the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
April 20 - Different Topics
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Jeremiah 17-21
Chapter 17
The Persistent Sin of Judah
1 The sin of Judah is written
with an iron stylus.(a)
With a diamond point
it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts(b)
and on the horns of their[a] altars,
2 while their children remember their altars
and their Asherah poles, by the green trees
on the high hills—
3 My mountains in the countryside.
I will give up your wealth
and all your treasures as plunder
because of the sin of your high places[b]
in all your borders.(c)
4 You will, on your own, relinquish your inheritance
that I gave you.
I will make you serve your enemies
in a land you do not know,(d)
for you have set My anger on fire;(e)
it will burn forever.
Curse and Blessing
5 This is what the Lord says:
The man who trusts in mankind,(f)
who makes human flesh his strength(g)
and turns his heart from the
Lord
is cursed.
6 He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;(h)
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.(i)
7 The man who trusts in the
Lord
,
whose confidence indeed is the
Lord
, is blessed.(j)
8 He will be like a tree planted by water:(k)
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn't fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.
The Deceitful Heart
9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else,
and incurable—who can understand it?(l)
10 I, Yahweh, examine the mind,
I test the heart[c](m)
to give to each according to his way,
according to what his actions deserve.(n)
11 He who makes a fortune unjustly
is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn't lay.
In the middle of his days
his riches will abandon him,
so in the end he will be a fool.(o)
12 A throne of glory(p)
on high(q) from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.(r)
13
Lord
, the hope of Israel,(s)
all who abandon You
will be put to shame.
All who turn away from Me
will be written in the dirt,
for they have abandoned
the
Lord
, the fountain of living water.(t)
Jeremiah's Plea
14 Heal me,
Lord
, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for You are my praise.(u)
15 Hear how they keep challenging me,(v)
"Where is the word of the
Lord
?
Let it come!"
16 But I have not run away from being Your shepherd,
and I have not longed for the fatal day.
You know my words were spoken in Your presence.
17 Don't become a terror to me.
You are my refuge(w) in the day of disaster.
18 Let my persecutors be put to shame,(x)
but don't let me be put to shame.
Let them be terrified, but don't let me be terrified.
Bring on them the day of disaster;(y)
shatter them with total[d] destruction.
Observing the Sabbath
19 This is what the Lord said to me, "Go and stand at the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Announce to them: Hear the word of the Lord , kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.(z) 22 You must not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work,(aa) but you must consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.(ab) 23 They wouldn't listen or pay attention but became obstinate,(ac) not listening or accepting discipline.
24 "However, if you listen to Me, says the Lord , and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and consecrate the Sabbath day and do no work on it, 25 kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses(ad) with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever. 26 Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev(ae) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord . 27 If you do not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates,(af) and it will consume the citadels(ag) of Jerusalem(ah) and not be extinguished."(ai)
Chapter 18
Parable of the Potter
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : 2 "Go down at once to the potter's house;(a) there I will reveal My words to you." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.[a] 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.(b)
5 The word of the Lord came to me: 6 "House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.(c) 7 At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.(d) 8 However, if that nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.(e) 9 At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom.(f) 10 However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.(g) 11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.(h) 12 But they will say, ‘It's hopeless.(i) We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"
Deluded Israel
13 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
Ask among the nations,
Who has heard things like these?
Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.(j)
14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?
Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
15 Yet My people have forgotten Me.(k)
They burn incense to false idols
that make them stumble in their ways
on the ancient roads(l)
and walk on new paths, not the highway.
16 They have made their land a horror,(m)
a perpetual object of scorn;[b](n)
everyone who passes by it will be horrified(o)
and shake his head.(p)
17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind.(q)
I will show them[c] My back and not My face
on the day of their calamity.
Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah,(r) for instruction will never be lost from the priest,(s) or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet.(t) Come, let's denounce him[d] and pay no attention to all his words."
19 Pay attention to me,
Lord
.
Hear what my opponents are saying!(u)
20 Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.(v)
Remember how I stood before You
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn Your anger from them.
21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine,(w)
and pour the sword's power on them.
Let their wives become childless and widowed,
their husbands slain by deadly disease,[e]
their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses
when You suddenly bring raiders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden snares for my feet.(x)
23 But You,
Lord
, know
all their deadly plots against me.
Do not wipe out their guilt;(y)
do not blot out their sin before You.
