Jeremiah 24; Jeremiah 25; Jeremiah 26; Titus 2

1 The Lord shewed me: and behold two baskets full of figs, set before the temple of the Lord: after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, and his chief men, and the craftsmen, and engravers of Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs of the first season: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, because they were bad.

3 And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: Figs, the good figs, very good: and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten because they are bad.

4 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

5 Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.

6 And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring them again into this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 And as the very bad figs, that cannot be eaten, because they are bad: thus saith the Lord: So will I give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 And I will deliver them up to vexation, and affliction, to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a reproach, and a byword, and a proverb, and to be a curse in all places, to which I have cast them out.

10 And I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: till they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them, and their fathers.

1 The word that came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, (the same is the first year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon,)

2 Which Jeremias the prophet spoke to all the people of Juda, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

3 From the thirteenth year of Josias the son of Ammon king of Juda until this day: this is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising before day, and speaking, and you have not hearkened.

4 And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear.

5 When he said: Return ye, every one from his evil way, and from your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in the land which the Lord hath given to you, and your fathers for ever and ever.

6 And go not after strange gods to serve them, and adore them: nor provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands, and I will not afflict you.

7 And you have not heard me, saith the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.

8 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard my words:

9 Behold I will send, and take all the kindreds of the north, saith the Lord, and Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all the nations that are round about it: and I will destroy them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

10 And I will take away from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp.

11 And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 And when the seventy years shall be expired, I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans: and I will make it perpetual desolations.

13 And I will bring upon that land all my words, that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, all that Jeremias hath prophesied against all nations:

14 For they have served them, whereas they were many nations, and great kings: and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their hands.

15 For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take the cup of wine of this fury at my hand: and thou shalt make all the nations to drink thereof, into which I shall send thee.

16 And they shall drink, and be troubled, and be mad because of the sword, which I shall send among them.

17 And I took the cup at the hand of the Lord, and I presented it to all the nations to drink of it, to which the Lord sent me:

18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof: to make them a desolation, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse, as it is at this day.

19 Pharao the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people,

20 And all in general: all the kings of the land of Ausitis, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus.

21 And Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon.

22 And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon: and the kings of the land of the islands that are beyond the sea.

23 And Dedan, and Thema, and Buz, and all that have their hair cut round.

24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, that dwell in the desert.

25 And all the kings of Zambri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes:

26 And all the kings of the north far and near, every one against his brother: and all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face thereof: and the king of Sesac shall drink after them.

27 And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and vomit: and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword, which I shall send among you.

28 And if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Drinking you shall drink:

29 For behold I begin to bring evil on the city wherein my name is called upon: and shall you be as innocent and escape free? you shall not escape free: for I will call for the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.

30 And thou shalt prophesy unto them all these words, and thou shalt say to them: I The Lord shall roar from on high, and shall utter his voice from his holy habitation: roaring he shall roar upon the place of his beauty: the shout as it were of them that tread grapes shall be given out against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31 The noise is come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord entereth into judgment with the nations: he entereth into judgment with all flesh; the wicked I have delivered up to the sword, saith the Lord.

32 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation: and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of the earth.

33 And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end thereof: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered up, nor buried: they shall lie as dung upon the face of the earth.

34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry: and sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and your dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels.

35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves.

36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock: because the Lord hath wasted their pastures.

37 And the fields of peace have been silent because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

38 He hath forsaken his covert as the lion, for the land is laid waste because of the wrath of the dove, and because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

1 In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, came this word from the Lord, saying:

2 Thus saith the Lord: stand in the court of the house of the Lord, and speak to all the cities of Juda, out of which they come, to adore in the house of the Lord, all the words which I have commanded thee to speak unto them: leave not out one word.

3 If so be they will hearken and be converted every one from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil that I think to do unto them for the wickedness of their doings.

4 And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If you will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have given you:

5 To give ear to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you rising up early: and sending, and you have not hearkened:

6 I will make this house like Silo: and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

7 And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

8 And when Jeremias had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people laid hold on him, saying: Let him be put to death.

9 Why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: This house shall be like Silo; and this city shall be made desolate, without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together against Jeremias in the house of the Lord.

10 And the princes of Juda heard these words: and they went up from the king’s house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord.

11 And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes, and to all the people, saying: The judgment of death is for this man: because he hath prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.

12 Then Jeremias spoke to all the princes, and to all the people, saying: The Lord sent me to prophesy concerning this house, and concerning this city all the words that you have heard.

13 Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath spoken against you.

14 But as for me, behold I am in your hands: do with me what is good and right in your eyes:

15 But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing.

16 Then the princes, and all the people said to the priests, and to the prophets: There is no judgment of death for this man: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.

17 And some of the ancients of the land rose up: and they spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:

18 Micheas of Morasthi was a prophet in the days of Ezechias king of Juda, and he spoke to all the people of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Sion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be a heap of stones: and the mountain of the house the high places of woods.

19 Did Ezechias king of Juda, and all Juda, condemn him to death? did they not fear the Lord, and beseech the face of the Lord: and the Lord repented of the evil that he had spoken against them? therefore we are doing a great evil against our souls.

20 There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urias the son of Semei of Cariathiarim: and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremias.

21 And Joakim, and all his men in power, and his princes heard these words: and the king sought to put him to death. And Urias heard it, and was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.

22 And king Joakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achobor, and men with him into Egypt.

23 And they brought Urias out of Egypt: and brought him to king Joakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

24 So the hand of Ahicam the son of Saphan was with Jeremias, that he should not be delivered into the hands of the people, to put him to death.

1 But speak thou the things that become sound doctrine:

2 That the aged men be sober, chaste, prudent, sound in faith, in love, in patience.

3 The aged women, in like manner, in holy attire, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teaching well:

4 That they may teach the young women to be wise, to love their husbands, to love their children.

5 To be discreet, chaste, sober, having a care of the house, gentle, obedient to their husbands: that the word of God be not blasphemed.

6 Young men, in like manner, exhort that they be sober.

7 In all things shew thyself an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity,

8 The sound word that can not be blamed: that he who is on the contrary part may be afraid, having no evil to say of us.

9 Exhort servants to be obedient to their masters: in all things pleasing, not gainsaying:

10 Not defrauding, but in all things shewing good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

11 For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men:

12 Instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world,

13 Looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and might cleanse to himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works.

15 These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.