Category: Jeremiah

The Terms of This Covenant

1 The Message that came to Jeremiah fromGod:

2-4 “Preach to the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them this: ‘This isGod’s Message, the Message of Israel’s God to you. Anyone who does not keep the terms of this covenant is cursed. The terms are clear. I made them plain to your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt, out of the iron furnace of suffering.

4-5 “‘Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You’ll be mine and I’ll be yours. This will provide the conditions in which I will be able to do what I promised your ancestors: to give them a fertile and lush land. And, as you know, that’s what I did.’”

“Yes,God,” I replied. “That’s true.”

6-8 Godcontinued: “Preach all this in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Say, ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and carry them out! I warned your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt and I’ve kept up the warnings. I haven’t quit warning them for a moment. I warned them from morning to night: “Obey me or else!” But they didn’t obey. They paid no attention to me. They did whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it, until finally I stepped in and ordered the punishments set out in the covenant, which, despite all my warnings, they had ignored.’”

9-10 ThenGodsaid, “There’s a conspiracy among the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. They’ve plotted to reenact the sins of their ancestors—the ones who disobeyed me and decided to go after other gods and worship them. Israel and Judah are in this together, mindlessly breaking the covenant I made with their ancestors.

11-13 “Well, your God has something to say about this: Watch out! I’m about to visit doom on you, and no one will get out of it. You’re going to cry for help but I won’t listen. Then all the people in Judah and Jerusalem will start praying to the gods you’ve been sacrificing to all these years, but it won’t do a bit of good. You’ve got as many gods as you have villages, Judah! And you’ve got enough altars for sacrifices to that impotent sex god Baal to put one on every street corner in Jerusalem!

14 “And as for you, Jeremiah, I don’t want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I’m not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers.”

Promises and Pious Programs

15-16 “What business do the ones I love have figuring out

how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship!

Do you think making promises and devising pious programs

will save you from doom?

Do you think you can get out of this

by becoming more religious?

A mighty oak tree, majestic and glorious—

that’s how I once described you.

But it will only take a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning

to leave you a shattered wreck.

17 “I,God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who planted you—yes, I have pronounced doom on you. Why? Because of the disastrous life you’ve lived, Israel and Judah alike, goading me to anger with your continuous worship and offerings to that sorry god Baal.”

18-19 Godtold me what was going on. That’s how I knew.

You,God, opened my eyes to their evil scheming.

I had no idea what was going on—naive as a lamb

being led to slaughter!

I didn’t know they had it in for me,

didn’t know of their behind-the-scenes plots:

“Let’s get rid of the preacher.

Thatwill stop the sermons!

Let’s get rid of him for good.

He won’t be remembered for long.”

20 Then I said, “God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

you’re a fair judge.

You examine and cross-examine

human actions and motives.

I want to see these people shown up and put down!

I’m an open book before you. Clear my name.”

21-23 That sent a signal toGod, who spoke up: “Here’s what I’ll do to the men of Anathoth who are trying to murder you, the men who say, ‘Don’t preach to us inGod’s name or we’ll kill you.’ Yes, it’sGod-of-the-Angel-Armies speaking. Indeed! I’ll call them to account: Their young people will die in battle, their children will die of starvation, and there will be no one left at all, none. I’m visiting the men of Anathoth with doom. Doomsday!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/11-913f80f8568a008cdb979989d2878246.mp3?version_id=97—

What Makes You Think You Can Race Against Horses?

1-4 You are right, OGod, and you set things right.

I can’t argue with that. But I do have some questions:

Why do bad people have it so good?

Why do con artists make it big?

You planted them and they put down roots.

They flourished and produced fruit.

They talk as if they’re old friends with you,

but they couldn’t care less about you.

Meanwhile, you knowmeinside and out.

You don’t let me get by with a thing!

Make them pay for the way they live,

pay with their lives, like sheep marked for slaughter.

How long do we have to put up with this—

the country depressed, the farms in ruin—

And all because of wickedness, these wicked lives?

