Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.
Jeremiah 22
Thus says Yahweh: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and you must speak this word there. And you must say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter through these gates. Thus says Yahweh, "Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been seized from the hand of the oppressor. And you must not oppress the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place. And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself," declares Yahweh, "that this house will become a site of ruins."’"
For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah,
"You are like Gilead to me,
like the head of the Lebanon.
Surely I will make you a desert,
like cities that are not inhabited.
And I will consecrate against you destroyers,
everyone with his weapons,
and they will cut down your choicest cedars,
and cast them on the fire.
And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each one to his neighbor, ‘Why has Yahweh done in this manner to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, and bowed down in worship to other gods, and served them.’"
You must not weep for the dead person,
and you must not show sympathy for him.
Weep bitterly for the one who goes away,
for he will not return, or see the land of his birth again.
For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned as king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: "He will not return here again. But in the place where they have deported him, there he will die, and he will not see this land again.
Woe to the one who builds his house without righteousness,
and his upper rooms without justice.
His fellow countryman, he works for nothing,
and he does not give to him his wages.
Who says ‘I will build for myself
a spacious house with large upper rooms,’
and he cuts windows for it,
and it is paneled with cedar,
and he paints it with vermilion.
Do you reign as king because you are competing in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
and he did justice and righteousness,
then it was well with him?
He judged the legal cause of the needy and the poor,
and then it was well.
Is that not what it means to know me?" declares Yahweh.
"But there is nothing in your eyes and your heart
except your unlawful gain,
and on shedding the blood of the innocent,
and on committing oppression and extortion."
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah:
"They will not lament for him,
‘Alas, my brother,’ or ‘Alas, sister.’
They will not lament for him,
‘Alas, lord,’ or ‘alas, his majesty.’
He will be buried with the burial of a donkey.
He will be dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
and in Bashan lift up your voice,
and cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are shattered.
I spoke to you in the times you were secure,
and you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This was your way from your youth,
for you have not obeyed my voice.
All your shepherds will shepherd the wind,
and your lovers will go into captivity.
Yes, then you will be ashamed and humiliated
because of all your wickedness.
Inhabitants of Lebanon,
nestled among the cedars,
how you will groan when labor pains come to you,
fear and pain as the woman who gives birth.
"As I live," declares Yahweh, "surely if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were the seal on my right hand, surely from there I would wrench you off. And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you are frightened by their presence, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you to another country where you were not born, and there you will die. As for the land to which they are longing to return, they will not return.
Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel?
Or a vessel in which there is no delight?
Why are he and his offspring thrown far,
and cast away to the land that they do not know?"
O land, land, land, hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh:
"Record this man as childless,
a man who will not succeed in his days,
for no man from his offspring will succeed him,
sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah."
Jeremiah 23
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture," declares Yahweh. Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, "You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds," declares Yahweh. "Then I myself will gather together the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their grazing place, and they will be fruitful, and they will become numerous. And I will raise up over them shepherds, and they will shepherd them, and they will no longer fear, and they will not be dismayed, and they will not be missing," declares Yahweh.
"Look, days are coming," declares Yahweh,
"when I will raise up for David a righteous branch,
and he will reign as king, and he will achieve success,
and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell in safety,
and this is his name by which he will be called:
‘Yahweh is our righteousness.’
"Therefore look, days are coming," declares Yahweh, "when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who led up the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As Yahweh lives, who led up, and who brought the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they will live in their land."
Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken in my midst.
All my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunken man,
even like a man over whom wine has passed,
because of Yahweh,
and because of his holy words.
For the land is full of adulterers;
for the land mourns because of a curse.
The pastures of the desert are dry,
and their evil has been their way of running,
and their power is not right.
"For both prophet as well as priest are godless,
even in my temple I have found their wickedness," declares Yahweh.
"Therefore their way will be to them like the slippery places,
they will be pushed in the darkness,
and they will fall into it,
for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment," declares Yahweh.
"Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing.
They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err.
And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible.
They commit adultery, and they walk in lies,
and they make strong the hands of evildoers,
so that they have not turned back each from his wickedness.
All of them have become to me like Sodom,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah."
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets,
"Look, I am going to let them eat wormwood
and I will give them water of poison to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
went out ungodliness to all the land."
Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
"You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They are deluding you with visions of their mind,
They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.
They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh,
‘Peace it will be to you,’
and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say,
‘Calamity will not come upon you.’
For who has stood in the council of Yahweh,
that he has seen and heard his word?
Who has listened attentively to his word
and heard it?
Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,
even a whirling tempest.
