Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.
Jeremiah 30
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you in a scroll. For look, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah,’ says Yahweh, ‘and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they will take possession of it.’"
Now these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. "For thus says Yahweh:
‘We have heard a sound of trembling,
terror, and there is no peace.
Ask please and see whether a male can bear a child.
Why do I see every strong man
with his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth?
And why are all their faces changed to paleness?
Alas! For that day is great,
there is none like it.
And it is a time of distress for Jacob,
yet from it he will be delivered.
And it will happen on that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts,
‘I will break his yoke from your neck
and your bonds I will tear to pieces.
And strangers will no longer let him work as a slave.
But they will serve Yahweh their God,
and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,’ declares Yahweh,
‘and you must not be dismayed, Israel,
for look, I am going to save you from far,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob will return,
and he will be at rest,
and he will be at ease,
and there will be no one who makes him afraid.
For I am with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to save you.
For I will make a complete destruction
of all the nations to which I scattered you,
but you I will not make a complete destruction.
And I will chastise you to the measure,
and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.’
For thus says Yahweh,
‘Your injury is incurable,
your wound is overcome by sickness.
There is no one who pleads your cause,
for your boil there is no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not care for you.
I have struck you with the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of the cruel,
because of the greatness of your guilt,
your sins are numerous.
Why do you cry because of your wound?
Your pain is incurable.
Because of the greatness of your guilt—your sins are vast—
I have done these things to you.
Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured,
and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity,
and those who plunder you will be as plunder,
and all those who plunder you I will make as plunder.
For I will present healing to you,
and I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares Yahweh.
‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying,
"It is Zion, there is no one who cares for her."’
Thus says Yahweh:
‘Look, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob,
and I will have compassion on his dwellings,
and the city will be rebuilt upon its mound,
and the citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site.
And thanksgiving and the sound of merrymakers
will come out from them,
and I will make them numerous,
and they will not be few.
And I will make them honored,
and they will not be lowly.
And their children will be as of old,
and their community will be established before me.
And I will punish all their oppressors.
And their noble will be from them,
and their ruler will come out from their midst.
And I will bring him near and he will approach me.
For who is he that would pledge his heart to approach me?’ declares Yahweh.
‘And you will be to me a people,
and I will be to you God.’"
Look, the storm of Yahweh!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest.
It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.
The burning anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing,
and until his accomplishing the plans of his mind.
In the last of the days you will understand it.
Jeremiah 31
"At that time," declares Yahweh,
"I will be the God of all the clans of Israel,
and they will be to me a people."
Thus says Yahweh:
"The people of the survivors of the sword found grace in the desert;
Israel going to find their rest."
From afar Yahweh appeared to me, saying,
"I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Therefore I have drawn you with loyal love.
I will again build you,
and you will be built, O virgin Israel.
You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines,
and you will go forth in the dancing in a ring of the merrymakers.
You will again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.
The planters will plant, and they will enjoy it.
For there will be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim,
‘Stand up, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.’"
For thus says Yahweh,
"Sing for joy for Jacob with gladness,
and shout out for the head of the nations.
Proclaim, praise, and say,
‘Save, O Yahweh, your people, the remnant of Israel.’
Look, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and I will gather them from the remotest part of the earth.
Among them the blind, and the lame,
those who are pregnant, and those who give birth,
together, a great assembly,
they will return here.
With weeping they will come,
and with pleas for mercy I will bring them;
I will let them walk by streams of water in a straight path.
They will not stumble in it,
for I have become to Israel a father,
and Ephraim, he is my firstborn."
Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,
and declare in the coastlands from afar, and say,
"The scatterer of Israel will gather him,
and he will keep him as a shepherd his flock.
For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob,
and he has redeemed him from the hand of the person stronger than he.
And they will come,
and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion,
and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh,
over the grain, and over the wine, and over the olive oil,
and over the young ones of the flock, and over the cattle.
And their life will become like a well-watered garden,
and they will never languish again."
"Then the young woman will rejoice in the dancing in a ring,
and the young men and the old men together.
