Month: October 2017

Jerusalem Is Captured^(A)

39 In the tenth month of Zedekiah’s ninth year as king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army and blockaded it. ² On the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king, they broke into the city.

³ Then all the officers of the king of Babylon came in and sat in Middle Gate: Nergal (the quartermaster), Samgar Nebo (the chief officer), Nergal (the quartermaster and the chief fortuneteller), and all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.

⁴ When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls, and they took the road to the plain of Jericho. ⁵ The Babylonian army pursued them and caught up with Zedekiah in the plain of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. The king of Babylon passed sentence on him. ⁶ The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons as Zedekiah watched at Riblah. He also slaughtered all the leaders of Judah. ⁷ Then he blinded Zedekiah, put him in bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

⁸ The Babylonians burned down the royal palace and the people’s homes, and they tore down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan, Babylon’s captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to him, and the rest of the people. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left some poor people who had nothing in the land of Judah. At that time he gave them vineyards and farms.

¹¹ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave Nebuzaradan an order concerning Jeremiah. He said, ¹² “Take him, and look after him. Don’t harm him in any way, but do for him whatever he asks.” ¹³ Nebuzaradan (the captain of the guard), Nebushazban (the chief official), Nergal (the quartermaster and the chief fortuneteller), and all the other leaders of the king of Babylon sent for Jeremiah. ¹⁴ They took Jeremiah out of the courtyard of the prison and handed him over to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to take him home. So he lived among the people.

¹⁵ While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the prison, Yahweh spoke his word to him. Yahweh said, ¹⁶ “Say to Ebed Melech from Sudan, ‘This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says: I’m going to carry out my threat against this city by bringing disaster on it instead of prosperity. At that time these things will happen as you watch. ¹⁷ But at that time I will rescue you, declares Yahweh. You will not be handed over to those you fear. ¹⁸ I will certainly rescue you. You will not die in war. You will escape with your life because you trusted me, declares Yahweh.’”

Jeremiah Is Freed^(B)

40 Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, let him go at Ramah. Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah in chains along with the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon. ² The captain of the guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “Yahweh your Elohim threatened to bring this disaster on this place. ³ He has carried out his threat. Yahweh did as he promised because you Israelites have sinned against him and refused to obey him. That is why this has happened to you. ⁴ Today I’m removing the chains from your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, come, and I’ll look after you. But if you don’t want to come with me to Babylon, don’t come. The whole land is yours. Go wherever you want.

⁵ “If you wish to remain,^[a] then go back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern the cities of Judah. Live among the people with him, or go anywhere you want.” The captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. ⁶ Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

⁷ All the army commanders and their men who were in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, to govern the country and some of the country’s poorest men, women, and children who had not been taken away to Babylon. ⁸ These are the commanders who went with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan and Jonathan (sons of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth), the sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jezaniah, who was the son of a man from Maacah. ⁹ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men. He said, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper. ¹⁰ I’m going to live in Mizpah and represent you when the Babylonians come to us. Gather grapes, summer fruit, and olive oil, and put them in storage jars. Live in the cities you have taken over.”

¹¹ Now, all the Jews who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them. ¹² So all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been scattered. They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They gathered a large harvest of grapes and summer fruit.

¹³ Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were still in the country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. ¹⁴ They asked him, “Do you know that King Baalis of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, to kill you?” However, Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, didn’t believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan, Kareah’s son, secretly asked Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Let me kill Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son. No one will know about it. Why should he kill you? All the Jews who have gathered around you would scatter. What is left of Judah would disappear.”

¹⁶ Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, told Johanan, Kareah’s son, “Don’t do that! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

Gedaliah Is Assassinated by Ishmael^(C)

41 In the seventh month Ishmael (son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and of the king’s officers) went with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate together at Mizpah, ² Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him got up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. So they assassinated the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land. ³ Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers that he found there.

⁴ The day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew about it, ⁵ 80 men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. Their beards were shaved off, their clothes were torn, and cuts were on their bodies. They brought grain offerings and incense to Yahweh’s temple. ⁶ Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, left Mizpah to meet them, crying as he went. When he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam.”

⁷ When they came into the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern. ⁸ However, ten men from the group had said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey hidden in the country.” So he left them alone and didn’t kill them along with the others.

⁹ Now, the cistern where Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed was the same one that King Asa made as a part of his defense against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled it with the bodies.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive the rest of the people who were at Mizpah. He captured the king’s daughters and all the other people who had been left at Mizpah. They were the people whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had put under the control of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, took them captive and left for Ammon.

¹¹ When Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had done, ¹² they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael. They caught up with him at the large pool in Gibeon. ¹³ When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴ Then all the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and ran to Kareah’s son Johanan. ¹⁵ Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to Ammon.

¹⁶ Then Kareah’s son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him brought back the rest of the people of Mizpah whom he had rescued from Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Johanan brought back men, women, children, soldiers, and commanders from Gibeon. ¹⁷ When they left Gibeon, they stayed near Bethlehem at Geruth Kimham on their way to Egypt. ¹⁸ They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had killed Gedaliah whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.

Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Yeshua by God’s will—a will that contains Christ Yeshua’s promise of life.

² To Timothy, my dear child.

Good will,^[a] mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Yeshua our Lord!

³ I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day when I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did. ⁴ I remember your tears and want to see you so that I can be filled with happiness. ⁵ I’m reminded of how sincere your faith is. That faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m convinced that it also lives in you.

Paul’s Advice for Timothy

⁶ You received a gift from God when I placed my hands on you to ordain you. Now I’m reminding you to fan that gift into flames. ⁷ God didn’t give us a cowardly spirit but a spirit of power, love, and good judgment. ⁸ So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord or be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Instead, by God’s power, join me in suffering for the sake of the Good News. ⁹ God saved us and called us to be holy, not because of what we had done, but because of his own plan and kindness.^[b] Before the world began, God planned that Christ Yeshua would show us God’s kindness. ¹⁰ Now with the coming of our Savior Christ Yeshua, he has revealed it. Christ has destroyed death, and through the Good News he has brought eternal life into full view. ¹¹ I was appointed to be a messenger of this Good News, and a teacher.

¹² For this reason I suffer as I do. However, I’m not ashamed. I know whom I trust. I’m convinced that he is able to protect what he had entrusted to me until that day.

¹³ With faith and love for Christ Yeshua, consider what you heard me say to be the pattern of accurate teachings. ¹⁴ With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, protect the Good News that has been entrusted to you.

News about Paul’s Coworkers

¹⁵ You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶ May the Lord be merciful to the family of Onesiphorus. He often took care of my needs and wasn’t ashamed that I was a prisoner. ¹⁷ When he arrived in Rome, he searched hard for me and found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord grant that Onesiphorus finds mercy when that day comes. You know very well that he did everything possible to help me in Ephesus.

BOOK FOUR

(Psalms 90–106)

Psalm 90

A prayer by Moses, the man of Elohim.

Psalm 91

All about Fools

Jeremiah Advises Zedekiah

37 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Zedekiah, son of Josiah, to be king of Judah. Zedekiah succeeded Jehoiakin, son of Jehoiakim. ² But Zedekiah, his administrators, and the common people didn’t listen to what the Lord had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah.