It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of Yahweh will not turn back
until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his mind.
In latter days you will look closely at it with understanding.
I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.
Am I a God from near," declares Yahweh,
"and not a God from far?
Or can a person hide himself in secret places
and I cannot see him?" declares Yahweh.
"Do I not fill up the heaven and the earth?" declares Yahweh.
"I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies have said in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’ How long will this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceitfulness of their hearts, who plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each one to his neighbor, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal? The prophet who has with him a dream, let him tell the dream. But the prophet who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. What is straw compared to wheat?" declares Yahweh. "Is not my word like fire?" declares Yahweh, "and like a blacksmith’s hammer that breaks a rock into pieces?
"Therefore look, I am against the prophets," declares Yahweh, "who steal my words each one from his neighbor. Look, I am against the prophets," declares Yahweh, "who take their tongues and declare as prophets, ‘Yahweh declares.’ Look, I am against those who prophesy dreams of lies," declares Yahweh, "and tell them, and they caused my people to err through their lies, and in their recklessness, when I myself have not sent them nor commanded them, so they profit not this people at all," declares Yahweh.
"Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, saying, ‘What is the burden of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, and I will forsake you,’" declares Yahweh. "And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, ‘The burden of Yahweh,’ I will punish that man and his house. Thus you shall say, each one to his neighbor and each one to his brother: ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ But you shall not mention the burden of Yahweh, for the burden is to each one his word, and so you twist the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. Thus you shall say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ But if you say, ‘The burden of Yahweh,’ therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘because of your saying these words, "The burden of Yahweh," then I will send to you, saying, "You shall not say, ‘The burden of Yahweh.’"’ Therefore look, here I am, and I will surely lift you up and forsake you and the city that I gave to you and to your ancestors from my presence, and I will bring upon you an everlasting disgrace and an everlasting shame that will not be forgotten."
Jeremiah 26
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and you must speak to all the cities of Judah that come to bow in worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them. You must not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and turn back each from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster that I am planning to do to them because of their evil deeds. And you shall say to them, "Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have sent to you, over and over again, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.’"’"
And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of Yahweh. And then as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, "You will die! Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, without inhabitant’?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.
When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the house of the king to the temple of Yahweh, and they sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh’s temple. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, saying, "This man deserves the death sentence, because he has prophesied against this city as that which you have heard with your ears."
Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, saying, "Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent of the disaster that he has spoken over you. But as for me, look, I am in your hand, do to me what is good and right in your eyes. Only you must certainly know that if you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves innocent blood, and on this city and on its inhabitants, for truly Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears."
Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "This man does not deserve a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us." Then men from the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembly of the people, saying, "Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying:
‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
"Zion will be plowed,
and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the temple as high places of wood."’
Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? Was he not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we are about to do great disaster to ourselves."
Indeed, there also was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah. And when King Jehoiakim, and all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard, and he was afraid, and he fled and went to Egypt. Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt. Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and men with him went to Egypt. And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people. However, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Psalm 77
For the music director, on Jeduthun.
Of Asaph. A psalm.
I cry out with my voice to God;
with my voice to God, that he may hear me.
In the day I have trouble, I seek the Lord.
At night my hand stretches out continually;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
I remember God and I groan loudly;
I meditate and my spirit grows faint.
You hold open my eyelids.
I am troubled and cannot speak.
I think about the days from long ago,
the years of ancient times.
I remember my song in the night.
With my heart I meditate,
and my spirit searches to understand.
Will the Lord reject us forever,
and will he never be pleased with us again?
Has his loyal love ceased forever?
Is his promise ended throughout generations?
Has God forgotten to have compassion?
Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah
So I said, "This pierces me—
the right hand of the Most High has changed."
I will remember the deeds of Yah.
Surely I will remember your wonders from long ago.
I will also muse on all your work,
and meditate on your deeds.
O God, your way is distinctive.
Who is a great god like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
With your arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
Waters saw you, O God;
waters saw you and they trembled.
Surely the deeps shook.
The clouds poured out water.
The skies thundered.
Your arrows also flew about.
The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
lightnings lit the world;
the earth shook and quaked.
Your way was through the sea,
and your path through many waters.
Yet your footprints were not discerned.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
James 2
My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. For if someone enters into your assembly in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters, and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, "Be seated here in a good place," and to the poor person you say, "You stand or be seated there by my footstool," have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts? Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name of the one to whom you belong?
However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and thus are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it. For the one who said "Do not commit adultery" also said "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it? If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day, and one of you should say to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit? Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder! But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working together with his works, and by the works the faith was perfected. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness," and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.