Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Jeremiah, chapters 7 and 8, as well as 11 and
12. Chapter 7. The word that came to Jeremiah
from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the
Lord's house and proclaim there this word, and
say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah,
who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause
you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these
lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord
are these. For if you thoroughly amend your ways
and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment
between a man and his neighbor, if you do not
oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the
widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this
place or walk after other gods to your hurt then
i will cause you to dwell in this place in the
land that i gave to your fathers forever and
ever behold you trust in lying words that cannot
profit will you steal murder commit adultery
swear falsely burn incense to bail and walk after
other gods whom you do not know And then come
and stand before me in this house, which is called
by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all
these abominations. Has this house, which is
called by my name, become a den of thieves in
your eyes? Behold I, even I, have seen it, says
the Lord. But go now to my place, which was in
Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and
see what I did to it because of the wickedness
of my people Israel. And now, because you have
done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke
to you, rising up early and speaking, but you
did not hear, and I called you, but you did not
answer. Therefore I will do to the house which
is called by my name, in which you trust, and
to this place which I gave to you and your fathers,
as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you
out of my sight, as I have cast out all your
brethren, the whole posterity of Ephraim. Therefore
do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry
or prayer for them, nor make intercession to
me, for I will not hear you. Do you not see what
they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets
of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers
kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to
make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they
pour out drink offerings to other gods, that
they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke
me to anger? says the Lord. do they not provoke
themselves to the shame of their own faces therefore
thus says the lord god behold my anger and my
fury will be poured out on this place on man
and on beast on the trees of the field and on
the fruit of the ground and it will burn and
not be quenched thus says the lord of hosts the
god of israel Add your burnt offerings to your
sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak
to your fathers or command them in the day that
I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning
burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what
I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and
I will be your God, and you shall be my people,
and walk in all the ways that I have commanded
you, that it may be well with you. Yet they did
not obey or incline their ear, but followed the
counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts,
and went backward and not forward. Since the
day that your fathers came out of the land of
Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you
all my servants, the prophets, daily rising up
early and sending them. Yet they did not obey
me or incline their ear, but stiffened their
neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore
you shall speak all these words to them. but
they will not obey you. You shall also call to
them, but they will not answer you. So you shall
say to them, This is a nation that does not obey
the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive
correction. Truth has perished and has been cut
off from their mouth. Cut off your hair and cast
it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate
heights. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath. For the children
of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the
Lord. They have set their abominations in the
house which is called by my name to pollute it.
And they have built the high places of Topheth,
which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom,
to burn their sons and their daughters in the
fire, which I did not command, nor did it come
into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, when it will no more be
called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom,
Chapter 8 At that time, says the Lord, they shall
bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and
the bones of its princes and the bones of the
priests and the bones of the prophets and the
bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of
their graves. They shall spread them before the
sun and the moon and all the hosts of heaven,
which they have loved and which they have served
and after which they have walked, which they
have sought and which they have worshipped. They
shall not be gathered nor buried. They shall
be like refuge on the face of the earth. Then
death shall be chosen rather than life by all
the residue of those who remain of this evil
family, who remain in all the places where I
have driven them, says the Lord of hosts. Moreover,
you shall say to them, thus says the Lord, Will
they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and
not return? Why has this people slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold
fast to deceit. They refuse to return. I listened
and heard, but they did not speak aright. No
man repented of his wickedness, saying, What
have I done? Everyone turned to his own course,
as the horse rushes into the battle. Even the
stork in the heavens knows her appointed times,
and the turtle dove, the swift, and the swallow
observe the time of their coming. But my people
do not know the judgment of the Lord. How can
you say we are wise and the law of the Lord is
with us? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly
works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, they
are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected
the word of the Lord, so what wisdom do they
have? Therefore I will give their wives to others,
and their fields to those who will inherit them.
Because from the least even to the greatest,
everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet
even to the priest, everyone deals falsely, for
they have healed the hurt of the daughter of
my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when
there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they
had committed abomination? No, they were not
at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall.
In the time of their punishment they shall be
cast down, says the Lord. I will surely consume
them, says the Lord. No grapes shall be on the
vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf
shall fade, and the things I have given them
shall pass away from them. Why do we sit still?
Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified
cities, and let us be silent there, for the Lord
our God has put us to silence, and given us water
of gall to drink, because we have sinned against
the Lord. We looked for peace, but no good came,
and for a time of health, and there was trouble.