³ King Zedekiah sent Jehucal (son of Shelemiah) and the priest Zephaniah (son of Maaseiah) to the prophet Jeremiah. They asked him, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

⁴ Jeremiah was still free to come and go among the people. The people of Jerusalem hadn’t put him in prison yet. ⁵ Pharaoh’s army had come from Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were blockading Jerusalem heard this news, they retreated from Jerusalem.

⁶ The Lord spoke his word to the prophet Jeremiah. He said, ⁷ “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to get advice from me: ‘Pharaoh’s army has come out to help you. But it will go back to Egypt, its own land. ⁸ Then the Babylonians will return. They will attack the city, capture it, and burn it down.

⁹ “‘This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by thinking that the Babylonians will leave you. They will not leave you. ¹⁰ Even if you would defeat the entire Babylonian army so that they had only a few badly wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn down this city.’”

¹¹ The Babylonian army had retreated from Jerusalem because Pharaoh’s army was coming. ¹² So Jeremiah wanted to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people. ¹³ But when he came to Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard there, whose name was Irijah, son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, arrested the prophet Jeremiah. He said, “You’re deserting to the Babylonians!”

¹⁴ Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I’m not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. Irijah arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials. ¹⁵ The officials were so angry with Jeremiah that they beat him and put him in prison in the scribe Jonathan’s house, which had been turned into a prison. ¹⁶ Jeremiah went into a prison cell, and he stayed there a long time.

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah, and the king asked him privately in the palace, “Is there any message from the Lord?”

Jeremiah answered, “Yes! There is a message from the Lord. You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸ Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, your administrators, or these people? Why have you put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are the prophets who told you that the king of Babylon wouldn’t attack you and this land? ²⁰ But now, Your Majesty, please listen, and accept my plea for mercy. Don’t return me to the scribe Jonathan’s house, or I will die there.”

²¹ King Zedekiah gave the command to have Jeremiah put in the courtyard of the prison. He gave him a loaf of bread every day from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison.

Jeremiah Is Thrown into a Muddy Cistern

38 Shephatiah (son of Mattan), Gedaliah (son of Pashhur), Jucal (son of Shelemiah), and Pashhur (son of Malchiah) heard that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people. ² They heard Jeremiah say, “This is what the Lord says: Those who stay in this city will die in wars, famines, or plagues. But those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives.

³ “This is what the Lord says: This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, and it will capture the city.”

⁴ Then the officials said to the king, “Have this man put to death. He discourages the soldiers who are left in this city and all the people by telling them such things. This man is not trying to help these people; he’s trying to hurt them.”

⁵ King Zedekiah answered, “He’s in your hands. I won’t do anything to stop you.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son. It was in the courtyard of the prison. They used ropes to lower Jeremiah into the cistern. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷ But an official in the royal palace, Ebed Melech from Sudan, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at Benjamin Gate. ⁸ Ebed Melech left the royal palace and spoke to the king at Benjamin Gate. ⁹ “Your Majesty, everything that these men have done to the prophet Jeremiah is wrong. They have thrown him into the cistern, where he’ll starve to death, because there’s no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰ Then the king gave Ebed Melech from Sudan this command: “Take 30 men from here, and lift the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to the royal palace, to a room under the treasury. He took rags and torn clothes from there and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed Melech from Sudan said to Jeremiah, “Put these rags and torn clothes under your arms to protect you from the ropes.” Jeremiah did. ¹³ They used the ropes to pull Jeremiah up and lift him out of the cistern. Then Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison.

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and brought him to the third entrance in the Lord’s temple. “I’m going to ask you a question,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Don’t hide anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah answered Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you’ll kill me. If I give you advice, you won’t listen to me.”

¹⁶ So King Zedekiah secretly swore an oath to Jeremiah, “The Lord gave us life. As the Lord lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who want to kill you.”

¹⁷ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you will live, and this city will not be burned. You and your household will live. ¹⁸ But if you don’t surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians. They will burn it down, and you will not escape from them.”

¹⁹ King Zedekiah answered Jeremiah, “I’m afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Babylonians. The Babylonians may hand me over to them, and they will torture me.”

²⁰ Jeremiah said, “You will not be handed over to them. Obey the Lord by doing what I’m telling you. Then everything will go well for you, and you will live. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me. ²² All the women who are left in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon. These women will say:

²³ “All your wives and children will be brought to the Babylonians. You will not escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

Jeremiah and Zedekiah Make an Agreement

²⁴ Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die. ²⁵ The officials may find out that I’ve been talking with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Don’t hide anything from us, or we’ll kill you.’ ²⁶ If they come to you, say to them, ‘I asked the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”

²⁷ All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. He told them exactly what the king had told him to say. So they stopped questioning him, because they hadn’t heard his conversation with the king. ²⁸ Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison until the day Jerusalem was captured.

6 All slaves who believe must give complete respect to their own masters. In this way no one will speak evil of God’s name and what we teach. ² Slaves whose masters also believe should respect their masters even though their masters are also believers. As a result, believers who are slaves should serve their masters even better because those who receive the benefit of their work are believers whom they love.

Guidelines for Living a Godly Life

Teach and encourage people to do these things. ³ Whoever teaches false doctrine and doesn’t agree with the accurate words of our Lord Jesus Christ and godly teachings ⁴ is a conceited person. He shows that he doesn’t understand anything. Rather, he has an unhealthy desire to argue and quarrel about words. This produces jealousy, rivalry, cursing, suspicion, ⁵ and conflict between people whose corrupt minds have been robbed of the truth. They think that a godly life is a way to make a profit.

⁶ A godly life brings huge profits to people who are content with what they have. ⁷ We didn’t bring anything into the world, and we can’t take anything out of it. ⁸ As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied.

⁹ But people who want to get rich keep falling into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires which drown them in destruction and ruin. ¹⁰ Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief.

¹¹ But you, man of God, must avoid these things. Pursue what God approves of: a godly life, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight for the Christian faith. Take hold of everlasting life to which you were called and about which you made a good testimony in front of many witnesses.

¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and in the sight of Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony in front of Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ I insist that, until our Lord Jesus Christ appears, you obey this command completely. Then you cannot be blamed for doing anything wrong. ¹⁵ At the right time God will make this known. God is the blessed and only ruler. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. ¹⁶ He is the only one who cannot die. He lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honor and power belong to him forever! Amen.

¹⁷ Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. ¹⁹ By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is.

²⁰ Timothy, guard the Good News which has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless discussions and the claims of false knowledge that people use to oppose the Christian faith. ²¹ Although some claim to have knowledge, they have abandoned the faith.

God’s good will^[a] be with all of you.

BOOK FOUR

(Psalms 90–106)

Psalm 90

A prayer by Moses, the man of God.

The Obedient Example of the Family of Rechab

35 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah. He said, ² “Go to the family of Rechab and talk to them. Take them into one of the side rooms in the Lord’s temple, and offer them a drink of wine.”

