Jeremiah 22; Jeremiah 23; Jeremiah 26; Psalm 77; James 2

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Jeremiah 22

Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, and say, wHear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord: xDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ydo no wrong or violence zto the resident alien, xthe fatherless, and the widow, nor ashed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, bthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. But if you will not obey these words, I cswear by myself, declares the Lord, that dthis house shall become a desolation. For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

You are like Gilead to me,

like the summit of eLebanon,

yet surely I will make you a desert,

fan uninhabited city.1

gI will prepare destroyers against you,

each with his weapons,

hand they shall cut down your choicest cedars

and cast them into the fire.

And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, iWhy has the Lord dealt thus with this great city? jAnd they will answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.

10  kWeep not for him who is dead,

nor grieve for him,

lbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,

for he shall return no more

to see his native land.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and mwho went away from this place: He shall return here no more, 12 but min the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.

13  nWoe to him who builds his house by ounrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

pwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing

and does not give him his wages,

14  who says, I will build myself a great house

with spacious upper rooms,

who cuts out windows for it,

paneling it with cedar

and qpainting it with vermilion.

15  Do you think you are a king

because you compete in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

and rdo justice and righteousness?

sThen it was well with him.

16  tHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;

sthen it was well.

Is not this uto know me?

declares the Lord.

17  But you have eyes and heart

only for your dishonest gain,

vfor shedding innocent blood,

and for practicing oppression and violence.

18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

wThey shall not lament for him, saying,

xAh, my brother! or Ah, sister!

They shall not lament for him, saying,

yAh, lord! or Ah, his majesty!

19  With the burial of a donkey zhe shall be buried,

dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20  Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,

and lift up your voice in Bashan;

cry out from aAbarim,

for all byour lovers are destroyed.

21  I spoke to you in your prosperity,

but you said, I will not listen.

cThis has been your way from dyour youth,

that you have not obeyed my voice.

22  eThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,

and byour lovers shall go into captivity;

fthen you will be ashamed and confounded

because of all your evil.

23  O inhabitant of gLebanon,

nested among the cedars,

how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,

hpain as of a woman in labor!

24 iAs I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were jthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and kgive you linto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 mI will hurl you and nthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.

28  Is this man oConiah a despised, broken pot,

a pvessel no one cares for?

Why are he and his children hurled and cast

into a qland that they do not know?

29  rO land, land, land,

hear the word of the Lord!

30  Thus says the Lord:

Write this man down as schildless,

a man who shall not succeed in his days,

tfor none of his offspring shall succeed

tin sitting on the throne of David

and ruling again in Judah.


Jeremiah 23

The Righteous Branch

uWoe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning uthe shepherds who care for my people: You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. vBehold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. wThen I will gather the remnant of my flock xout of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, yand they shall be fruitful and multiply. zI will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

aBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous bBranch, and che shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and dIsrael will edwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: fThe Lord is our righteousness.

gTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he1 had driven them. Then they shall dwell in their own land.

Lying Prophets

Concerning the prophets:

hMy heart is broken within me;

iall my bones shake;

I am like a drunken man,

like a man overcome by wine,

because of the Lord

and because of his holy words.

10  jFor the land is full of adulterers;

kbecause of the curse lthe land mourns,

and mthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.

nTheir course is evil,

and their might is not right.

11  oBoth prophet and priest are ungodly;

even pin my house I have found their evil,

declares the Lord.

12  qTherefore their way shall be to them

like slippery paths rin the darkness,

into which they shall be driven and fall,

for I will bring disaster upon them

sin the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.

13  In the prophets of tSamaria

uI saw an unsavory thing:

vthey prophesied by Baal

wand led my people Israel astray.

14  But in the prophets of Jerusalem

I have seen a horrible thing:

xthey commit adultery and walk in lies;

ythey strengthen the hands of evildoers,

so that no one turns from his evil;

zall of them have become like Sodom to me,

zand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15  Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

aBehold, I will feed them with bitter food

aand give them bpoisoned water to drink,

for from the prophets of Jerusalem

ungodliness has gone out into all the land.

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, cfilling you with vain hopes. dThey speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, eIt shall be well with you; and to everyone who fstubbornly follows his own heart, they say, gNo disaster shall come upon you.

18  For hwho among them has stood in the council of the Lord

to see and to hear his word,

or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

19  iBehold, the storm of the Lord!

