Day 283 of 365

Jer 8:1–9:26

8:1 "At that time," says the Lord, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;

8:2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

8:3 Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the Lord of hosts.

8:4 "Moreover you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

8:6 I listened and heard, but they did not speak what is right: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

8:7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the Lord's law.

8:8 How can you say, "We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?" But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

8:9 The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what kind of wisdom is in them?

8:10 Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.

8:11 They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, "Peace, peace;" when there is no peace.

8:12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the Lord.

8:13 I will utterly consume them, says the Lord: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.'"

8:14 "Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for the Lord our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.

8:15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

8:16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.

8:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you," says the Lord.

8:18 "Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

8:19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: 'Isn't the Lord in Zion? Isn't her King in her?'" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?"

8:20 "'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'

8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

9:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men."

9:3 "They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me," says the Lord.

9:4 "Take heed everyone of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

9:5 They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

9:6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me," says the Lord.

9:7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?

9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait for him.

9:9 Shall I not visit them for these things?" says the Lord; "shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

9:10 "For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone."

9:11 "I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."

9:12 "Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?"

9:13 The Lord says, "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,

9:14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them;

9:15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

9:16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.'"

9:17 Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:"

9:18 "and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

9:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, 'How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"

9:20 "Yet hear the word of the Lord, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.

9:21 'For death has come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.'

9:22 Speak, 'Thus says the Lord, "The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them."'"

9:23 Thus says the Lord, "Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, do not let the rich man glory in his riches;

9:24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight," says the Lord.

9:25 "Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will punish all those who are circumcised in uncircumcision:

9:26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."

2 Cor 8:14–9:15

8:14 but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack; that there may be equality.

8:15 As it is written, "He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack."

8:16 But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

8:17 For he indeed accepted our exhortation, but being himself very earnest, he went out to you of his own accord.

8:18 We have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the Good News is known through all the churches.

8:19 Not only so, but who was also appointed by the churches to travel with us in this grace, which is served by us to the glory of the Lord himself, and to show our readiness.

8:20 We are avoiding this, that any man should blame us concerning this abundance which is administered by us.

8:21 Having regard for honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

8:22 We have sent with them our brother, whom we have many times proved earnest in many things, but now much more earnest, by reason of the great confidence which he has in you.

8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you. As for our brothers, they are the apostles of the churches, the glory of Christ.

8:24 Therefore show the proof of your love to them in front of the churches, and of our boasting on your behalf.

9:1 It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,

9:2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to them of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for a year past. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them.

9:3 But I have sent the brothers that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared,

9:4 so that I won't by any means, if there come with me any of Macedonia and find you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) should be disappointed in this confidence.

9:5 I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you, and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.

9:6 Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

9:7 Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.

9:9 As it is written, "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever."

9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;

9:11 you being enriched in everything to all liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God.

9:12 For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through many givings of thanks to God;

9:13 seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all;

9:14 while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.

9:15 Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!

Job 20:22–29

22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.

24 He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.

25 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.

26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him.

28 The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.

29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."