³ I took Jaazaniah, who was the son of Jeremiah and the grandson of Habazziniah, and I took Jaazaniah’s brothers and all his sons—the whole family of Rechab. ⁴ I brought them into the Lord’s temple, into the side room of the sons of Hanan. (He was Igdaliah’s son, the man of God.) It was next to the room of the officials and above the side room of Maaseiah, Shallum’s son, the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set cups and pitchers filled with wine in front of the family of Rechab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ They answered, “We don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, gave us this order: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. ⁷ Never build any houses or plant any fields or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. You must always live in tents so that you may live for a long time in the land where you are staying.’ ⁸ We, along with our wives, sons, and daughters, have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, in everything he ordered us to do. We have never drunk wine, ⁹ built houses to live in, or owned vineyards, pastures, or grainfields. ¹⁰ We live in tents, and we have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab ordered us to do. ¹¹ But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That’s why we are living in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, ‘Won’t you ever learn your lesson and obey my words? declares the Lord. ¹⁴ Jonadab, Rechab’s son, ordered his descendants not to drink wine. This order has been carried out. His descendants have not drunk any wine to this day, because they have obeyed their ancestor’s order. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have refused to listen to me. ¹⁵ I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. They said, “Turn from your evil ways, do what is right, and don’t follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors.” However, you refused to listen to me or obey me. ¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, have carried out the orders of their ancestor, but you refuse to listen to me.

¹⁷ “‘This is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring on Judah and on all those who live in Jerusalem all the disasters that I threatened. I have spoken to them, but they didn’t listen. I called to them, but they didn’t answer.’”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of Rechab, “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You obeyed the order of your ancestor Jonadab, followed all his instructions, and did exactly what he told you to do. ¹⁹ So this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: A descendant of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, will always serve me.”

Jeremiah’s Prophecies Are Written, Read, and Burned

36 In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ² “Take a scroll, and write on it everything that I have dictated to you about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations from the time I spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today. ³ Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I plan to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated everything that the Lord had told him, and Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵ Jeremiah told Baruch, “I’m no longer allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ On a day of fasting, you must read from the scroll the Lord’s message that you wrote as I dictated. You must read it to the people in the Lord’s temple. You must also read it to all the people of Judah when they come from their cities. ⁷ Maybe their prayers will come into the Lord’s presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. The Lord has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury.”

⁸ Baruch, son of Neriah, did as the prophet Jeremiah commanded him. In the Lord’s temple he read from the scroll everything that the Lord had said. ⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, a time for fasting was called. It was a time for all the people in Jerusalem and for everyone who was coming from any city in Judah to Jerusalem to fast in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read the scroll containing Jeremiah’s words. Baruch read it to all the people in the Lord’s temple in the room of the scribe Gemariah, son of Shaphan, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of New Gate of the Lord’s temple.

¹¹ Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said. ¹² Then he went down to the scribe’s room in the king’s palace where all the scribes were sitting. The scribe Elishama, Delaiah (son of Shemaiah), Elnathan (son of Achbor), Gemariah (son of Shaphan), Zedekiah (son of Hananiah), and all the other officials were there. ¹³ Micaiah told them everything he heard Baruch read from the scroll publicly. ¹⁴ Then all the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah, the grandson of Shelemiah, and the great-grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Bring the scroll that you read publicly, and come with me.” Baruch, son of Neriah, took the scroll and went with him to see the officers. ¹⁵ They said to Baruch, “Please sit down, and read it to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard everything, they turned to each other in terror. They said to Baruch, “We must tell the king everything.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Please tell us how you wrote all this. Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”

¹⁸ Baruch answered, “He dictated everything to me, and I wrote it on the scroll in ink.”

¹⁹ The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ After they put the scroll in the side room of the scribe Elishama, they went to the king in the courtyard and told him everything. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took the scroll from the side room of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials standing by the king. ²² It was the ninth month, and the king was in his winter house sitting in front of the fire in the fireplace. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the fire in the fireplace. He did this until the whole scroll was burned up. ²⁴ The king and all his attendants didn’t show any fear or tear their clothes in fear when they heard everything being read. ²⁵ Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them. ²⁶ The king commanded Jerahmeel (the king’s son), Seraiah (son of Azriel), and Shelemiah (son of Abdeel) to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden Baruch and Jeremiah.

²⁷ After the king burned up the scroll that Baruch had written and that Jeremiah had dictated, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁸ “Take another scroll, and write on it everything that was written on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned. ²⁹ Say about King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned this scroll, and you asked Jeremiah, “Why did you write that the king of Babylon will certainly come to destroy this land and take away people and animals?” ³⁰ This is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his own corpse will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night. ³¹ I will punish him, his descendants, and his attendants for their wickedness. They refused to listen. So I will bring on them, on those who live in Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disasters that I have threatened.’”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it everything that was on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned. They added many similar messages.

Guidelines for Dealing with Other Christians

5 Never use harsh words when you correct an older man, but talk to him as if he were your father. Talk to younger men as if they were your brothers, ² older women as if they were your mothers, and younger women as if they were your sisters, while keeping yourself morally pure.

³ Honor widows who have no families. ⁴ The children or grandchildren of a widow must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents. This is pleasing in God’s sight.

⁵ A widow who has no family has placed her confidence in God by praying and asking for his help night and day. ⁶ But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead although she is still alive. ⁷ Insist on these things so that widows will have good reputations. ⁸ If anyone doesn’t take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the Christian faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹ Any widow who had only one husband and is at least 60 years old should be put on your list of widows. ¹⁰ People should tell about the good things she has done: raising children, being hospitable, taking care of believers’ needs, helping the suffering, or always doing good things.

¹¹ Don’t include younger widows on your list. Whenever their natural desires become stronger than their devotion to Christ, they’ll want to marry. ¹² They condemn themselves by rejecting the Christian faith, the faith they first accepted. ¹³ At the same time, they learn to go around from house to house since they have nothing else to do. Not only this, but they also gossip and get involved in other people’s business, saying things they shouldn’t say.

¹⁴ So I want younger widows to marry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them. ¹⁵ Some of them have already turned away to follow Satan. ¹⁶ If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. In this way the church is not burdened and can help widows who have no families.

¹⁷ Give double honor to spiritual leaders^[a] who handle their duties well. This is especially true if they work hard at teaching God’s word. ¹⁸ After all, Scripture says, “Never muzzle an ox when it is threshing^[b] grain,” and “The worker deserves his pay.”

¹⁹ Don’t pay attention to an accusation against a spiritual leader unless it is supported by two or three witnesses. ²⁰ Reprimand those leaders who sin. Do it in front of everyone so that the other leaders will also be afraid.

²¹ I solemnly call on you in the sight of God, Christ Jesus, and the chosen angels to be impartial when you follow what I’ve told you. Never play favorites.

²² Don’t be in a hurry to place your hands on anyone to ordain him. Don’t participate in the sins of others. Keep yourself morally pure.

²³ Stop drinking only water. Instead, drink a little wine for your stomach because you are frequently sick.

²⁴ The sins of some people are obvious, going ahead of them to judgment. The sins of others follow them there. ²⁵ In the same way, the good things that people do are obvious, and those that aren’t obvious can’t remain hidden.

The Obedient Example of the Family of Rechab

35 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah. He said, ² “Go to the family of Rechab and talk to them. Take them into one of the side rooms in the Lord’s temple, and offer them a drink of wine.”