Let them be forced to stumble before You;
deal with them in the time of Your anger.
Chapter 19
The Clay Jar
1 This is what the Lord says: "Go, buy a potter's clay(a) jar. Take[a] some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests(b) 2 and go out to the Valley of Hinnom(c) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. 3 Say: Hear the word of the Lord , kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.(d) This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder[b](e) 4 because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.(f) 5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.[c](g)
6 "Therefore, take note! The days are coming"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.(h) 7 I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.(i) 8 I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds.(j) 9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other's flesh in the siege and distress that their enemies, those who want to take their life, inflict on them.(k)
10 "Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people traveling with you, 11 and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.(l) 12 I will do so to this place"—this is the declaration of the Lord —"and to its residents, making this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to the whole heavenly host(m) and poured out drink offerings to other gods."
14 Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord 's temple,(n) and proclaimed to all the people, 15 "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city—and on all its dependent villages—all the disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying My words.'"(o)
Chapter 20
Jeremiah Beaten by Pashhur
1 Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer(a) and chief official in the temple of the Lord , heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord 's temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib,[a] 4 for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love.(b) They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword. 5 I will give away all the wealth of this city, all its products(c) and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. 6 As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends that you prophesied falsely(d) to.'"
Jeremiah Compelled to Preach
7 You deceived me,
Lord
, and I was deceived.
You seized me and prevailed.
I am a laughingstock all the time;(e)
everyone ridicules me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I proclaim, "Violence and destruction!"(f)
because the word of the
Lord
has become for me
constant disgrace and derision.
9 If I say, "I won't mention Him
or speak any longer in His name,"
His message becomes a fire burning in my heart,(g)
shut up in my bones.
I become tired of holding it in,
and I cannot prevail.
10 For I have heard the gossip of many people,
"Terror is on every side
Report him; let's report him!"
Everyone I trusted[c] watches for my fall.(i)
"Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we might prevail against him
and take our vengeance on him."
11 But the
Lord
is with me like a violent warrior.(j)
Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed,
an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.
12
Lord
of Hosts, testing the righteous
and seeing the heart[d] and mind,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to You.(k)
13 Sing to the
Lord
!
Praise the
Lord
,
for He rescues the life of the needy
from the hand of evil people.
Jeremiah's Lament
14 May the day I was born
be cursed.(l)
May the day my mother bore me
never be blessed.
15 May the man be cursed
who brought the news to my father, saying,
"A male child is born to you,"
bringing him great joy.
16 Let that man be like the cities
the
Lord
demolished without compassion.(m)
Let him hear an outcry in the morning(n)
and a war cry at noontime
17 because he didn't kill me in the womb(o)
so that my mother might have been my grave,
her womb eternally pregnant.
18 Why did I come out of the womb
to see only struggle and sorrow,(p)
to end my life in shame?
Chapter 21
Zedekiah's Request Denied
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur(a) son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah(b) son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking, 2 "Ask the Lord on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar[a](c) king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all His past wonderful works so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us."
3 But Jeremiah answered, "This is what you are to say to Zedekiah: 4 ‘This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: I will repel the weapons of war in your hands,(d) those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans[b] who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.(e) 5 I will fight against you(f) with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm,(g) with anger, rage, and great wrath. 6 I will strike the residents of this city, both man and beast. They will die in a great plague. 7 Afterward'"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officers, and the people—those in this city who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine—I will hand over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,(h) to their enemies, yes, to those who want to take their lives. He will put them to the sword; he won't spare them or show pity or compassion.'(i)
A Warning for the People
8 "But you must say to this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am presenting to you the way of life and the way of death.(j) 9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils of war.(k) 10 For I have turned[c] against this city to bring disaster(l) and not good'"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "‘It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it down.'(m)
11 "And to the house of the king of Judah say this: ‘Hear the word of the Lord ! 12 House of David, this is what the Lord says:
Administer justice every morning,
and rescue the victim of robbery
from the hand of his oppressor,(n)
or My anger will flare up like fire
and burn unquenchably
because of their evil deeds.
13 Beware! I am against you,(o)
you who sit above the valley,
you atop the rocky plateau—
this is the
Lord
's declaration—
you who say, "Who can come down against us?(p)
Who can enter our hiding places?"
14 I will punish you according to what you have done(q)—
this is the
Lord
's declaration.
I will kindle a fire in its forest(r)
that will consume everything around it.'"(s)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
