13 August - Jeremiah 23-25

Jude Wed Aug 08, 2018 4:15 am

My soul doth magnify my YAH, and my spirit hath rejoiced in EL my Saviour; For HE that is mighty hath done to me great things; and Holy is HIS Name. Now unto HIM who is ever present in my helpless estate; who is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise EL our Saviour be honour and glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and for ever Halleluyah!

JEREMIAH 23

1“Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!”a declares יהוה.

2Therefore thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl against the shepherds who feed My people, “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and have not tended them. See, I am punishing you for the evil of your deeds,” declares יהוה.

3“Therefore I shall gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and shall bring them back to their fold. And they shall bear and increase.

4“And I shall raise up shepherds over them, and they shall feed them.a And they shall fear no more, nor be discouraged, nor shall they be lacking,” declares יהוה.

5“See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I shall raise for Dawiḏ a Brancha of righteousness, and a Sovereign shall reign and act wisely, and shall do right-ruling and righteousness in the earth.

6“In His days Yehuḏah shall be saved, and Yisra’ĕl dwell safely. And this is His Name whereby He shall be called: ‘יהוה our Righteousness.’

7“Therefore, see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when they shall say no more, ‘As יהוה lives who brought up the children of Yisra’ĕl out of the land of Mitsrayim,’

8but, ‘As יהוה lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Yisra’ĕl out of the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell on their own soil.”

9My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man overcome by wine, because of יהוה, and because of His set-apart words.

10For the land is filled with adulterers; for the land mourns because of a curse. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right.

11“For both prophet and priest have become defiled. Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares יהוה.

12“Therefore their way is to them like slippery ways in the dark. They are driven on and they shall fall in them. For I bring evil on them, the year of their punishment,” declares יהוה.

13“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Shomeron: they prophesied by Ba‛al and led My people Yisra’ĕl astray.

14“And among the prophets of Yerushalayim I have seen a horrible matter: committing adultery and walking in falsehood. And they strengthen the hands of evil ones, so that no one turns back from his evil. All of them are like Seḏom to Me, and her inhabitants like Amorah.

15“Therefore thus said יהוה of hosts concerning the prophets, ‘See, I am making them eat wormwood, and shall make them drink poisoned water. For defilement has gone out into all the land from the prophets of Yerushalayim.’ ”

16Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, they lead you astray. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of יהוה.

17“They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘יהוה has said you shall have peace.’ And to all who walk according to the stubbornness of their own heart they say, ‘No evil comes upon you.’ ”

18For who has stood in the counsel of יהוה, and has seen and heard His word? Who has listened to His word and obeyed it?

19See, a storm of יהוה shall go forth in a rage, a whirling storm! It whirls on the head of the wrong.

20The displeasure of יהוה shall not turn back until He has done and established the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.a

21“I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.a

22“But if they had stood in My counsel, then they would have let My people hear My Words, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

23“Am I an Elohim close by,” declares יהוה, “and not an Elohim afar off?

24“If anyone is hidden in secret places, would I not see him?” declares יהוה. “Do I not fill the heavens and earth?” declares יהוה.

25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsehood in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’

26“Till when shall it be in the heart of the prophets? – the prophets of falsehood and prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

27who try to make My people forget My Name by their dreams which everyone relates to his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My Name for Ba‛al.

28“The prophet who has a dream, let him relate the dream, and he who has My Word, let him speak My Word in truth. What is the chaff to the wheat?” declares יהוה.

29“Is not My Word like a fire?” declares יהוה, “and like a hammer that shatters a rock?

30“Therefore see, I am against the prophets,” declares יהוה, “who steal My Words every one from his neighbour.

31“See, I am against the prophets,” declares יהוה, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He declares.’

32“See, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares יהוה, “and relate them, and lead My people astray by their falsehoods and by their reckless boasting. But I Myself did not send them nor have I commanded them. And they do not profit this people at all,” declares יהוה.

33“And when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the message of יהוה?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What message?’ I shall forsake you,” declares יהוה.

34“As for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The message of יהוה,’ I shall punish that man and his house.

35“This is what each one says to his neighbour, and each one to his brother, ‘What has יהוה answered?’ and, ‘What has יהוה spoken?’

36“But the message of יהוה you no longer remember! For every man’s message is his own word, for you have changeda the Words of the living Elohim, יהוה of hosts, our Elohim!

37“This is what you say to the prophet, ‘What has יהוה answered you?’ and, ‘What has יהוה spoken?’

38“But since you say, ‘The message of יהוה!’ therefore thus said יהוה, ‘Because you say this word, “The message of יהוה!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The message of יהוה!’ ”

39therefore see, I, I shall utterly forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city that I gave you and your fathers.

40‘And I shall put an everlasting reproach on you, and an everlasting shame that is not forgotten.’ ”

JEREMIAH 24

1יהוה showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs set before the Hĕḵal of יהוה, after Neḇuḵaḏrets-tsar sovereign of Baḇel had exiled Yeḵonyahu son of Yehoyaqim, sovereign of Yehuḏah, and the heads of Yehuḏah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Yerushalayim, and had brought them to Baḇel.