³ I took Jaazaniah, who was the son of Jeremiah and the grandson of Habazziniah, and I took Jaazaniah’s brothers and all his sons—the whole family of Rechab. ⁴ I brought them into the Lord’s temple, into the side room of the sons of Hanan. (He was Igdaliah’s son, the man of God.) It was next to the room of the officials and above the side room of Maaseiah, Shallum’s son, the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set cups and pitchers filled with wine in front of the family of Rechab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ They answered, “We don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, gave us this order: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. ⁷ Never build any houses or plant any fields or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. You must always live in tents so that you may live for a long time in the land where you are staying.’ ⁸ We, along with our wives, sons, and daughters, have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, in everything he ordered us to do. We have never drunk wine, ⁹ built houses to live in, or owned vineyards, pastures, or grainfields. ¹⁰ We live in tents, and we have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab ordered us to do. ¹¹ But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That’s why we are living in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, ‘Won’t you ever learn your lesson and obey my words? declares the Lord. ¹⁴ Jonadab, Rechab’s son, ordered his descendants not to drink wine. This order has been carried out. His descendants have not drunk any wine to this day, because they have obeyed their ancestor’s order. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have refused to listen to me. ¹⁵ I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. They said, “Turn from your evil ways, do what is right, and don’t follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors.” However, you refused to listen to me or obey me. ¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, have carried out the orders of their ancestor, but you refuse to listen to me.

¹⁷ “‘This is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring on Judah and on all those who live in Jerusalem all the disasters that I threatened. I have spoken to them, but they didn’t listen. I called to them, but they didn’t answer.’”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of Rechab, “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You obeyed the order of your ancestor Jonadab, followed all his instructions, and did exactly what he told you to do. ¹⁹ So this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: A descendant of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, will always serve me.”

Jeremiah’s Prophecies Are Written, Read, and Burned

36 In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ² “Take a scroll, and write on it everything that I have dictated to you about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations from the time I spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today. ³ Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I plan to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated everything that the Lord had told him, and Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵ Jeremiah told Baruch, “I’m no longer allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ On a day of fasting, you must read from the scroll the Lord’s message that you wrote as I dictated. You must read it to the people in the Lord’s temple. You must also read it to all the people of Judah when they come from their cities. ⁷ Maybe their prayers will come into the Lord’s presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. The Lord has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury.”

⁸ Baruch, son of Neriah, did as the prophet Jeremiah commanded him. In the Lord’s temple he read from the scroll everything that the Lord had said. ⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, a time for fasting was called. It was a time for all the people in Jerusalem and for everyone who was coming from any city in Judah to Jerusalem to fast in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read the scroll containing Jeremiah’s words. Baruch read it to all the people in the Lord’s temple in the room of the scribe Gemariah, son of Shaphan, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of New Gate of the Lord’s temple.

¹¹ Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said. ¹² Then he went down to the scribe’s room in the king’s palace where all the scribes were sitting. The scribe Elishama, Delaiah (son of Shemaiah), Elnathan (son of Achbor), Gemariah (son of Shaphan), Zedekiah (son of Hananiah), and all the other officials were there. ¹³ Micaiah told them everything he heard Baruch read from the scroll publicly. ¹⁴ Then all the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah, the grandson of Shelemiah, and the great-grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Bring the scroll that you read publicly, and come with me.” Baruch, son of Neriah, took the scroll and went with him to see the officers. ¹⁵ They said to Baruch, “Please sit down, and read it to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard everything, they turned to each other in terror. They said to Baruch, “We must tell the king everything.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Please tell us how you wrote all this. Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”

¹⁸ Baruch answered, “He dictated everything to me, and I wrote it on the scroll in ink.”

¹⁹ The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ After they put the scroll in the side room of the scribe Elishama, they went to the king in the courtyard and told him everything. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took the scroll from the side room of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials standing by the king. ²² It was the ninth month, and the king was in his winter house sitting in front of the fire in the fireplace. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the fire in the fireplace. He did this until the whole scroll was burned up. ²⁴ The king and all his attendants didn’t show any fear or tear their clothes in fear when they heard everything being read. ²⁵ Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them. ²⁶ The king commanded Jerahmeel (the king’s son), Seraiah (son of Azriel), and Shelemiah (son of Abdeel) to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden Baruch and Jeremiah.

²⁷ After the king burned up the scroll that Baruch had written and that Jeremiah had dictated, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁸ “Take another scroll, and write on it everything that was written on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned. ²⁹ Say about King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned this scroll, and you asked Jeremiah, “Why did you write that the king of Babylon will certainly come to destroy this land and take away people and animals?” ³⁰ This is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his own corpse will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night. ³¹ I will punish him, his descendants, and his attendants for their wickedness. They refused to listen. So I will bring on them, on those who live in Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disasters that I have threatened.’”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it everything that was on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned. They added many similar messages.

Guidelines for Dealing with Other Christians

5 Never use harsh words when you correct an older man, but talk to him as if he were your father. Talk to younger men as if they were your brothers, ² older women as if they were your mothers, and younger women as if they were your sisters, while keeping yourself morally pure.

³ Honor widows who have no families. ⁴ The children or grandchildren of a widow must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents. This is pleasing in God’s sight.

⁵ A widow who has no family has placed her confidence in God by praying and asking for his help night and day. ⁶ But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead although she is still alive. ⁷ Insist on these things so that widows will have good reputations. ⁸ If anyone doesn’t take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the Christian faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹ Any widow who had only one husband and is at least 60 years old should be put on your list of widows. ¹⁰ People should tell about the good things she has done: raising children, being hospitable, taking care of believers’ needs, helping the suffering, or always doing good things.

¹¹ Don’t include younger widows on your list. Whenever their natural desires become stronger than their devotion to Christ, they’ll want to marry. ¹² They condemn themselves by rejecting the Christian faith, the faith they first accepted. ¹³ At the same time, they learn to go around from house to house since they have nothing else to do. Not only this, but they also gossip and get involved in other people’s business, saying things they shouldn’t say.

¹⁴ So I want younger widows to marry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them. ¹⁵ Some of them have already turned away to follow Satan. ¹⁶ If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. In this way the church is not burdened and can help widows who have no families.

¹⁷ Give double honor to spiritual leaders^[a] who handle their duties well. This is especially true if they work hard at teaching God’s word. ¹⁸ After all, Scripture says, “Never muzzle an ox when it is threshing^[b] grain,” and “The worker deserves his pay.”

¹⁹ Don’t pay attention to an accusation against a spiritual leader unless it is supported by two or three witnesses. ²⁰ Reprimand those leaders who sin. Do it in front of everyone so that the other leaders will also be afraid.

²¹ I solemnly call on you in the sight of God, Christ Jesus, and the chosen angels to be impartial when you follow what I’ve told you. Never play favorites.

²² Don’t be in a hurry to place your hands on anyone to ordain him. Don’t participate in the sins of others. Keep yourself morally pure.

²³ Stop drinking only water. Instead, drink a little wine for your stomach because you are frequently sick.

²⁴ The sins of some people are obvious, going ahead of them to judgment. The sins of others follow them there. ²⁵ In the same way, the good things that people do are obvious, and those that aren’t obvious can’t remain hidden.

The Lord Will Restore and Heal Judah

33 While Jeremiah was still being held in the courtyard of the prison, the Lord spoke his word to him a second time. The Lord said, ² “I made the earth, formed it, and set it in place. My name is the Lord. This is what the Lord says: ³ Call to me, and I will answer you. I will tell you great and mysterious things that you do not know. ⁴ The houses in this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah have been torn down to be used against the dirt ramps and weapons of the Babylonians. This is what the Lord God of Israel says about this: ⁵ The people of Israel fought the Babylonians. Now their houses are filled with the bodies of their own people I killed in my anger and my fury. I will hide my face from this city because of its wickedness.