And I will turn their mourning to jubilation,
and I will comfort them,
and I will gladden them from their sorrow.
And I will saturate the appetite of the priests with fatness,
and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," declares Yahweh.
Thus says Yahweh,
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation, the weeping of bitterness.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted because of her children,
for they are no more."
Thus says Yahweh:
"Restrain your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work," declares Yahweh,
"and they will return from the land of the enemy.
And there is hope for your future," declares Yahweh,
"and your children will return to their territory.
Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves,
‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like a calf that is not trained.
Bring me back and let me return,
for you are Yahweh my God.
For after my turning back I repented,
and after coming to understand I struck my thigh.
I was ashamed and also humiliated,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Is Ephraim my dear son,
or the child of my delight?
For as often as I have earnestly spoken against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore my bowels are turbulent for him,
surely I will have compassion on him," declares Yahweh.
"Set up for yourself road markers,
make for yourself signposts,
set your mind to the main road,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin of Israel,
return to these your cities.
How long will you waver, O unfaithful daughter?
For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth,
a woman, she shelters a man."
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "They will again say these words in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes,
‘Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness,
O hill of holiness.’
And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it,
farmers and those who travel with the flocks.
For I will saturate the thirst of the weary,
and every person who languishes I will replenish."
At this I awoke and looked,
and my sleep was pleasant to me.
"Look, the days are coming," declares Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humankind, and with the seed of animals. And then as I have watched over them to pull up, and to tear down, and to annihilate, and to destroy, and to do evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," declares Yahweh. "In those days they will say no longer, ‘Parents have eaten unripe fruit, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’ But each will die because of his iniquity, everyone who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will be set on edge.
Look, the days are coming," declares Yahweh, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day of my grasping them by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," declares Yahweh. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people. And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for all of them will know me, from their smallest and up to their greatest," declares Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember."
Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for light by day, the regulations of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name. "If these rules would cease from before me," declares Yahweh, "also the offspring of Israel would cease from being a nation before me forever." Thus says Yahweh, "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, also I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all that they have done," declares Yahweh. "Look, days are coming," declares Yahweh, "and the city will be rebuilt for Yahweh, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. And the measuring line will still go out immediately in front of it to the hill of Gareb, and it will turn to Goah. And the whole of the valley of the corpses, and the ashes, and all the cultivated fields up to the wadi of Kidron, up to the corner of the Gate of the Horses toward the east will be holy to Yahweh. It will not be uprooted, and it will not be overthrown again forever."
Jeremiah 32
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, that was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, where Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, saying, "Why are you prophesying, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, "Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it, and Zedekiah, the king of Judah, will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but surely he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak face to face with him and he will see him eye to eye, and to Babylon he will bring Zedekiah, and there he will be until my attending to him," declares Yahweh. "If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not be successful"’?"
And Jeremiah said, "The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ‘Look, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your uncle, is going to come to you, saying, "Buy for yourself my field that is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it."’ Then Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the courtyard of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, that is in the land of Benjamin, for to you is the claim of possession, and to you the redemption; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.
And I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, that was at Anathoth. And I weighed out to him the money, seventeen silver shekels. And I signed on the letter and sealed it, and I called witnesses as witness, and I weighed out the money on a set of scales. Then I took the deed of the purchase, the sealed copy containing the commandments and the rules, together with the one that was open. And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel, the son of my uncle, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, in the presence of the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard. And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase, the sealed one, and this opened deed, and you must put them in an earthenware jar so that they may be kept preserved many days." For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land."’
And I prayed to Yahweh—after giving my deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah—saying, ‘Ah Lord Yahweh! Look, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you, showing loyal love to the thousands, and repaying the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them. Powerful, great, mighty, his name is Yahweh of hosts, great in counsel and great in deed, whose eyes are opened to all the ways of the children of humankind, to give to each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds, who accomplished signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, up to this day, and in Israel, and among humankind, and you have made for yourself a name, as it is this day.