Wrath has gone forth,

ja whirling tempest;

it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

20  kThe anger of the Lord will not turn back

until he has executed and kaccomplished

the intents of his heart.

lIn the latter days you will understand it clearly.

21  mI did not send the prophets,

yet they ran;

I did not speak to them,

yet they prophesied.

22  nBut if they had stood in my council,

then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,

oand they would have turned them from their evil way,

and pfrom the evil of their deeds.

23 qAm I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 qCan a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. rDo I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said swho prophesy lies in my name, saying, tI have dreamed, I have dreamed! 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of uthe prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name tby their dreams that they tell one another, even as their vfathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 wLet the prophet who has a dream xtell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. yWhat has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 yIs not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and zlike a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 aTherefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, declares the Lord. 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and blead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when cI did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 dWhen one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, What is the burden of the Lord? you shall say to them, You are the burden,2 and fI will cast you off, declares the Lord. 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, The burden of the Lord, dI will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, What has the Lord answered? or What has the Lord spoken? 36 But the burden of the Lord you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and gyou pervert the words of hthe living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, What has the Lord answered you? or What has the Lord spoken? 38 But if you say, The burden of the Lord, thus says the Lord, Because you have said these words, The burden of the Lord, when I sent to you, saying, You shall not say, The burden of the Lord, 39 therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up3 and fcast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 iAnd I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and iperpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.


Jeremiah 26

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

tIn the beginning of the reign of uJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: Thus says the Lord: vStand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord wall the words that I command you to speak to them; xdo not hold back a word. yIt may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, zthat I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them abecause of their evil deeds. You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: bIf you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, cand to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you curgently, cthough you have not listened, then I will make this house dlike Shiloh, and I will make this city ea curse for all the nations of the earth.

fThe priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then fthe priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be dlike Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, gwithout inhabitant? And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

10 When hthe officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the ientry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. 11 Then fthe priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, jThis man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.

12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore kmend your ways and your deeds, land obey the voice of the Lord your God, zand the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 mBut as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, nyou will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

Jeremiah Spared from Death

16 oThen the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, pThis man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. 17 qAnd certain of rthe elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, 18 Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts,

sZion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? tDid he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, uand did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? vBut we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.

20 There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from wKiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. 21 And when xKing Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. 22 Then xKing Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, yElnathan the son of zAchbor and others with him, 23 and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, awho struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

24 But the hand of bAhikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.


Psalm 77

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to yJeduthun. A Psalm of zAsaph.

I acry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in cthe night my dhand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul erefuses to be comforted.

When I remember God, I fmoan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

You hold my eyelids open;

I am so gtroubled that I cannot speak.

I consider hthe days of old,

the years long ago.

I said,1 Let me remember my isong in the night;

let me jmeditate in my heart.

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

Will the Lord kspurn forever,

and never again lbe favorable?

Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his mpromises at an end for all time?

nHas God forgotten to be gracious?

oHas he in anger shut up his compassion? Selah

10  Then I said, I will appeal to this,

to the years of the pright hand of the Most High.2

11  I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will qremember your wonders of old.

12  I will ponder all your rwork,

and meditate on your smighty deeds.

13  Your way, O God, is tholy.

uWhat god is great like our God?

14  You are the God who vworks wonders;

you have wmade known your might among the peoples.

15  You xwith your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16  When ythe waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

17  The clouds poured out water;

the skies zgave forth thunder;

your aarrows flashed on every side.

18  bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

cyour lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth dtrembled and shook.

19  Your eway was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints fwere unseen.3

20  You gled your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.


James 2

The Sin of Partiality

My brothers,1 wshow no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, xthe Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, You sit here in a good place, ywhile you say to the poor man, You stand over there, or, Sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become zjudges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, ahas not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be brich in faith and heirs of cthe kingdom, dwhich he has promised to those who love him? But you ehave dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who fdrag you ginto court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable hname by which you were called?

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, iYou shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you jshow partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point khas become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, lDo not commit adultery, also said, lDo not murder. If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under mthe law of liberty. 13 For njudgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith obut does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 pIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 qand one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith rapart from your works, and I will show you my faith sby my works. 19 tYou believe that God is one; you do well. Even uthe demons believeand shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 vWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that wfaith was active along with his works, and faith was completed xby his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, yAbraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousnessand he was called a zfriend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also aRahab the prostitute justified by works bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.