⁶ “But I will heal this city and restore it to health. I will heal its people, and I will give them peace and security. ⁷ I will restore Judah and Israel and rebuild them as they were before. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all the sins that they have committed against me. I will forgive them for all the sins that they have committed against me and for rebelling against me. ⁹ Then Jerusalem will be my source of joy, praise, and honor. All the nations on earth will hear about all the blessings that I will give to Jerusalem. They will be afraid and tremble because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord says: You have said that this place is ruined and that no people or animals live in it. It’s true! The cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are deserted. No people or animals live there. But once again you will hear ¹¹ the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms. You will hear those who bring thank offerings to the Lord’s temple say,

I will restore the fortunes of the land to what they were before,” says the Lord.

¹² “This is what the Lord of Armies says: In this deserted place, where no people or animals live, and in all its cities, there will once again be pastures where shepherds can rest their flocks. ¹³ In the cities on the mountains, in the foothills, in the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the area around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shepherds will once again count their sheep,” says the Lord.

¹⁴ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will keep the promise that I made to Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David. He will do what is fair and right in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live securely. Jerusalem will be called The Lord Our Righteousness.

¹⁷ “This what the Lord says: David will never fail to have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel. ¹⁸ The Levitical priests will never fail to have a descendant in my presence to sacrifice burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to prepare daily sacrifices.”

¹⁹ The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: Suppose you could break my arrangement^[a] with day and night so that they wouldn’t come at their proper time. ²¹ Then my arrangement with my servant David could be broken, and he would not have a descendant to rule on his throne. The arrangement with my servants the Levitical priests could also be broken. ²² I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who serve me like the stars of heaven that cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore that cannot be measured.”

²³ Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have said? They have said that the Lord has rejected the two families he has chosen. They despise my people, and they no longer consider them a nation.

²⁵ “This is what the Lord says: Suppose I hadn’t made an arrangement with day and night or made laws for heaven and earth. ²⁶ Then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David. I would not let any of David’s descendants rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, I will restore their fortunes and love them.”

King Zedekiah and the People Break Their Promise

34 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his entire army, and all the kingdoms and people that he ruled were attacking Jerusalem and all its cities. He said, ² “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Go to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘The Lord says: I’m going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. ³ You will not escape from him. You will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will talk to you face to face. Then you will go to Babylon.

⁴ “‘Listen to the Lord’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the Lord says about you: You will not die in war. ⁵ You will die peacefully. People will burn funeral fires for you as they did for your ancestors, the kings who lived before you. They will say, “Oh, master,” as they mourn for you. I have spoken my word, declares the Lord.’”

⁶ The prophet Jeremiah told all these things to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. ⁷ He did this when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities of Judah that were left.

⁸ The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves. ⁹ Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was supposed to keep another Jew as a slave. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people agreed and promised to free their male and female slaves and not to keep them as slaves anymore. So they set them free. ¹¹ But afterwards, they changed their minds and took back the men and women they had freed and made them their slaves again.

¹² The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I put a condition on the promise^[b] I made to your ancestors when I brought them from Egypt, where they were slaves. I said, ¹⁴ ‘Every seven years each of you must free any Hebrews who sold themselves to you. When they have served you for six years, you must set them free.’ But your ancestors refused to obey me or listen to me. ¹⁵ Recently, you changed and did what I consider right. You agreed to free your neighbors, and you made a promise in my presence, in the temple that is called by my name. ¹⁶ Now you have changed again and dishonored me. You brought back the male and female slaves that you had set free to live their own lives. You have forced them to be your male and female slaves again.

¹⁷ “This is what the Lord says: You didn’t obey me. You haven’t freed your relatives and neighbors. Now I am going to free you,” declares the Lord. “I will free you to die in wars, plagues, and famines. I will make all the kingdoms of the world horrified at the thought of you. ¹⁸ I will hand over the people who have rejected my promise. They have not kept the terms of the promise which they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces. ¹⁹ I will hand over the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the palace officials, the priests, and all the common people who passed between the pieces of the calf. ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them, and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals. ²¹ I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them and to the army of the king of Babylon, the army that has withdrawn from you. ²² I am going to give a command,” declares the Lord. “I will bring that army back to this city to attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one will live there.”

A Prophecy about the Last Times

4 The Spirit says clearly that in later times some believers will desert the Christian faith. They will follow spirits that deceive, and they will believe the teachings of demons. ² These people will speak lies disguised as truth. Their consciences have been scarred as if branded by a red-hot iron. ³ They will try to stop others from getting married and from eating certain foods. God created food to be received with prayers of thanks by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ Everything God created is good. Nothing should be rejected if it is received with prayers of thanks. ⁵ God’s word and prayer set it apart as holy.

Guidelines for Serving Christ

⁶ You are a good servant of Christ Jesus when you point these things out to our brothers and sisters. Then you will be nourished by the words of the Christian faith and the excellent teachings which you have followed closely. ⁷ Don’t have anything to do with godless myths that old women like to tell. Rather, train yourself to live a godly life. ⁸ Training the body helps a little, but godly living helps in every way. Godly living has the promise of life now and in the world to come. ⁹ This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete acceptance. ¹⁰ Certainly, we work hard and struggle to live a godly life, because we place our confidence in the living God. He is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

¹¹ Insist on these things and teach them. ¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you for being young. Instead, make your speech, behavior, love, faith, and purity an example for other believers. ¹³ Until I get there, concentrate on reading Scripture in worship, giving encouraging messages, and teaching people. ¹⁴ Don’t neglect the gift which you received through prophecy when the spiritual leaders^[a] placed their hands on you to ordain you. ¹⁵ Practice these things. Devote your life to them so that everyone can see your progress. ¹⁶ Focus on your life and your teaching. Continue to do what I’ve told you. If you do this, you will save yourself and those who hear you.

²⁷ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the nations of Israel and Judah with people and animals. ²⁸ Once I watched over them to uproot them, to tear them down, and to wreck, ruin, and hurt them. Now I will watch over them to build them up and to plant them,” declares the Lord. ²⁹ “When those days come, people will no longer say, ‘Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children’s teeth are set on edge.’ ³⁰ But each person will die for his own sin. Whoever eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge.

The New Promise

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new promise^[a] to Israel and Judah. ³² It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³ “But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the Lord, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”

This is what the Lord says:

³⁷ This is what the Lord says:

³⁸ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to Corner Gate. ³⁹ A measuring line will stretch from there straight to the Hill of Gareb, and then it will turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley, filled with its dead bodies and ashes, and the whole area to the Kidron Valley, as far as the corner of Horse Gate in the east, will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or torn down again.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah during Zedekiah’s tenth year as king of Judah. (This was Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year as king.) ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was blockading Jerusalem.

The prophet Jeremiah was locked up in the courtyard of the prison. This prison was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ When King Zedekiah of Judah locked up Jeremiah, Zedekiah asked him, “Why are you prophesying? You are saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ⁴ King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will talk to Nebuchadnezzar in person and look him in the eye. ⁵ Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him, declares the Lord. When you fight the Babylonians, you won’t win.’”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ⁷ ‘Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel, son of Shallum, is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth, because as the closest relative it is your responsibility to buy it.”’

⁸ “Then, as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the prison. He said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. It is your responsibility to purchase it, because the rights of the closest relative belong to you. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that the Lord had spoken to me.