And you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an arm stretched out, and with great terror. And you gave to them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice, and they did not follow your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded to them to do, and you caused to happen to them all this disaster. Look, the siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the plague, and what you spoke happened, and look, you are seeing it. Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, "Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness," though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’"
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, "Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me?" Therefore thus says Yahweh: "Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and where they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger. For the people of Israel and the people of Judah were doing only evil in my eyes from their youth, for the people of Israel were only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands," declares Yahweh.
"For this city has been for me a cause of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even until this day, so I will remove it from my sight, because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned to me their backs and not their faces, though I have taught them over and over again, but they were not listening to accept discipline. And they set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to present as offerings their sons and their daughters to Molech, which I had not commanded them, and it had not come to my mind to do this detestable thing in order to cause Judah to sin."
"So now therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you are saying, ‘It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague’: Look, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell in safety. And they will be for me a people, and I will be for them God. And I will give to them one heart and one way, to revere me forever, for good to them, and to their children after them. And I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from them, my doing good to them, and my reverence I will put in their hearts so that they will not turn aside from me. And I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart, and with all my inner self."
"For thus says Yahweh, ‘Just as I have brought to this people all this great disaster, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise to them. And the fields will be bought in this land of which you are saying, "It is a desolation, without humankind or animals. It has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans." They will buy fields with money, and they will sign the deeds, and they will seal them, and they will call witnesses as witness in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes,’ declares Yahweh."
Jeremiah 33
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still held back in the courtyard of the guard, saying, "Thus says Yahweh who made the earth, Yahweh who formed it to establish it, Yahweh is his name: ‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great things and inaccessible things that you have not known.’ For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that were torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword: ‘They are coming to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of the people whom I will strike in my anger and in my wrath, for whom I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness. Look, I am going to bring healing and health to it, and I will heal them, and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and reliability. And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and I will rebuild them as in the beginning. And I will cleanse them from all their guilt that they sinned against me, and I will forgive all their iniquities that they sinned against me, and that they rebelled against me. And it will be to me a name of jubilation, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear all the good that I will do for them, and they will fear, and they will tremble because of all the good, and because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.’
"Thus says Yahweh: ‘Again will be heard in this place, of which you are saying, "It is a waste, without people and without animals," in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without people and without inhabitants and without animals, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who say, "Praise Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh is good, for his loyal love is forever," the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of Yahweh, for I will restore the fortunes of the land as in the beginning,’ says Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Again there will be in this waste place, without people and animals, and in all its towns, pasture for shepherds allowing their flock to lie down. In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the counter,’ says Yahweh.
‘Look, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will fulfill the good promise that I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and in that time I will make a branch of righteousness sprout for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely, and this is what they shall call it: "Yahweh is our righteousness."’ For thus says Yahweh: ‘A man who sits on the throne of the house of Israel will not be cut off for David. And for the priests, a man from the Levites who offers burnt offerings and who burns grain offerings and who brings sacrifices will not be cut off before me forever.’"
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you could break my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their time, then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from having a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will make numerous the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’" And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, "Have you not seen how these people speak, saying, ‘The two clans whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them’? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation before them any longer. Thus says Yahweh: ‘If my covenant with day and with night, the regulations of heaven and earth, I had not established, then the offspring of Jacob and David my servant I would reject, from choosing rulers from his offspring over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will restore their fortunes and I will have compassion on them.’"
1 Peter 1
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance imperishable and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, in which you rejoice greatly, although now for a short time, if necessary, you are distressed by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more valuable than gold that is passing away, but is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, although you have not seen, you love; in whom now you believe, although you do not see him, and you rejoice greatly with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace meant for you sought and made careful inquiry, investigating for what person or which time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he testified beforehand to the sufferings with reference to Christ and the glories after these things, to whom it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you with reference to the same things which now have been announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels desire to look.
Therefore, when you have prepared your minds for action by being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance, but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, "You will be holy, because I am holy." And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your temporary residence, because you know that you were redeemed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has been revealed in these last times for you who through him are believing in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently from the heart, because you have been born again, not from perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For
"all flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like the flower of the grass.
The grass withers and the flower falls off,
but the word of the Lord endures forever."
And this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.