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
15, 25, 36, and 45. Chapter 15 Then the Lord
said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel stood before
me, my mind would not be favorable toward this
people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them
go forth. And it shall be, if they say to you,
Where should we go? Then you shall tell them,
Thus says the Lord, Such as are for death to
death, and such as are for the sword to the sword,
and such as are for the famine to the famine,
and such as are for the captivity to the captivity.
And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction,
says the Lord, the sword to slay, the dogs to
drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts
of the earth to devour and destroy. I will hand
them over to trouble. to all the kingdoms of
the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah,
king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or
who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to
ask, How are you doing? You have forsaken me,
says the Lord. You have gone backward. Therefore
I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy
you. I am weary of relenting, and I will winnow
them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the
land. I will bereave them of children. I will
destroy my people, since they do not return from
their ways. Their widows will be increased to
me more than the sand of the seas. I will bring
against them, against the mother of the young
men, a plunderer at noonday. I will cause anguish
and terror to fall on them suddenly. She languishes,
who has born seven. She has breathed her last.
Her son has gone down, while it was yet day.
she has been ashamed and confounded and the remnant
of them i will deliver to the sword before their
enemies says the lord woe is me my mother that
you have borne me a man of strife and a man of
contention to the whole earth i have neither
lent for interest nor have men lent to me for
interest every one of them curses me The Lord
said, Surely it will be well with your remnant.
Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with
you in a time of adversity and in a time of affliction.
Can anyone break iron, the northern iron and
the bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I
will give as plunder without price, because of
all your sins throughout your territories, and
I will make you cross over with your enemies
into a land which you do not know. For a fire
is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon
you. O Lord, you know, remember me and visit
me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your enduring patience do not take me away.
Know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke.
Your words were found, and I ate them. And your
word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts.
I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers,
nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because of your
hand, for you have filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable,
which refuses to be healed? Will you surely be
to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that
fail? Therefore thus says the Lord, If you return,
then I will bring you back. You shall stand before
me, if you take out the precious from the vial.
You shall be as my mouth. Let them return to
you, but you must not return to them. And I will
make you to this people a fortified bronze wall,
and they will fight against you, but they shall
not prevail against you. For I am with you to
save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will
deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and
I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.
Chapter 25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning
all the people of Judah in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which
was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon. which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to
all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year
of Josiah the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even
to this day, this is the twenty -third year in
which the word of the Lord has come to me. And
I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking,
but you have not listened. And the Lord has sent
to you all his servants, the prophets, rising
early and sending them, but you have not listened
nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Repent
now, everyone of his evil way and his evil doings,
and dwell in the land that the Lord has given
to you and your fathers forever and ever. Do
not go after other gods to serve them and worship
them, and do not provoke me to anger with the
works of your hands, and I will not harm you.
Yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord,
that you might provoke me to anger with the works
of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus
says the Lord of hosts, because you have not
heard my words, Behold, I will send and take
all the families of the north, says the Lord,
and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant,
will bring them against this land, against its
inhabitants, and against these nations all around,
and will utterly destroy them and make them an
astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Moreover, I will take from them the voice of
mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. the
sound of the millstones, and the light of the
lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation
and an astonishment, and these nations shall
serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then
it will come to pass, when seventy years are
completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon
and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for
their iniquity, says the Lord, and I will make
it a perpetual desolation. So I will bring on
that land all my words which I have pronounced
against it, all that is written in this book,
which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all
the nations. For many nations and great kings
shall be served by them also, and I will repay
them according to their deeds and according to
the works of their own hands. For thus says the
Lord God of Israel to me, Take this wine cup
of fury from my hand and cause all the nations
to whom I send you to drink it. and they will
drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword
that I will send among them. Then I took the
cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations
drink to whom the Lord had sent me, Jerusalem
and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes,
to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a
hissing, and a curse, as it is this day. Pharaoh
king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and
all his people, all the mixed multitude, all
the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of
the land of the Philistines, namely Ashkelon,
Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom,
Moab, and the people of Ammon, all the kings
of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings
of the coastlands which are across the sea, Dedan,
Tima, Boz, and all who are in the farthest corners,
all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of
the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert,
all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam,
And all the kings of the Medes, all the kings
of the north, far and near, one with another,
and all the kingdoms of the world which are on
the face of the earth. Also the king of Shishak
shall drink after them. Therefore you shall say
to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, Drink and be drunk and vomit. Fall
and rise no more, because of the sword which
I will send among you. And it shall be, if they
refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink,
then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord
of hosts, You shall certainly drink. For behold,
I will begin to bring calamity on the city which
is called by my name. And should you be utterly
unpunished, you shall not be unpunished. For
I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants
of the earth, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore
prophesy against them all these words, and say
to them, The Lord will roar from on high, and