⁹ “So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and gave him the money. The field cost seven ounces of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, had people witness the signing of the deed, and paid out the silver. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed copy of the deed, containing the terms and conditions, as well as an unsealed copy. ¹² I gave the copies of the deeds to Baruch, son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the courtyard of the prison. ¹³ Then I gave Baruch these orders: ¹⁴ ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Take both of these documents, both the sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed. Put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. ¹⁵ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: My people will again buy houses, fields, and vineyards in this land.’

¹⁶ “After I had given the copies to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord. I prayed, ¹⁷ ‘Almighty Lord, you made heaven and earth by your great strength and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸ You show mercy to thousands of generations. However, you punish children for the wickedness of their parents. You, God, are great and mighty. Your name is the Lord of Armies. ¹⁹ You make wise plans and do mighty things. You see everything the descendants of Adam do. You reward them for the way they live and for what they do. ²⁰ You performed miraculous signs and amazing things in Egypt. To this day you are still doing them in Israel. You made a name for yourself that continues to this day. ²¹ You brought your people from Egypt with miraculous signs and amazing things, with a mighty hand and a powerful arm, and with great terror. ²² You gave them the land that you swore with an oath to give their ancestors, the land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They entered and took possession of it. However, they refused to obey you or to follow your teachings. They didn’t do anything you commanded them to do, so you brought all this disaster on them.

²⁴ “‘See how the dirt ramps have been built up around the city to capture it! Because of wars, famines, and plagues, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you have threatened to do has happened, as you can see. ²⁵ Yet you, Almighty Lord, told me to buy a field with money and get witnesses to confirm it, although the city was handed over to the Babylonians.’”

²⁶ The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁷ “I am the Lord God of all humanity. Nothing is too hard for me. ²⁸ This is what the Lord says: I’m going to hand this city over to the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will capture it.

²⁹ “The Babylonians who are attacking this city will break in, set this city on fire, and burn it down. They will burn down the houses of people who made me furious by going up to the roofs to burn incense to Baal and to pour out wine offerings to other gods. ³⁰ Ever since they were young, the people of Israel and Judah have done what I consider evil. The people of Israel have made me furious by what they’ve done,” declares the Lord. ³¹ “The people in this city have made me so angry and furious from the day they built it to this day. So now I must remove this city from my presence.

³² “The people of Israel and Judah have made me furious because they are evil. The people, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, and the Judeans and those who live in Jerusalem ³³ have turned their backs, not their faces to me. I taught them again and again, but they refused to listen and learn. ³⁴ They set up their detestable idols in the temple that is called by my name, and they dishonored it. ³⁵ In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I didn’t ask them to do this. It never entered my mind. I didn’t make Judah sin.

³⁶ “You have said this about the city, ‘Because of wars, famines, and plagues it will be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ Now this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ³⁷ I am going to gather the people from all the lands where I scattered them in my anger, fury, and terrifying wrath. I will bring them back to this place and make them live here securely. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them the same attitude and the same purpose so that they will fear me as long as they live. This will be for their own good and for the good of their children. ⁴⁰ I will make an eternal promise^[b] to them that I will never stop blessing them. I will make them fear me so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹ I will enjoy blessing them. With all my heart and soul I will faithfully plant them in this land.

⁴² “This is what the Lord says: As I brought all these disasters on these people, so I will bring on them all these blessings that I have promised them. ⁴³ You have said that this land is a wasteland, without people or animals living in it. You have also said that it has been handed over to the Babylonians. But people will once again buy fields in this land. ⁴⁴ They will buy fields for money, sign deeds, seal them, and have people witness the signing of the deeds. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, in the region of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities on the mountains, in the hill country, and in the Negev because I will bring them back from their captivity,” declares the Lord.

Guidelines for Leaders in the Church

3 This is a statement that can be trusted: If anyone sets his heart on being a bishop,^[a] he desires something excellent. ² A bishop must have a good reputation. He must have only one wife, be sober, use good judgment, be respectable, be hospitable, and be able to teach. ³ He must not drink excessively or be a violent person, but he must be gentle. He must not be quarrelsome or love money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well. His children should respectfully obey him. ⁵ (If a man doesn’t know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a new Christian, or he might become arrogant like the devil and be condemned. ⁷ People who are not Christians must speak well of him, or he might become the victim of disgraceful insults that the devil sets as traps for him.

⁸ Deacons^[b] must also be of good character. They must not be two-faced or addicted to alcohol. They must not use shameful ways to make money. ⁹ They must have clear consciences about possessing the mystery of the Christian faith. ¹⁰ First, a person must be evaluated. Then, if he has a good reputation, he may become a deacon.

¹¹ Their wives must also be of good character. They must not be gossips, but they must control their tempers and be trustworthy in every way.

¹² A deacon must have only one wife. Deacons must manage their children and their families well. ¹³ Those deacons who serve well gain an excellent reputation and will have confidence as a result of their faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ I hope to visit you soon. However, I’m writing this to you ¹⁵ in case I’m delayed. I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

¹⁶ The mystery that gives us our reverence for God is acknowledged to be great:

Psalm 88

A song; a psalm by Korah’s descendants; for the choir director; according to mahalath leannoth;^[a] a maskil by Heman the Ezrahite.

Psalm 89

A maskil by Ethan the Ezrahite.

²⁷ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the nations of Israel and Judah with people and animals. ²⁸ Once I watched over them to uproot them, to tear them down, and to wreck, ruin, and hurt them. Now I will watch over them to build them up and to plant them,” declares the Lord. ²⁹ “When those days come, people will no longer say, ‘Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children’s teeth are set on edge.’ ³⁰ But each person will die for his own sin. Whoever eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge.

The New Promise

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new promise^[a] to Israel and Judah. ³² It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³ “But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the Lord, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”

This is what the Lord says:

³⁷ This is what the Lord says:

³⁸ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to Corner Gate. ³⁹ A measuring line will stretch from there straight to the Hill of Gareb, and then it will turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley, filled with its dead bodies and ashes, and the whole area to the Kidron Valley, as far as the corner of Horse Gate in the east, will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or torn down again.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah during Zedekiah’s tenth year as king of Judah. (This was Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year as king.) ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was blockading Jerusalem.

The prophet Jeremiah was locked up in the courtyard of the prison. This prison was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ When King Zedekiah of Judah locked up Jeremiah, Zedekiah asked him, “Why are you prophesying? You are saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ⁴ King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will talk to Nebuchadnezzar in person and look him in the eye. ⁵ Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him, declares the Lord. When you fight the Babylonians, you won’t win.’”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ⁷ ‘Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel, son of Shallum, is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth, because as the closest relative it is your responsibility to buy it.”’

⁸ “Then, as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the prison. He said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. It is your responsibility to purchase it, because the rights of the closest relative belong to you. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that the Lord had spoken to me.

⁹ “So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and gave him the money. The field cost seven ounces of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, had people witness the signing of the deed, and paid out the silver. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed copy of the deed, containing the terms and conditions, as well as an unsealed copy. ¹² I gave the copies of the deeds to Baruch, son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the courtyard of the prison. ¹³ Then I gave Baruch these orders: ¹⁴ ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Take both of these documents, both the sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed. Put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. ¹⁵ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: My people will again buy houses, fields, and vineyards in this land.’

