, who doesn't lie, promised before time began.

3 God revealed his message at the appropriate time through preaching, and I was trusted with preaching this message by the command of God our savior.

4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.

5 The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you.

6 Elders should be without fault. They should be faithful to their spouse, and have faithful children who can't be accused of self-indulgence or rebelliousness.

7 This is because supervisors should be without fault as God's managers: they shouldn't be stubborn, irritable, addicted to alcohol, a bully, or greedy.

8 Instead, they should show hospitality, love what is good, and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled.

9 They must pay attention to the reliable message as it has been taught to them so that they can encourage people with healthy instruction and refute those who speak against it.

10 In fact, there are many who are rebellious people, loudmouths, and deceivers, especially some of those who are Jewish believers.

11 They must be silenced because they upset entire households. They teach what they shouldn't to make money dishonestly.

12 Someone who is one of their own prophets said, "People from Crete are always liars, wild animals, and lazy gluttons."

13 This statement is true. Because of this, correct them firmly, so that they can be healthy in their faith.

14 They shouldn't pay attention to Jewish myths and commands from people who reject the truth.

15 Everything is clean to those who are clean, but nothing is clean to those who are corrupt and without faith. Instead, their mind and conscience are corrupted.

16 They claim to know God, but they deny God by the things that they do. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.