Even animals and birds are dying off

Because they’ll have nothing to do with God

and think God has nothing to do with them.

5-6 “So, Jeremiah, if you’re worn out in this footrace with men,

what makes you think you can race against horses?

And if you can’t keep your wits during times of calm,

what’s going to happen when troubles break loose

like the Jordan in flood?

Those closest to you, your own brothers and cousins,

are working against you.

They’re out to get you. They’ll stop at nothing.

Don’t trust them, especially when they’re smiling.

7-11 “I will abandon the House of Israel,

walk away from my beloved people.

I will turn over those I most love

to those who are her enemies.

She’s been, this one I held dear,

like a snarling lion in the jungle,

Growling and baring her teeth at me—

and I can’t take it anymore.

Has this one I hold dear become a preening peacock?

But isn’t she under attack by vultures?

Then invite all the hungry animals at large,

invite them in for a free meal!

Foreign, scavenging shepherds

will loot and trample my fields,

Turn my beautiful, well-cared-for fields

into vacant lots of tin cans and thistles.

They leave them littered with junk—

a ruined land, a land in lament.

The whole countryside is a wasteland,

and no one will really care.

12-13 “The barbarians will invade,

swarm over hills and plains.

The judgment sword ofGodwill take its toll

from one end of the land to the other.

Nothing living will be safe.

They will plant wheat and reap weeds.

Nothing they do will work out.

They will look at their meager crops and wring their hands.

All this the result ofGod’s fierce anger!”

14-17 God’s Message: “Regarding all the bad neighbors who abused the land I gave to Israel as their inheritance: I’m going to pluck them out of their lands, and then pluck Judah out from among them. Once I’ve pulled the bad neighbors out, I will relent and take them tenderly to my heart and put them back where they belong, put each of them back in their home country, on their family farms. Then if they will get serious about living my way and pray to me as well as they taught my people to pray to that god Baal, everything will go well for them. But if they won’t listen, then I’ll pull them out of their land by the roots and cart them off to the dump. Total destruction!”God’s Decree.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/12-14ff690994f7c11e1297f9e87a8ba9c9.mp3?version_id=97—

People Who Do Only What They Want to Do

1-2 Godtold me, “Go and buy yourself some linen shorts. Put them on and keep them on. Don’t even take them off to wash them.” So I bought the shorts asGoddirected and put them on.

3-5 ThenGodtold me, “Take the shorts that you bought and go straight to Perath and hide them there in a crack in the rock.” So I did whatGodtold me and hid them at Perath.

6-7 Next, after quite a long time,Godtold me, “Go back to Perath and get the linen shorts I told you to hide there.” So I went back to Perath and dug them out of the place where I had hidden them. The shorts by then had rotted and were worthless.

8-11 Godexplained, “This is the way I am going to ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem—a wicked bunch of people who won’t obey me, who do only what they want to do, who chase after all kinds of no-gods and worship them. They’re going to turn out as rotten as these old shorts. Just as shorts clothe and protect, so I kept the whole family of Israel under my care”—God’s Decree—“so that everyone could see they were my people, a people I could show off to the world and be proud of. But they refused to do a thing I said.

12 “And then tell them this, ‘God’s Message, personal from the God of Israel: Every wine jug should be full of wine.’

“And they’ll say, ‘Of course. We know that. Every wine jug should be full of wine!’

13-14 “Then you’ll say, ‘This is whatGodsays: Watch closely. I’m going to fill every person who lives in this country—the kings who rule from David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, the citizens of Jerusalem—with wine that will make them drunk. And then I’ll smash them, smash the wine-filled jugs—old and young alike. Nothing will stop me. Not an ounce of pity or mercy or compassion will slow me down. Every last drunken jug of them will be smashed!’”

The Light You Always Took for Granted

15-17 Then I said, Listen. Listen carefully: Don’t stay stuck in your ways!

It’sGod’s Message we’re dealing with here.

Let your lives glow bright beforeGod

before he turns out the lights,

Before you trip and fall

on the dark mountain paths.

The light you always took for granted will go out

and the world will turn black.