utter his voice from his holy habitation. He
will roar mightily against his fold. He will
give a shout as those who tread the grapes against
all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise will
come to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has
a controversy with the nations. He will plead
his case with all flesh. He will give those who
are wicked to the sword, says the Lord. Thus
says the Lord of hosts, Behold, disaster shall
go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind
shall be raised up from the farthest parts of
the earth. And at that day the slain of the Lord
shall be from one end of the earth even to the
other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented
or gathered or buried. They shall become refuse
on the ground. Wail, shepherds, and cry. Roll
about in the ashes, you leaders of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and your dispersions
are fulfilled. You shall fall like a precious
vessel, and the shepherds will have no way to
flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
A voice of the cry of the shepherds and a wailing
of the leaders to the flock will be heard, for
the Lord has plundered their pasture and the
peaceful dwellings are cut down. Because of the
fierce anger of the Lord, he has left his lair
like the lion, for their land is desolate because
of the fierceness of the oppressor and because
of his fierce anger. Chapter 36 Now it came to
pass, in the fourth year of Jehoakim the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came
to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take a scroll
of a book and write on it all the words that
I have spoken to you against Israel, against
Judah, and against all the nations, from the
day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even
to this day. It may be that the house of Judah
will hear all the adversities which I propose
to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from
his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity
and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the
son of Noriah. And Baruch wrote on a scroll of
a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the
words of the Lord which he had spoken to him.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am confined,
I cannot go into the house of the Lord. You go,
therefore, and read from the scroll which you
have written at my instruction, the words of
the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the
Lord's house, on a day of fasting. And you shall
also read them in the hearing of all Judah who
come from their cities. It may be that they will
present their supplication before the Lord, and
everyone will turn from his evil way. For great
is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced
against this people. And Baruch the son of Noriah
did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet
commanded him, reading from the book the words
of the Lord in the Lord's house. Now it came
to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month,
that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to
all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people
who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah
in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemariah,
the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper
court at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's
house in the hearing of all the people. When
Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan,
heard all the words of the Lord from the book,
he then went down to the king's house into the
scribe's chamber, and there all the princes were
sitting. Elishamah, the scribe, Deliah, the son
of Shemaiah, Ilnathan, the son of Akbar, Gemariah,
the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah,
and all the princes. Then Micaiah declared to
them all the words that he had heard when Baruch
read the book in the hearing of the people. Therefore
all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah,
the son of Shalamiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch,
saying, Take in your hand the scroll from which
you have read in the hearing of the people and
come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll
in his hand and came to them. And they said to
him, Sit down now and read it in our hearing.
So Baruch read it in their hearing. Now it happened,
when they had heard all the words, that they
looked in fear from one to another, and said
to Baruch, We will surely tell the king all these
words. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us
now, how did you write all these words, at his
instruction? So Baruch answered them, He proclaimed
with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote
them with ink in the book. Then the princess
said to Baruch, Go and hide, you and Jeremiah,
and let no one know where you are. And they went
to the king into the court, and they stored the
scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe,
and told all the words in the hearing of the
king. So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll,
and he took it from Elishama the scribe's chamber.
And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king,
and in the hearing of all the princes who stood
beside the king. Now the king was sitting in
the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire
burning on the hearth before him. And it happened
when Jehudi had read three or four columns that
the king cut it with the scribe's knife and cast
it into the fire that was on the hearth until
all the scroll was consumed in the fire that
was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid,
nor did they tear their garments, the king, nor
any of his servants who heard all these words.
Nevertheless, Elnathan, Deliah, and Gemariah
implored the king not to burn the scroll, but
he would not listen to them. And the king commanded,
the king's son, Sariah the son of Azrael, and
Shalamiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch
the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the
Lord hid them. Now after the king had burned
the scroll with the words which Baruch had written
at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the
Lord came to Jeremiah saying, Take yet another
scroll and write on it all the former words that
were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, the
king of Judah, has burned. And you shall say
to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Thus says the Lord,
You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have
you written in it that the king of Babylon will
certainly come and destroy this land, and cause
man and beast to cease from here? Therefore,
thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king
of Judah, He shall have no one to sit on the
throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast
out to the heat of the day and the frost of the
night. I will punish him, his family, and his
servants for their iniquity, and I will bring
on them on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
on the men of Judah all the doom that I have
pronounced against them. But they did not heed.
Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it
to Baruch the scribe, the son of Noriah, who
wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all
the words of the book which Jehoakim king of
Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there
were added to them many similar words. The word
that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch, the
son of Noriah, when he had written these words
in a book at the instruction of Jeremiah in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah,
king of Judah, saying, Thus says the Lord, the
God of Israel, To you, O Baruch, you said, Woe
is me now, for the Lord has added grief to my
sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no
rest. Thus you shall say to him, Thus says the
Lord, Behold what I have built, I will break
down. and what I have planted I will pluck up,
that is, this whole land. And do you seek great
things for yourself? Do not seek them, for behold,
I will bring adversity on all flesh, says the
Lord. But I will give your life to you as a prize
in all places wherever you go. 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.