Spiritual Gems
JEREMIAH 1-3
Bible Reading assignment: Jer 3:14-25
jr 43 ¶3
Jeremiah 1:
1 These are the words of Jeremiah the son of Hil·kiʹah, one of the priests in Anʹa·thoth in the land of Benjamin.
2 The word of Jehovah came to him in the days of Jo·siʹah the son of Aʹmon, the king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Je·hoiʹa·kim the son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, until the completion of the 11th year of Zed·e·kiʹah the son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, until Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.
4 The word of Jehovah came to me, saying:
5 I made you a prophet to the nations.”
6 I do not know how to speak, for I am just a boy.”
7 And you should say everything that I command you.
8 For ‘I am with you to save you,’ declares Jehovah.”
9 Then Jehovah stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. And Jehovah said to me: “I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, I have commissioned you this day to be over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant.”
11 The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” So I said: “I see the branch of an almond tree.”
12 Jehovah said to me: “You have seen correctly, for I am wide awake concerning my word to carry it out.”
13 The word of Jehovah came to me a second time, saying: “What do you see?” So I said: “I see a boiling pot, and its mouth is tilted away from the north.”
14 Against all the inhabitants of the land.
15 And against all the cities of Judah.
16 And bowing down to the works of their own hands.’
17 So that I do not terrify you before them.
18 Toward her priests and the people of the land.
19 For ‘I am with you,’ declares Jehovah, ‘to save you.’”
Jeremiah 2:
1 The word of Jehovah came to me, saying:
2 In a land not sown with seed.
3 Disaster would come upon them,’ declares Jehovah.”
4 And all you families of the house of Israel.
5 And they walked after worthless idols and became worthless themselves?
6 And where no humans dwell?’
7 You made my inheritance something detestable.
8 And they followed those who could bring no benefit.
9 ‘And I will contend with the sons of your sons.’
10 See whether anything like this has happened.
11 But my own people have exchanged my glory for what is useless.
12 Shudder in absolute horror,’ declares Jehovah,
13 Broken cisterns, that cannot hold water.’
14 Then why has he been given over to plunder?
15 His cities have been set on fire, so that there is no inhabitant.
16 The people of Noph and Tahʹpan·es feed on the crown of your head.
17 While he was leading you in the way?
18 To drink the waters of the River?
19 You have shown no fear of me,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies.
20 You were lying sprawled out, prostituting yourself.
21 So how have you turned into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine before me?’
22 Your guilt would still be a stain before me,’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.
23 Aimlessly running back and forth in her ways,
24 In her season they will find her.
25 And I will follow them.’
26 Their priests and their prophets.
27 ‘Rise up and save us!’
28 For your gods have become as numerous as your cities, O Judah.
29 Why have all of you rebelled against me?’ declares Jehovah.
30 Like a marauding lion.
31 We will come to you no more’?
32 And yet my own people have forgotten me for countless days.
33 You have trained yourself in the ways of wickedness.
34 It is on all your skirts.
35 Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Just as you became ashamed of As·syrʹi·a.
37 They will not bring you success.”
Jeremiah 3:
1 And should you now return to me?” declares Jehovah.
2 With your prostitution and your wickedness.
3 You refuse to feel shame.
4 ‘My Father, you are the companion of my youth!
5 But you keep doing all the evil you are capable of doing.”
6 In the days of King Jo·siʹah, Jehovah said to me: “‘Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and underneath every luxuriant tree to commit prostitution.
7 Even after she did all these things, I kept telling her to return to me, but she did not return; and Judah kept watching her treacherous sister.
8 When I saw that, I sent unfaithful Israel away with a full certificate of divorce because of her adultery. But her treacherous sister Judah did not become afraid; she too went out and committed prostitution.
9 She took her prostitution lightly, and she kept polluting the land and committing adultery with stones and with trees.
10 Despite all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, only in pretense,’ declares Jehovah.”
11 Jehovah then said to me: “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 “‘“Return, O renegade Israel,” declares Jehovah.’ ‘“I will not look down angrily on you, for I am loyal,” declares Jehovah.’ ‘“I will not stay resentful forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt, for you have rebelled against Jehovah your God. You continued scattering your favors to strangers under every luxuriant tree, but you would not obey my voice,” declares Jehovah.’”
14 “Return, you renegade sons,” declares Jehovah. “For I have become your true master; and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
15 And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and insight.
16 You will become many and will bear fruit in the land in those days,” declares Jehovah. “No more will they say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Jehovah!’ It will not come up into the heart, nor will they remember it or miss it, and it will not be made again.
17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations will be brought together to the name of Jehovah at Jerusalem, and they will no longer stubbornly follow their own wicked heart.”
18 “In those days they will walk together, the house of Judah alongside the house of Israel, and together they will come from the land of the north into the land that I gave to your forefathers as an inheritance.
19 And I thought, ‘How I placed you among the sons and gave you the desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance among the nations!’ I also thought that you would call me, ‘My Father!’ and that you would not turn away from following me.
20 ‘Truly as a wife treacherously leaves her husband, so also you, O house of Israel, have dealt treacherously with me,’ declares Jehovah.”
21 They have forgotten Jehovah their God.
22 For you, O Jehovah, are our God.
23 Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 Their sons and their daughters.
25 And we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.”