¹⁶ “After I had given the copies to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord. I prayed, ¹⁷ ‘Almighty Lord, you made heaven and earth by your great strength and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸ You show mercy to thousands of generations. However, you punish children for the wickedness of their parents. You, God, are great and mighty. Your name is the Lord of Armies. ¹⁹ You make wise plans and do mighty things. You see everything the descendants of Adam do. You reward them for the way they live and for what they do. ²⁰ You performed miraculous signs and amazing things in Egypt. To this day you are still doing them in Israel. You made a name for yourself that continues to this day. ²¹ You brought your people from Egypt with miraculous signs and amazing things, with a mighty hand and a powerful arm, and with great terror. ²² You gave them the land that you swore with an oath to give their ancestors, the land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They entered and took possession of it. However, they refused to obey you or to follow your teachings. They didn’t do anything you commanded them to do, so you brought all this disaster on them.

²⁴ “‘See how the dirt ramps have been built up around the city to capture it! Because of wars, famines, and plagues, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you have threatened to do has happened, as you can see. ²⁵ Yet you, Almighty Lord, told me to buy a field with money and get witnesses to confirm it, although the city was handed over to the Babylonians.’”

²⁶ The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁷ “I am the Lord God of all humanity. Nothing is too hard for me. ²⁸ This is what the Lord says: I’m going to hand this city over to the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will capture it.

²⁹ “The Babylonians who are attacking this city will break in, set this city on fire, and burn it down. They will burn down the houses of people who made me furious by going up to the roofs to burn incense to Baal and to pour out wine offerings to other gods. ³⁰ Ever since they were young, the people of Israel and Judah have done what I consider evil. The people of Israel have made me furious by what they’ve done,” declares the Lord. ³¹ “The people in this city have made me so angry and furious from the day they built it to this day. So now I must remove this city from my presence.

³² “The people of Israel and Judah have made me furious because they are evil. The people, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, and the Judeans and those who live in Jerusalem ³³ have turned their backs, not their faces to me. I taught them again and again, but they refused to listen and learn. ³⁴ They set up their detestable idols in the temple that is called by my name, and they dishonored it. ³⁵ In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I didn’t ask them to do this. It never entered my mind. I didn’t make Judah sin.

³⁶ “You have said this about the city, ‘Because of wars, famines, and plagues it will be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ Now this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ³⁷ I am going to gather the people from all the lands where I scattered them in my anger, fury, and terrifying wrath. I will bring them back to this place and make them live here securely. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them the same attitude and the same purpose so that they will fear me as long as they live. This will be for their own good and for the good of their children. ⁴⁰ I will make an eternal promise^[b] to them that I will never stop blessing them. I will make them fear me so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹ I will enjoy blessing them. With all my heart and soul I will faithfully plant them in this land.

⁴² “This is what the Lord says: As I brought all these disasters on these people, so I will bring on them all these blessings that I have promised them. ⁴³ You have said that this land is a wasteland, without people or animals living in it. You have also said that it has been handed over to the Babylonians. But people will once again buy fields in this land. ⁴⁴ They will buy fields for money, sign deeds, seal them, and have people witness the signing of the deeds. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, in the region of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities on the mountains, in the hill country, and in the Negev because I will bring them back from their captivity,” declares the Lord.

Guidelines for Leaders in the Church

3 This is a statement that can be trusted: If anyone sets his heart on being a bishop,^[a] he desires something excellent. ² A bishop must have a good reputation. He must have only one wife, be sober, use good judgment, be respectable, be hospitable, and be able to teach. ³ He must not drink excessively or be a violent person, but he must be gentle. He must not be quarrelsome or love money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well. His children should respectfully obey him. ⁵ (If a man doesn’t know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a new Christian, or he might become arrogant like the devil and be condemned. ⁷ People who are not Christians must speak well of him, or he might become the victim of disgraceful insults that the devil sets as traps for him.

⁸ Deacons^[b] must also be of good character. They must not be two-faced or addicted to alcohol. They must not use shameful ways to make money. ⁹ They must have clear consciences about possessing the mystery of the Christian faith. ¹⁰ First, a person must be evaluated. Then, if he has a good reputation, he may become a deacon.

¹¹ Their wives must also be of good character. They must not be gossips, but they must control their tempers and be trustworthy in every way.

¹² A deacon must have only one wife. Deacons must manage their children and their families well. ¹³ Those deacons who serve well gain an excellent reputation and will have confidence as a result of their faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ I hope to visit you soon. However, I’m writing this to you ¹⁵ in case I’m delayed. I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

¹⁶ The mystery that gives us our reverence for God is acknowledged to be great:

Psalm 88

A song; a psalm by Korah’s descendants; for the choir director; according to mahalath leannoth;^[a] a maskil by Heman the Ezrahite.

Psalm 89

A maskil by Ethan the Ezrahite.

Israel’s Glorious Future

30 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ² “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Write in a book everything that I tell you. ³ The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity. I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.”

⁴ This is the message that the Lord spoke about Israel and Judah: ⁵ “This is what the Lord says:

⁸ “On that day,” declares the Lord of Armies, “I will break the yokes^[a] off your necks and tear off your ropes. Foreigners will no longer make you serve them. ⁹ You will serve the Lord your God and David your king. I will establish him for you.

¹² “This is what the Lord says:

Both Israel and Judah Will Be Rescued

31 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

² This is what the Lord says:

³ The Lord appeared to me in a faraway place and said,

⁷ This is what the Lord says:

¹⁵ This is what the Lord says:

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says:

²³ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: When I have brought them back from captivity, they will once again use this saying in Judah and in its cities:

²⁶ At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant.

2 First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people, ² for rulers, and for everyone who has authority over us. Pray for these people so that we can have a quiet and peaceful life always lived in a godly and reverent way. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior. ⁴ He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. ⁵ There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and humans—a human, Christ Jesus. ⁶ He sacrificed himself for all people to free them from their sins.

This message is valid for every era. ⁷ I was appointed to spread this Good News and to be an apostle to teach people who are not Jewish about faith and truth. I’m telling you the truth. I’m not lying.

⁸ I want men to offer prayers everywhere. They should raise their hands in prayer after putting aside their anger and any quarrels they have with anyone.

⁹ I want women to show their beauty by dressing in appropriate clothes that are modest and respectable. Their beauty will be shown by what they do,^[a] not by their hair styles or the gold jewelry, pearls, or expensive clothes they wear. ¹⁰ This is what is proper for women who claim to have reverence for God.

¹¹ A woman must learn in silence, in keeping with her position. ¹² I don’t allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. Instead, she should be quiet. ¹³ After all, Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ Besides that, Adam was not deceived. It was the woman who was deceived and sinned. ¹⁵ However, she and all women will be saved through the birth of the child,^[b] if they lead respectable lives in faith, love, and holiness.

Israel’s Glorious Future

30 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ² “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Write in a book everything that I tell you. ³ The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity. I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.”

⁴ This is the message that the Lord spoke about Israel and Judah: ⁵ “This is what the Lord says:

⁸ “On that day,” declares the Lord of Armies, “I will break the yokes^[a] off your necks and tear off your ropes. Foreigners will no longer make you serve them. ⁹ You will serve the Lord your God and David your king. I will establish him for you.

¹² “This is what the Lord says:

Both Israel and Judah Will Be Rescued

31 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

² This is what the Lord says:

³ The Lord appeared to me in a faraway place and said,

⁷ This is what the Lord says:

¹⁵ This is what the Lord says:

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says:

²³ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: When I have brought them back from captivity, they will once again use this saying in Judah and in its cities:

²⁶ At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant.