2One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe. And the other basket had very spoilt figs which could not be eaten, they were so spoilt.”

3And יהוה said to me, “What do you see, Yirmeyahu?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good. And the spoilt, very spoilt, which could not be eaten, they are so spoilt.”

4Again the word of יהוה came to me, saying,

5“Thus said יהוה, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Like these good figs, so do I acknowledge the exiles of Yehuḏah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.

6‘And I shall set My eyes on them for good, and shall bring them back to this land. And I shall build them and not pull them down, and shall plant them and not pluck them up.

7‘And I shall give them a heart to know Me, that I am יהוה. And they shall be My people and I shall be their Elohim, for they shall turn back to Me with all their heart.

8‘And as the spoilt figs that could not be eaten because they are so spoilt,’ for thus said יהוה, ‘so do I give up Tsiḏqiyahu, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, his heads, the rest of Yerushalayim who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Mitsrayim.

9‘And I shall make them a horror to all the reigns of the earth, for evil, to be a reproach and a byword, a mockery and a curse, in all the places to which I drive them.

10‘And I shall send the sword, the scarcity of food, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”

JEREMIAH 25

1The word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people of Yehuḏah, in the fourth year of Yehoyaqim son of Yoshiyahu, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, which was the first year of Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel,

2which Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke to all the people of Yehuḏah and to all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, saying,

3“From the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu son of Amon, sovereign of Yehuḏah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of יהוה has come to me. And I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

4“Moreover, יהוה has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

5saying, ‘Turn back now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the soil which יהוה has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

6‘And do not go after other mighty ones to serve them and to bow down to them. And do not provoke Me with the works of your hands, so that I do you no evil.’

7“But you did not listen to Me,” declares יהוה, “so as to provoke Me with the works of your hands, for your own evil.

8“Therefore thus said יהוה of hosts, ‘Because you did not obey My words,

9see, I am sending and taking all the tribes of the north,’ declares יהוה, ‘and Neḇuḵaḏretstsar the sovereign of Baḇel, My servant, and shall bring them against this land and against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and shall put them under the ban, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and everlasting ruins.

10‘And I shall banish from them the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11‘And all this land shall be a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the sovereign of Baḇel seventy years.

12‘And it shall be, when seventy years are completed, that I shall punish the sovereign of Baḇel and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their crookedness,’ declares יהוה, ‘and shall make it everlasting ruins.

13‘And I shall bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Yirmeyahu has prophesied concerning all the nations.

14‘For they too shall be enslaved by many nations and great sovereigns. And I shall repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their hands.’ ”

15For thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl to me, “Take this wine cup of wrath from My hand, and make all the nations, to whom I send you, drink it.

16“And they shall drink, and shake, and go mad because of the sword that I am sending among them.”

17I then took the cup from the hand of יהוה, and made all the nations drink, to whom יהוה had sent me,

18namely Yerushalayim and the cities of Yehuḏah, and its sovereigns, its heads, to make them a ruin, an object of astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

19Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and his servants, and his heads, and all his people;

20and all the mixed multitude, and all the sovereigns of the land of Uts, and all the sovereigns of the land of the Philistines – even Ashqelon, and Azzah, and Eqron, and the remnant of Ashdoḏ;

21Eḏom, and Mo’aḇ, and the children of Ammon;

22and all the sovereigns of Tsor, and all the sovereigns of Tsiḏon, and the sovereigns of the coastlands which are beyond the sea;

23Deḏan, and Tĕma, and Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;

24and all the sovereigns of Araḇia and all the sovereigns of the mixed multitude who dwell in the wilderness;

25and all the sovereigns of Zimri, and all the sovereigns of Ěylam, and all the sovereigns of the Medes;

26and all the sovereigns of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the reigns of the earth which are on the face of the ground. Also the sovereign of Shĕshaḵ shall drink after them.

27“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I am sending among you.” ’

28“And it shall be, when they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “You shall drink!

29“For look, I am beginning to bring evil upon the city which is called by My Name, and should you be entirely unpunished? You are not going unpunished, for I am calling for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares יהוה of hosts.’

30“And you shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, ‘יהוה roars from on high, and utters His voice from His set-apart dwelling place. He roars mightily over His fold, a shout as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31“Tumult shall come to the ends of the earth, for יהוה has a controversy with the nations. He shall enter into judgment with all flesh. The wrong He shall give to the sword,’ declares יהוה.”

32Thus said יהוה of hosts, “See, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind is raised up from the farthest parts of the earth.

33“And in that day the slain of יהוה shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the eartha. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried, for they are dung on the face of the ground.

34“Howl, you shepherds, and cry! And roll yourselves in the ashes, you leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your scatterings are completed, and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

35“And a place of refuge shall perish from the shepherds, and escape from the leaders of the flock.

36“Hear the cry of the shepherds, and a wailing of the leaders of the flock, for יהוה is ravaging their pasture!

37“And the pastures of peace shall be cut down because of the burning displeasure of יהוה.

38“Like a lion He shall leave His hiding place, for their land shall become a waste because of the sword of oppressors, and because of His burning displeasure.”