If you people won’t listen,

I’ll go off by myself and weep over you,

Weep because of your stubborn arrogance,

bitter, bitter tears,

Rivers of tears from my eyes,

becauseGod’s sheep will end up in exile.

18-19 Tell the king and the queen-mother,

“Come down off your high horses.

Your dazzling crowns

will tumble off your heads.”

The villages in the Negev will be surrounded,

everyone trapped,

And Judah dragged off to exile,

the whole country dragged to oblivion.

20-22 Look, look, Jerusalem!

Look at the enemies coming out of the north!

What will become of your flocks of people,

the beautiful flocks in your care?

How are you going to feel when the people

you’ve played up to, looked up to all these years

Now look down on you? You didn’t expect this?

Surprise! The pain of a woman having a baby!

Do I hear you saying,

“What’s going on here? Why me?”

The answer’s simple: You’re guilty,

hugely guilty.

Your guilt has your life endangered,

your guilt has you writhing in pain.

23 Can an African change skin?

Can a leopard get rid of its spots?

So what are the odds on you doing good,

you who are so long-practiced in evil?

24-27 “I’ll blow these people away—

like wind-blown leaves.

You have it coming to you.

I’ve measured it out precisely.”

God’s Decree.

“It’s because you forgot me

and embraced the Big Lie,

that so-called god Baal.

I’m the one who will rip off your clothes,

expose and shame you before the watching world.

Your obsessions with gods, gods, and more gods,

your goddess affairs, your god-adulteries.

Gods on the hills, gods in the fields—

every time I look you’re off with another god.

O Jerusalem, what a sordid life!

Is there any hope for you!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/13-0890a4032a4a4229263080997d4fb640.mp3?version_id=97—

Time and Again We’ve Betrayed God

1-6 God’s Message that came to Jeremiah regarding the drought:

“Judah weeps,

her cities mourn.

The people fall to the ground, moaning,

while sounds of Jerusalem’s sobs rise up, up.

The rich people sent their servants for water.

They went to the cisterns, but the cisterns were dry.

They came back with empty buckets,

wringing their hands, shaking their heads.

All the farm work has stopped.

Not a drop of rain has fallen.

The farmers don’t know what to do.

They wring their hands, they shake their heads.

Even the doe abandons her fawn in the field

because there is no grass—

Eyes glazed over, on her last legs,

nothing but skin and bones.”

7-9 We know we’re guilty. We’ve lived bad lives—

but do something,God. Do it foryoursake!

Time and time again we’ve betrayed you.

No doubt about it—we’ve sinned against you.

Hope of Israel! Our only hope!

Israel’s last chance in this trouble!

Why are you acting like a tourist,

taking in the sights, here today and gone tomorrow?

Why do you just stand there and stare,

like someone who doesn’t know what to do in a crisis?

ButGod, you are, in fact,here, herewith us!

You know who we are—you named us!

Don’t leave us in the lurch.

10 ThenGodsaid of these people:

“Since they loved to wander this way and that,

never giving a thought to where they were going,

I will now have nothing more to do with them—

except to note their guilt and punish their sins.”

The Killing Fields

11-12 Godsaid to me, “Don’t pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won’t listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I’ll not accept them. I’m finishing them off with war and famine and disease.”

13 I said, “But Master,God! Their preachers have been telling them that everything is going to be all right—no war and no famine—that there’s nothing to worry about.”

14 ThenGodsaid, “These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don’t talk with them. The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.

15-16 “So this is my verdict on them: All the preachers who preach using my name as their text, preachers I never sent in the first place, preachers who say, ‘War and famine will never come here’—these preachers will die in war and by starvation. And the people to whom they’ve been preaching will end up as corpses, victims of war and starvation, thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem unburied—no funerals for them or their wives or their children! I’ll make sure they get the full brunt of all their evil.

17-18 “And you, Jeremiah, will say this to them:

“‘My eyes pour out tears.

Day and night, the tears never quit.

My dear, dear people are battered and bruised,

hopelessly and cruelly wounded.