2 First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people, ² for rulers, and for everyone who has authority over us. Pray for these people so that we can have a quiet and peaceful life always lived in a godly and reverent way. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior. ⁴ He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. ⁵ There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and humans—a human, Christ Jesus. ⁶ He sacrificed himself for all people to free them from their sins.

This message is valid for every era. ⁷ I was appointed to spread this Good News and to be an apostle to teach people who are not Jewish about faith and truth. I’m telling you the truth. I’m not lying.

⁸ I want men to offer prayers everywhere. They should raise their hands in prayer after putting aside their anger and any quarrels they have with anyone.

⁹ I want women to show their beauty by dressing in appropriate clothes that are modest and respectable. Their beauty will be shown by what they do,^[a] not by their hair styles or the gold jewelry, pearls, or expensive clothes they wear. ¹⁰ This is what is proper for women who claim to have reverence for God.

¹¹ A woman must learn in silence, in keeping with her position. ¹² I don’t allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. Instead, she should be quiet. ¹³ After all, Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ Besides that, Adam was not deceived. It was the woman who was deceived and sinned. ¹⁵ However, she and all women will be saved through the birth of the child,^[b] if they lead respectable lives in faith, love, and holiness.

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

28 In that same year, early in the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of his fourth year as king, the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the Lord’s temple. He said to me in front of the priests and all the people, ² “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will break the yoke^[a] of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two years I will bring back all the utensils of the Lord’s temple that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from this place and carried off to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord. So I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ The prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people standing in the Lord’s temple. ⁶ He said, “Amen! May the Lord do this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true and bring back the utensils of the Lord’s temple and all the captives from Babylon to this place. ⁷ But now listen to this message that I am speaking to you and to all the people: ⁸ Long ago, the prophets who preceded you and me prophesied wars, disasters, and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹ But the prophet who prophesied peace was recognized as a prophet that the Lord sent only if the message of the prophet came true.”

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it. ¹¹ Hananiah said in front of all the people, “This is what the Lord says: In the same way, I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.” Then the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.

¹² After the prophet Hananiah broke the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “Tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken the wooden yoke, but I^[b] will replace it with an iron yoke. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations so that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will serve him! I will even make wild animals serve him.’”

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Now listen, Hananiah, the Lord hasn’t sent you. You have made these people believe a lie. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says: I’m going to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have encouraged rebellion against the Lord.”

¹⁷ So the prophet Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year.

Jeremiah Writes to the Captives in Babylon

29 The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter from Jerusalem to the rest of the leaders among the captives. He also sent it to the priests, the prophets, and all the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² (This was after King Jehoiakin^[c] and his mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and metal workers left Jerusalem.) ³ He sent the letter with Shaphan’s son Elasah and Hilkiah’s son Gemariah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah had sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. The letter said:

¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: When Babylon’s 70 years are over, I will come to you. I will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place. ¹¹ I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. ¹² Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ When you look for me, you will find me. When you wholeheartedly seek me, ¹⁴ I will let you find me, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I’ve scattered you, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive.

¹⁵ You’ve said that the Lord has given you prophets in Babylon. ¹⁶ But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and about all the people who live in this city, the people who are your relatives and who weren’t taken away as captives: ¹⁷ The Lord of Armies says: I’m going to send them wars, famines, and plagues. These people are like rotten figs to me, figs that are so bad that they can’t be eaten. ¹⁸ I will chase them with wars, famines, and plagues. I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms on the earth. They will become something cursed, ridiculed, and hissed at, and they will be a disgrace among all the nations where I scatter them. ¹⁹ They didn’t listen to me, declares the Lord. I sent them my servants the prophets again and again, but they refused to listen, declares the Lord.

²⁰ So listen to the Lord’s word, all you captives who were sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about Kolaiah’s son Ahab and about Maaseiah’s son Zedekiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: I’m going to hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will kill them as you watch. ²² Because of them, all the captives from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: May the Lord curse you as he cursed Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned to death. ²³ They have done shameful things in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and spoke lies in my name. I didn’t command them to do this. I know what they have done. I’m a witness, declares the Lord.

²⁴ The Lord says, “Say to Shemaiah from Nehelam, ²⁵ ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. These letters said: ²⁶ The Lord made you priest instead of Jehoiada so that there would be officials for the Lord’s temple. You should put any lunatic who acts like a prophet in prison and in shackles. ²⁷ Now, why haven’t you arrested Jeremiah from Anathoth? After all, he acts like a prophet among you. ²⁸ That’s why Jeremiah sent this message to us in Babylon: You will be captives a long time. Build houses, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat what they produce.’”

²⁹ The priest Zephaniah read this letter to the prophet Jeremiah.

³⁰ Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ³¹ “Send this message to all the captives: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah from Nehelam: Shemaiah prophesied to you, but I didn’t send him. He has made you believe a lie. ³² The Lord says: I will punish Shemaiah from Nehelam. I will also punish his descendants. No one from his family will be left alive. He will not see the blessings that I’m going to send my people, declares the Lord, because he has encouraged rebellion against the Lord.’”

Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our confidence.

² To Timothy, a genuine child in faith.

Good will,^[a] mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord are yours!

A Warning about False Teachers

³ When I was going to the province of Macedonia, I encouraged you to stay in the city of Ephesus. That way you could order certain people to stop teaching false doctrine ⁴ and occupying themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These myths and genealogies raise a lot of questions rather than promoting God’s plan, which centers in faith.

⁵ My goal in giving you this order is for love to flow from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith. ⁶ Some people have left these qualities behind and have turned to useless discussions. ⁷ They want to be experts in Moses’ Teachings. However, they don’t understand what they’re talking about or the things about which they speak so confidently.

⁸ We know that the laws in Moses’ Teachings are good if they are used as they were intended to be used. ⁹ For example, a person must realize that those laws are not intended for people who have God’s approval. Laws are intended for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly people and sinners, for those who think nothing is holy or sacred, for those who kill their fathers, their mothers, or other people. ¹⁰ Laws are intended for people involved in sexual sins, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for those who lie when they take an oath, and for whatever else is against accurate teachings. ¹¹ Moses’ Teachings were intended to be used in agreement with the Good News that contains the glory of the blessed God. I was entrusted with that Good News.

God’s Mercy to Paul

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord that he has trusted me and has appointed me to do his work with the strength he has given me. ¹³ In the past I cursed him, persecuted him, and acted arrogantly toward him. However, I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief. ¹⁴ Our Lord was very kind^[b] to me. Through his kindness he brought me to faith and gave me the love that Christ Jesus shows people.

¹⁵ This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the foremost sinner. ¹⁶ However, I was treated with mercy so that Christ Jesus could use me, the foremost sinner, to demonstrate his patience. This patience serves as an example for those who would believe in him and live forever. ¹⁷ Worship and glory belong forever to the eternal king, the immortal, invisible, and only God. Amen.

Guidelines for the Church

¹⁸ Timothy, my child, I’m giving you this order about the prophecies that are still coming to you: Use these prophecies in faith and with a clear conscience to fight this noble war. ¹⁹ Some have refused to let their faith guide their conscience and their faith has been destroyed like a wrecked ship. ^{[c] 20} Among these people are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan in order to teach them not to dishonor God.

Psalm 87

By Korah’s descendants; a psalm; a song.