Day 288 of 365

Jer 18:1–20:18

18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

18:2 "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words."

18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels.

18:4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

18:5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18:6 "'House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the Lord. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.'

18:7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;

18:8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

18:9 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

18:10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.

18:11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.'

18:12 But they say, 'It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"

18:13 Therefore thus says the Lord: "Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

18:14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

18:15 For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up;

18:16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.

18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity."

18:18 Then they said, "Come, and let us make plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

18:19 "Give heed to me, Lord, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle.

18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

18:23 Yet, Lord, you know all their counsel against me to kill me; do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal you with them in the time of your anger."

19:1 Thus said the Lord, "Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

19:2 and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you;

19:3 and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.

19:4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they did not know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

19:5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal; which I did not command, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:

19:6 therefore, behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.

19:7 I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.

19:8 I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

19:9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them."'

19:10 Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you,

19:11 and shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

19:12 Thus will I do to this place," says the Lord, "and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth:

19:13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods."'"

19:14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people:

19:15 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.'"

20:1 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

20:2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord.

20:3 It happened on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord has not called your name 'Pashhur,' but 'Magormissabib.'

20:4 For thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.

20:5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

20:6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.'"

20:7 Lord, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.

20:8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, "Violence and destruction!" because the word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day.

20:9 If I say, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name," then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't contain it.

20:10 For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. "Denounce, and we will denounce him," say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; "perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him."

20:11 But the Lord is with me as an awesome mighty one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

20:12 But, the Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause.

20:13 Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord; for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

20:14 Cursed is the day in which I was born: do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

20:15 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, A boy is born to you; making him very glad.

20:16 Let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and did not repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;

20:17 because he did not kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

20:18 Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

2 Cor 13:1–14

1 This is the third time I am coming to you. "At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."

2 I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to those who have sinned before now, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare;

3 seeing that you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me; who toward you is not weak, but is powerful in you.

4 For indeed he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.

5 Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or do you not know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified.

6 But I hope that you will know that we are not disqualified.

7 Now we pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable, though we are as reprobate.

8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

9 For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. And this we also pray for, even your perfecting.

10 For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not deal sharply when present, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for tearing down.

11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Be perfected, be comforted, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

12–13 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Job 22:1–6

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

2 "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?

4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?

5 Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.