I walk out into the fields,

shocked by the killing fields strewn with corpses.

I walk into the city,

shocked by the sight of starving bodies.

And I watch the preachers and priests

going about their business as if nothing’s happened!’”

19-22 God, have you said your final No to Judah?

Can you simply not stand Zion any longer?

If not, why have you treated us like this,

beaten us nearly to death?

We hoped for peace—

nothing good came from it;

We looked for healing—

and got kicked in the stomach.

We admit, OGod, how badly we’ve lived,

and our ancestors, how bad they were.

We’ve sinned, they’ve sinned,

we’ve all sinned against you!

Your reputation is at stake! Don’t quit on us!

Don’t walk out and abandon your glorious Temple!

Remember your covenant.

Don’t break faith with us!

Can the no-gods of the godless nations cause rain?

Can the sky water the earth by itself?

You’re the one, OGod, who does this.

So you’re the one for whom we wait.

You made it all,

you do it all.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/14-9286f8850861e62722ace59640dc8904.mp3?version_id=97—

1-2 ThenGodsaid to me: “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn’t feel a thing for this people. Get them out of here. Tell them to get lost! And if they ask you, ‘So where do we go?’ tell themGodsays,

“‘If you’re assigned to die, go and die;

if assigned to war, go and get killed;

If assigned to starve, go starve;

if assigned to exile, off to exile you go!’

3-4 “I’ve arranged for four kinds of punishment: death in battle, the corpses dropped off by killer dogs, the rest picked clean by vultures, the bones gnawed by hyenas. They’ll be a sight to see, a sight to shock the whole world—and all because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah and all he did in Jerusalem.

5 “Who do you think will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?

Who do you think will waste tears on you?

Who will bother to take the time to ask,

‘So, how are things going?’

6-9 “Youleftme, remember?”God’s Decree.

“You turned your back and walked out.

So I will grab you and hit you hard.

I’m tired of letting you off the hook.

I threw you to the four winds

and let the winds scatter you like leaves.

I made sure you’ll lose everything,

since nothing makes you change.

I created more widows among you

than grains of sand on the ocean beaches.

At noon mothers will get the news

of their sons killed in action.

Sudden anguish for the mothers—

all those terrible deaths.

A mother of seven falls to the ground,

gasping for breath,

Robbed of her children in their prime.

Her sun sets at high noon!

Then I’ll round up any of you that are left alive

and see that you’re killed by your enemies.”

God’s Decree.

Giving Everything Away for Nothing

10-11 Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son,

given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country!

I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul,

and yet everyone is out to get me.

But,Godknows, I’ve done everything I could to help them,

prayed for them and against their enemies.

I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster.

God knows how I’ve tried!

12-14 “O Israel, O Judah, what are your chances

against the iron juggernaut from the north?

In punishment for your sins, I’m giving away

everything you’ve got, giving it away for nothing.

I’ll make you slaves to your enemies

in a strange and far-off land.

My anger is blazing and fierce,

burning in hot judgment against you.”

15-18 You know where I am,God! Remember what I’m doing here!

Take my side against my detractors.

Don’t stand back while they ruin me.

Just look at the abuse I’m taking!

When your words showed up, I ate them—

swallowed them whole. What a feast!

What delight I took in being yours,

OGod,God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

I never joined the party crowd

in their laughter and their fun.

Led by you, I went off by myself.

You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething.

But why, why this chronic pain,

this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight?

You’re nothing,God, but a mirage,

a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!

19-21 This is howGodanswered me:

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.

Then you’ll stand tall before me.

Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.

Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.

Let your words changethem.

Don’t change your words to suit them.

I’ll turn you into a steel wall,

a thick steel wall, impregnable.

They’ll attack you but won’t put a dent in you

because I’m at your side, defending and delivering.”

God’s Decree.

“I’ll deliver you from the grip of the wicked.

I’ll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/15-c7b04472dd54300b6010772298c23b7c.mp3?version_id=97—

Can Mortals Manufacture Gods?