The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing
of his strong ones, for they have come and devoured
the land and all that is in it, the city and
those who dwell in it. For behold, I will send
serpents among you, vipers which cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you, says the Lord. I would
comfort myself in sorrow, my heart is faint in
me. Listen, the voice, the cry of the daughter
of my people, from a far country. Is not the
Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have
they provoked me to anger with their carved images
with foreign idols? The harvest is past, the
summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the
hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt,
I am mourning. Astonishment has taken hold of
me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician
there? Why then is there no recovery for the
health of the daughter of my people? Chapter
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and
speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and say to them, Thus says the
Lord God of Israel, Cursed is the man who does
not obey the words of this covenant, which I
commanded your fathers in the day I brought them
out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace,
saying, Obey my voice and do according to all
that I command you. So shall you be my people,
and I will be your God. that I may establish
the oath which I have sworn to your fathers,
to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,
as it is this day. And I answered and said, So
be it, Lord. Then the Lord said to me, Proclaim
all these words in the cities of Judah and in
the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words
of this covenant and do them. For I earnestly
exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them
up out of the land of Egypt, until this day.
rising early and exhorting, saying, Obey my voice.
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but
everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart.
Therefore I will bring upon them all the words
of this covenant, which I commanded them to do,
but which they have not done. And the Lord said
to me, A conspiracy has been found among the
men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods
to whom they offer incense, but they will not
save them at all in the time of their trouble.
For according to the number of your cities were
your gods, O Judah, and according to the number
of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars
to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense
to Baal. So do not pray for these people, or
lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will
not hear them in the time that they cry out to
me because of their trouble. What has my beloved
to do in my house, having done lewd deeds with
many? And the Holy Flesh has passed from you.
When you do evil, then you rejoice. The Lord
called your name, Green Olive Tree, lovely and
of good fruit. with the noise of a great tumult
he has kindled fire on it and its branches are
broken for the lord of hosts who planted you
has pronounced doom against you for the evil
of the house of israel and of the house of judah
which they have done against themselves to provoke
me to anger in offering incense to baal now the
lord gave me knowledge of it and i know it for
you showed me their doings but i was like a docile
lamb brought to the slaughter. And I did not
know that they had devised schemes against me,
saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
and let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name may be remembered no more. But,
O Lord of hosts, you who judge righteously, testing
the mind and the heart, let me see your vengeance
on them, for to you I have revealed my cause.
Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men
of Anatoth, who seek your life, saying, Do not
prophesy in the name of the Lord, lest you die
by our hand. Therefore, thus says the Lord of
hosts, Behold, I will punish them. The young
men shall die by the sword, their sons and their
daughters shall die by famine, and there shall
be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe
on the men of Anatoth even the year of their
punishment. Chapter 12 Righteous are you, O Lord,
when I plead with you. Yet let me talk with you
about your judgments. Why does the way of the
wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal
so treacherously? You have planted them, yes,
they have taken root. They grow, yes, they bear
fruit. You are near in their mouth, but far from
their mind. But you, O Lord, know me. You have
seen me, and you have tested my heart toward
you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and prepare them for the day of slaughter. How
long will the land mourn, and the herbs of every
field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed
for the wickedness of those who dwell there,
because they said, He will not see our final
end. If you have run with the footmen and they
have wearied you, then how can you contend with
horses? And if in the land of peace in which
you trusted they wearied you, then how will you
do in the flood plain of the Jordan? For even
your brothers, the house of your father, even
they have dealt treacherously with you. Yes,
they have called a multitude after you. Do not
believe them, even though they speak smooth words
to you. I have forsaken my house, I have left
my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved
of my soul into the hand of her enemies. My heritage
is to me like a lion in the forest. It cries
out against me, therefore I have hated it. My
heritage is to me like a speckled vulture. The
vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble
all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
Many rulers have destroyed my vineyard. They
have trodden my portion underfoot. They have
made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
They have made it desolate. Desolate it mourns
to me. The whole land is made desolate. Because
no one takes it to heart, the plunderers have
come on all the desolate heights in the wilderness.
For the sword of the Lord shall devour from one
end of the land to the other end of the land.
No flesh shall have peace. They have sown wheat.
but reaped thorns. They have put themselves to
pain, but do not profit. But be ashamed of your
harvest because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord against all my evil neighbors
who touch the inheritance, which I have caused
my people Israel to inherit. Behold, I will pluck
them out of their land and pluck out the house
of Judah from among them. Then it shall be, after
I have plucked them out, that I will return and
have compassion on them and bring them back,
everyone to his heritage and everyone to his
land. And it shall be, if they will learn carefully
the ways of my people, to swear by my name, as
the Lord lives, as they taught my people to swear
by Baal, then they shall be established in the
midst of my people. But if they do not obey,
I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,
says the Lord. I hope you enjoyed today's reading
as much as I did and I look forward to seeing
you again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.