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 Jeremiah,
chapters 13, 18, 26, 46, and 47. Chapter 13 Thus
the Lord said to me, Go and get yourself a linen
sash, and put it around your waist, but do not
put it in water. So I got a sash, according to
the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.
And the word of the Lord came to me the second
time, saying, Take the sash that you have acquired,
which is around your waist, and arise and go
to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole
in the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates,
as the Lord commanded me. Now it came to pass
after many days that the Lord said to me, Arise,
go to the Euphrates, and take from there the
sash which I commanded you to hide there. Then
I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the
sash from the place where I had hidden it, And
there was the sash ruined. It was profitable
for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came to
me, saying, Thus says the Lord, In this manner
I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great
pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse
to hear my words, who follow the dictates of
their hearts and walk after other gods to serve
them and worship them, shall be just like this
sash, which is profitable for nothing. For as
the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have
caused the whole house of Israel and the whole
house of Judah to cling to me, says the Lord,
that they may become my people for renown, for
praise, and for glory, but they would not hear.
Therefore you shall speak to them this word.
Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Every bottle
shall be filled with wine. And they will say
to you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle
will be filled with wine? Then you shall say
to them, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will fill
all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings
who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets,
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness,
and I will dash them one against another, even
the fathers and the sons together. Says the Lord,
I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but
will destroy them. Hear and give ear, do not
be proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory
to the Lord your God. before he causes darkness
and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains
and while you are looking for light he turns
it into the shadow of death and makes it dense
darkness but if you will not hear it my soul
will weep in secret for your pride my eyes will
weep bitterly and run down with tears because
the lord's flock has been taken captive say to
the king and to the queen mother humble yourselves
sit down For your rule shall collapse the crown
of your glory. The cities of the south shall
be shut up, and no one shall open them. Judah
shall be carried away captive, all of it. It
will be wholly carried away captive. Lift up
your eyes and see, those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you, your
beautiful sheep? What will you say when he punishes
you? For you have taught them to be chieftains
to behead over you. Will not Pangs seize you
like a woman in labor? and if you say in your
heart why have these things come upon me for
the greatness of your iniquity your skirts have
been uncovered your heels made bare can the ethiopian
change his skin or the leopard its spots then
may you also do good who are accustomed to do
evil therefore i will scatter them like stubble
that passes away by the wind of the wilderness
this is your lot Chapter 18 The word which came
to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise and
go down to the potter's house, and there I will
cause you to hear my words. Then I went down
to the potter's house, and there he was, making
something at the wheel. And the vessel that he
made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter.
So he made it again into another vessel, as it
seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word
of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel,
can I not do with you as this potter? says the
Lord. look as the clay is in the potter's hand
so are you in my hand o house of israel the instant
i speak concerning a nation and concerning a
kingdom to pluck up to pull down and to destroy
it if that nation against whom i have spoken
turns from its evil I will relent of the disaster
that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant
I speak concerning a nation and concerning a
kingdom to build and to plant it, if it does
evil in my sight, so that it does not obey my
voice, then I will relent concerning the good
with which I said I would benefit it. Now therefore
speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord, Behold,
I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan
against you. return now everyone from his evil
way and make your ways and your doings good and
they said that is hopeless so we will walk according
to our own plans and we will everyone obey the
dictates of his evil heart therefore thus says
the lord ask now among the gentiles who has heard
such things the virgin of israel has done a very
horrible thing will a man leave the snow water
of lebanon which comes from the rock of the field
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for
strange waters? Because my people have forgotten
me, they have burned incense to worthless idols,
and they have caused themselves to stumble in
their ways from the ancient path, to walk in
pathways and not on a highway, to make their
land desolate and a perpetual hissing. Everyone
who passes by it will be astonished and shake
his head. I will scatter them as with an east
wind before the enemy. I will show them the back
and not the face in the day of their calamity.
Then he said, Come and let us devise plans against
Jeremiah. For the law shall not prevail from
the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the
word from the prophet. Come and let us attack
him with the tongue, and let us not give heed
to any of his words. Give heed to me, O Lord,
and listen to the voice of those who contend
with me. Shall evil be repaid for good? For they
have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood
before you to speak good for them, to turn away
your wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their
children to the famine, and pour out their blood
by the force of the sword. Let their wives become
widows and bereaved of their children. Let their
men be put to death, their young men be slain
by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from
their houses when you bring a troop suddenly
upon them. For they have dug a pit to take me,
and hidden snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, you
know all their counsel, which is against me to
slay me. Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
nor blot out their sin from your sight. But let
them be overthrown before you. Deal thus with
them in the time of your anger. Chapter 26 In
the beginning of the reign of Jehuakim, the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from
the Lord, saying, Thus says the Lord, Stand in
the court of the Lord's house and speak to all
the cities of Judah. which come to worship in
the Lord's house, all the words that I command
you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word.
Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his
evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity
which I purpose to bring on them because of the
evil of their doings. And you shall say to them,
Thus says the Lord, If you will not listen to
me to walk in my law which I have said before
you, So the priests and the prophets and all
the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words
in the house of the Lord. Now it happened when
Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that
the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the
people, that the priests and the prophets and
all the people seized him. saying you will surely
die why have you prophesied in the name of the
lord saying this house shall be like shiloh and
this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant
and all the people were gathered against jeremiah
in the house of the lord when the princes of
judah heard these things they came up from the
king's house to the house of the lord and sat
down in the entry of the new gate of the lord's
house And the priests and the prophets spoke
to the princes and all the people, saying, This
man deserves to die, for he has prophesied against
this city, as you have heard with your ears.
Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all
the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy
against this house and against this city with
all the words that you have heard. Now therefore
amend your ways and your doings and obey the
voice of the Lord your God. Then the Lord will
relent concerning the doom that he has pronounced
against you. As for me, here I am in your hand.
Do with me as seems good and proper to you. But
know for certain that if you put me to death,
you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves,
on this city, and on its inhabitants. For truly
the Lord has sent me to speak all these words
in your hearing. So the princes and all the people
said to the priests and the prophets, This man
does not deserve to die, for he has spoken to
us in the name of the Lord our God. Then certain
of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to
all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah
of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah
king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of
Judah, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion
shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall
become heaps of ruin, and the mountain of the
temple like the bare hills of the forest. Did
Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put
him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and seek
the Lord's favor? and the Lord relented concerning
the doom which he had pronounced against them.
But we are doing great evil against ourselves.
Now there was also a man who prophesied in the
name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah
of Kirjah's dream. who prophesied against this
city and against this land according to all the
words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king,
with all his mighty men and all the princes,
heard his words, the king sought to put him to
death. But when Urijah heard it, he was afraid
and fled and went to Egypt. Then Jehoiakim the
king sent men to Egypt, Ilnathan the son of Agbor,
and other men who went with him to Egypt. And
they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him
to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the
sword and cast his dead body into the graves
of the common people. Nevertheless the hand of
Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah,
so that they should not give him into the hand
of the people to put him to death. Chapter 46
The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the
prophet against the nations, against Egypt. Concerning
the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which
was by the river Euphrates in Carshemesh, and
which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defeated
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah,
king of Judah. Order the buckler and shield,
and draw near to battle. Harness the horses,
and mount up, you horsemen. Stand forth with
your helmets, polish the spears, put on the armor.
Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back?
Their mighty ones are beaten down. They have
speedily fled, and did not look back. For fear
was all around, says the Lord. Do not let the
swift flee away, nor the mighty men escape. They
will stumble and fall toward the north by the
river Euphrates. Who is this coming up like a
flood, whose waters move like the rivers? Egypt
rises up like a flood, and its waters move like
the rivers. And he says, I will go up and cover
the earth. I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.
Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots, and
let the mighty men come forth. the Ethiopians
and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the
Lydians who handle and bend the bow. For this
is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of
vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his
adversaries. The sword shall devour. It shall
be satiated and made drunk with their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice in
the north country by the river Euphrates. Go
up to Gilead and take balm. O virgin, the daughter
of Egypt, in vain you will use many medicines.
You shall not be cured. The nations have heard
of your shame, and your cry has filled the land.
For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty.
They have both fallen together. The word of the
Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, would come and strike the land
of Egypt. Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdal.
Proclaim in Noph and in Tapanis. Say, Stand fast
and prepare yourselves. For the sword devours
all around you. Why are your valiant men swept
away? They did not stand, because the Lord drove
them away. He made many fall, yes, one fell upon
another. And they said, Arise, let us go back
to our own people, and to the land of our nativity.
From the oppressing sword they cried there, Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed
by the appointed time. As I live, says the king,
whose name is the Lord of hosts, surely as Tabor
is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the
sea, so he shall come. O you, daughter dwelling
in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity,
for north shall be waste and desolate without
inhabitant. Egypt is a very pretty heifer, but
destruction comes, it comes from the north. Also
her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls,
for they also are turned back, they have fled
away together. they did not stand for the day
of their calamity had come upon them the time
of their punishment her noise shall go like a
serpent for they shall march with an army and
come against her with axes like those who chop
wood they shall cut down her forest says the
lord though it cannot be searched because they
are innumerable and more numerous than grasshoppers
the daughter of egypt shall be ashamed she shall
be delivered into the hand of the people of the
north The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says,
Behold, I will bring punishment on Ammon of Noh,
and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their
kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him. And
I will deliver them into the hand of those who
seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, and the hand of his servants.
Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days
of old, says the Lord. But do not fear, O my
servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel.
For behold, I will save you from afar, and your
offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob
shall return, have rest, and be at ease. No one
shall make him afraid. Do not fear, O Jacob,
my servant, says the Lord. For I am with you,
for I will make a complete end of all the nations
to which I have driven you. But I will not make
a complete end of you. I will rightly correct
you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished.
Chapter 47 The word of the Lord that came to
Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines
before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. Thus says the Lord,
The fathers will not look back for their children,
lacking courage, because of the day that comes
to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from
Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains. For
the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant
of the country of Kaphtor. Baldness has come
upon Gaza. Ashkelon is cut off. With the remnant
of their valley, how long will you cut yourself?
O you sword of the Lord, how long until you are
quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard. Rest
and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the
Lord has given it a charge, against Ashkelon
and against the seashore? There he has appointed
it. 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.