1 God’s Message to me:

2-4 “Jeremiah, don’t get married. Don’t raise a family here. I have signed the death warrant on all the children born in this country, the mothers who bear them and the fathers who beget them—an epidemic of death. Death unlamented, the dead unburied, dead bodies decomposing and stinking like dung, all the killed and starved corpses served up as meals for carrion crows and mongrel dogs!”

5-7 Godcontinued: “Don’t enter a house where there’s mourning. Don’t go to the funeral. Don’t sympathize. I’ve quit caring about what happens to this people.”God’s Decree. “No more loyal love on my part, no more compassion. The famous and obscure will die alike here, unlamented and unburied. No funerals will be conducted, no one will give them a second thought, no one will care, no one will say, ‘I’m sorry,’ no one will so much as offer a cup of tea, not even for the mother or father.

8 “And if there happens to be a feast celebrated, don’t go there either to enjoy the festivities.”

9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch this! I’m about to banish smiles and laughter from this place. No more brides and bridegrooms celebrating. And I’m doing it in your lifetime, before your very eyes.

10-13 “When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why isGodtalking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to ourGodto be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. Andyou’reevenworse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’

14-15 “On the other hand, don’t miss this: The time is coming when no one will say any longer, ‘As sure asGodlives, the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.’ What they’ll say is, ‘As sure asGodlives, the God who brought Israel back from the land of the north, brought them back from all the places where he’d scattered them.’ That’s right, I’m going to bring them back to the land I first gave to their ancestors.

16-17 “Now, watch for what comes next: I’m going to assemble a bunch of fishermen.”God’s Decree! “They’ll go fishing for my people and pull them in for judgment. Then I’ll send out a party of hunters, and they’ll hunt them out in all the mountains, hills, and caves. I’m watching their every move. I haven’t lost track of a single one of them, neither them nor their sins.

18 “They won’t get by with a thing. They’ll pay double for everything they did wrong. They’ve made a complete mess of things, littering their lives with their obscene no-gods, leaving piles of stinking god-junk all over the place.”

19-20 God, my strength, my stronghold,

my safe retreat when trouble descends:

The godless nations will come

from earth’s four corners, saying,

“Our ancestors lived on lies,

useless illusions, all smoke.”

Can mortals manufacture gods?

Their factories turn out no-gods!

21 “Watch closely now. I’m going to teach these wrongheaded people.

Starting right now, I’m going to teach them

Who I am and what I do,

teach them the meaning of my name,God—‘IAm.’”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/16-70e5621c63aee2f7887ddcc1f9731048.mp3?version_id=97—

The Heart Is Hopelessly Dark and Deceitful

1-2 “Judah’s sin is engraved

with a steel chisel,

A steel chisel with a diamond point—

engraved on their granite hearts,

engraved on the stone corners of their altars.

The evidence against them is plain to see:

sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines

Anywhere there’s a grove of trees,

anywhere there’s an available hill.

3-4 “I’ll use your mountains as roadside stands

for giving away everything you have.

All your ‘things’ will serve as reparations

for your sins all over the country.

You’ll lose your gift of land,

The inheritance I gave you.

I’ll make you slaves of your enemies

in a far-off and strange land.

My anger is hot and blazing and fierce,

and no one will put it out.”

5-6 God’s Message:

“Cursed is the strong one

who depends on mere humans,

Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone

and setsGodaside as dead weight.

He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,

out of touch with the good earth.

He lives rootless and aimless

in a land where nothing grows.

7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me,God,

the woman who sticks withGod.

They’re like trees replanted in Eden,

putting down roots near the rivers—

Never a worry through the hottest of summers,

never dropping a leaf,

Serene and calm through droughts,

bearing fresh fruit every season.

9-10 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,

a puzzle that no one can figure out.

But I,God, search the heart

and examine the mind.

I get to the heart of the human.

I get to the root of things.

I treat them as they really are,

not as they pretend to be.”

11 Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs

in another bird’s nest

Is the person who gets rich by cheating.

When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed.

What a fool he’ll look like then!

12-13 From early on your Sanctuary was set high,

a throne of glory, exalted!

OGod, you’re the hope of Israel.

All who leave you end up as fools,

Deserters with nothing to show for their lives,

who walk off fromGod, fountain of living waters—

and wind up dead!

14-18 God, pick up the pieces.

Put me back together again.

You are my praise!

Listen to how they talk about me:

“So where’s this ‘Word ofGod’?

We’d like to see something happen!”

But it wasn’t my idea to call for Doomsday.

I never wanted trouble.

You know what I’ve said.

It’s all out in the open before you.

Don’t add to my troubles.

Give me some relief!

Let those who harass me be harassed, not me.

Letthembe disgraced, not me.

Bring down upon them the day of doom.

Lower the boom.Boom!

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

19-20 God’s Message to me: “Go stand in the People’s Gate, the one used by Judah’s kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘Listen, you kings of Judah, listen toGod’s Message—and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!

21-23 “‘This isGod’s Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there. Don’t use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.

24-26 “‘But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual. Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people. People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They’ll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings—animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks—into the Sanctuary ofGod.

27 “‘But if you won’t listen to me, won’t keep the Sabbath holy, won’t quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I’ll burn the gates down. In fact, I’ll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!’”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/17-8cf3394bc9476e2dd1b71c83bcc6772b.mp3?version_id=97—

To Worship the Big Lie

1-2 Godtold Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.”

3-4 So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.

5-10 ThenGod’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?”God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.

11 “So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: ‘Danger! I’m shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’

12 “But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’”

13-17 God’s Message:

“Ask around.

Survey the godless nations.

Has anyone heard the likes of this?

Virgin Israel has become a slut!

Does snow disappear from the Lebanon peaks?

Do alpine streams run dry?

But my people have left me

to worship the Big Lie.

They’ve gotten off the track,

the old, well-worn trail,

And now bushwhack through underbrush

in a tangle of roots and vines.

Their land’s going to end up a mess—

a fool’s memorial to be spit on.

Travelers passing through

will shake their heads in disbelief.

I’ll scatter my people before their enemies,

like autumn leaves in a high wind.

On their day of doom, they’ll stare at my back as I walk away,

catching not so much as a glimpse of my face.”

18 Some of the people said, “Come on, let’s cook up a plot against Jeremiah. We’ll still have the priests to teach us the law, wise counselors to give us advice, and prophets to tell us what God has to say. Come on, let’s discredit him so we don’t have to put up with him any longer.”

19-23 And I said toGod:

“God, listen to me!

Just listen to what my enemies are saying.

Should I get paid evil for good?

That’s what they’re doing. They’ve made plans to kill me!

Remember all the times I stood up for them before you,

speaking up for them,

trying to soften your anger?

But enough! Let their children starve!

Let them be massacred in battle!

Let their wives be childless and widowed,

their friends die and their proud young men be killed.

Let cries of panic sound from their homes

as you surprise them with war parties!

They’re all set to lynch me.

The noose is practically around my neck!

But you know all this,God.

You know they’re determined to kill me.

Don’t whitewash their crimes,

don’t overlook a single sin!

Round the bunch of them up before you.

Strike while the iron of your anger is hot!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/18-ae399921a82b7075d4be1c0b5ac10e14.mp3?version_id=97—

Smashing the Clay Pot

1-2 Godsaid to me, “Go, buy a clay pot. Then get a few leaders from the people and a few of the leading priests and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, just outside the Potsherd Gate, and preach there what I tell you.

3-5 “Say, ‘Listen toGod’s Word, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem! This is the Message fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. I’m about to bring doom crashing down on this place. Oh, and will ears ever ring! Doom—because they’ve walked off and left me, and made this place strange by worshiping strange gods, gods never heard of by them, their parents, or the old kings of Judah. Doom—because they have massacred innocent people. Doom—because they’ve built altars to that no-god Baal, and burned their own children alive in the fire as offerings to Baal, an atrocity I never ordered, never so much as hinted at!

6-9 “‘And so it’s payday, and soon’—God’s Decree!—‘this place will no longer be known as Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Massacre Meadows. I’m canceling all the plans Judah and Jerusalem had for this place, and I’ll have them killed by their enemies. I’ll stack their dead bodies to be eaten by carrion crows and wild dogs. I’ll turn this city into such a museum of atrocities that anyone coming near will be shocked speechless by the savage brutality. The people will turn into cannibals. Dehumanized by the pressure of the enemy siege, they’ll eat their own children! Yes, they’ll eat one another, family and friends alike.’

10-13 “Say all this, and then smash the pot in front of the men who have come with you. Then say, ‘This is whatGod-of-the-Angel-Armies says: I’ll smash this people and this city like a man who smashes a clay pot into so many pieces it can never be put together again. They’ll bury bodies here in Topheth until there’s no more room. And the whole city will become a Topheth. The city will be turned by people and kings alike into a center for worshiping the star gods and goddesses, turned into an open grave, the whole city an open grave, stinking like a sewer, like Topheth.’”

14-15 Then Jeremiah left Topheth, whereGodhad sent him to preach the sermon, and took his stand in the court ofGod’s Temple and said to the people, “This is the Message fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies to you: ‘Warning! Danger! I’m bringing down on this city and all the surrounding towns the doom that I have pronounced. They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.’”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/19-f8561cb6b1d181f30fd4c596ad907ca4.mp3?version_id=97—

Life’s Been Nothing but Trouble and Tears

1-5 The priest Pashur son of Immer was the senior priest inGod’s Temple. He heard Jeremiah preach this sermon. He whipped Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate ofGod’s Temple. The next day Pashur came and let him go. Jeremiah told him, “Godhas a new name for you: not Pashur but Danger-Everywhere, becauseGodsays, ‘You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you. All your friends are going to get killed in battle while you stand there and watch. What’s more, I’m turning all of Judah over to the king of Babylon to do whatever he likes with them—haul them off into exile, kill them at whim. Everything worth anything in this city, property and possessions along with everything in the royal treasury—I’m handing it all over to the enemy. They’ll rummage through it and take what they want back to Babylon.

6 “‘And you, Pashur, you and everyone in your family will be taken prisoner into exile—that’s right, exile in Babylon. You’ll die and be buried there, you and all your cronies to whom you preached your lies.’”

7-10 You pushed me into this,God, and I let you do it.

You were too much for me.

And now I’m a public joke.

They all poke fun at me.

Every time I open my mouth

I’m shouting, “Murder!” or “Rape!”

And all I get for myGod-warnings

are insults and contempt.

But if I say, “Forget it!

No moreGod-Messages from me!”

The words are fire in my belly,

a burning in my bones.

I’m worn out trying to hold it in.

I can’t do it any longer!

Then I hear whispering behind my back:

“There goes old ‘Danger-Everywhere.’ Shut him up! Report him!”

Old friends watch, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face:

“One misstep and we’ll have him. We’ll get rid of him for good!”

11 ButGod, a most fierce warrior, is at my side.

Those who are after me will be sent sprawling—

Slapstick buffoons falling all over themselves,

a spectacle of humiliation no one will ever forget.

12 Oh,God-of-the-Angel-Armies, no one fools you.

You see through everyone, everything.

I want to see you pay them back for what they’ve done.

I rest my case with you.

13 Sing toGod! All praise toGod!

He saves the weak from the grip of the wicked.

14-18 Curse the day

I was born!

The day my mother bore me—

a curse on it, I say!

And curse the man who delivered

the news to my father:

“You’ve got a new baby—a boy baby!”

(How happy it made him.)

Let that birth notice be blacked out,

deleted from the records,

And the man who brought it haunted to his death

with the bad news he brought.

He should have killed me before I was born,

with that womb as my tomb,

My mother pregnant for the rest of her life

with a baby dead in her womb.

Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?

Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears,

and what’s coming is more of the same.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/JER/20-09bb07eb6853aebf15bc1b8eacb9230c.mp3?version_id=97—