WEBVTT 00:00:00.999 --> 00:00:03.700 Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:05.740 taking this journey together to read the Bible 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:09.099 in a year. Today's reading is from the book of 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:14.720 Jeremiah, chapters 22 and 23. Chapter 22 Thus 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.179 says the Lord, Go down to the house of the king 00:00:17.179 --> 00:00:20.059 of Judah, and there speak this word, and say, 00:00:20.179 --> 00:00:23.179 Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you 00:00:23.179 --> 00:00:25.579 who sit on the throne of David, you and your 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:28.300 servants, and your people who enter these gates. 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:31.760 Thus says the Lord, execute judgment and righteousness, 00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:34.259 and deliver the plundered out of the hand of 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:37.100 the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:39.619 to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:42.820 nor shed innocent blood in this place. For if 00:00:42.820 --> 00:00:45.380 you indeed do this thing, then you shall enter 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:48.200 the gates of this house, riding on horses and 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:51.259 in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:54.179 kings who sit on the throne of David. But if 00:00:54.179 --> 00:00:57.399 you will not hear these words, I swear by myself. 00:00:57.950 --> 00:01:00.469 says the lord that this house shall become a 00:01:00.469 --> 00:01:03.250 desolation for thus says the lord to the house 00:01:03.250 --> 00:01:06.370 of the king of judah you are gilead to me the 00:01:06.370 --> 00:01:09.670 head of lebanon yet i surely will make you a 00:01:09.670 --> 00:01:12.969 wilderness cities which are not inhabited i will 00:01:12.969 --> 00:01:15.950 prepare destroyers against you everyone with 00:01:15.950 --> 00:01:18.709 his weapons they shall cut down your choice cedars 00:01:18.709 --> 00:01:21.530 and cast them into the fire and many nations 00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:23.750 will pass by this city and everyone will say 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:26.769 to his neighbor why has the lord done so to this 00:01:26.769 --> 00:01:29.599 great city Then they will answer, because they 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.560 have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:34.219 God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:38.340 Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him. Weep bitterly 00:01:38.340 --> 00:01:41.500 for him who goes away, for he shall return no 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:45.260 more, nor see his native country. For thus says 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:48.099 the Lord concerning Shalom, the son of Josiah, 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:50.900 king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:53.859 his father, who went from this place, he shall 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:56.510 not return here any more. but he shall die in 00:01:56.510 --> 00:01:59.030 the place where they have led him captive, and 00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:02.230 shall see this land no more. Woe to him who builds 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:04.950 his house by unrighteousness and his chambers 00:02:04.950 --> 00:02:07.810 by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service 00:02:07.810 --> 00:02:11.389 without wages and gives him nothing for his work, 00:02:11.530 --> 00:02:14.409 who says, I will build myself a wide house with 00:02:14.409 --> 00:02:17.590 spacious chambers and cut out windows for it, 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:21.509 paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. 00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:23.849 Shall you reign because you enclose yourself 00:02:23.849 --> 00:02:27.469 in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and 00:02:27.469 --> 00:02:30.490 do justice and righteousness? Then it was well 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:33.050 with him. He judged the cause of the poor and 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:36.409 needy. Then it was well. Was not this knowing 00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:39.569 me? Says the Lord. Yet your eyes and your heart 00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:42.949 are for nothing but your covetousness, for shedding 00:02:42.949 --> 00:02:45.449 innocent blood and practicing oppression and 00:02:45.449 --> 00:02:48.270 violence. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning 00:02:48.270 --> 00:02:52.370 Jehuakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They 00:02:52.370 --> 00:02:55.389 shall not lament for him, saying, Alas, my brother, 00:02:55.490 --> 00:02:58.449 or alas, my sister. They shall not lament for 00:02:58.449 --> 00:03:01.229 him, saying, Alas, master, or alas, his glory. 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:04.270 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:08.090 dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 00:03:08.569 --> 00:03:11.430 Go up to Lebanon and cry out and lift up your 00:03:11.430 --> 00:03:15.009 voice in Bashan. Cry from Abarim, for all your 00:03:15.009 --> 00:03:17.569 lovers are destroyed. I spoke to you in your 00:03:17.569 --> 00:03:20.530 prosperity, but you said I will not hear. This 00:03:20.530 --> 00:03:23.469 has been your manner from your youth, that you 00:03:23.469 --> 00:03:26.430 did not obey my voice. The wind shall eat up 00:03:26.430 --> 00:03:29.509 all your rulers, and your lovers shall go into 00:03:29.509 --> 00:03:32.729 captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:35.569 humiliated, for all your wickedness, O inhabitant 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:38.930 of Lebanon, making your nest in the cedars. How 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:41.729 gracious will you be when pangs come upon you, 00:03:41.789 --> 00:03:44.949 like the pain of a woman in labor. As I live, 00:03:44.949 --> 00:03:48.409 says the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, 00:03:48.569 --> 00:03:51.919 king of Judah, Were the signet on my right hand, 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.060 yet I would pluck you off, and I will give you 00:03:55.060 --> 00:03:57.580 into the hand of those who seek your life, and 00:03:57.580 --> 00:04:00.699 into the hand of those whose face you fear, the 00:04:00.699 --> 00:04:02.879 hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.360 the hand of the Chaldeans. So I will cast you 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.060 out, and your mother who bore you, into another 00:04:08.060 --> 00:04:11.180 country where you were not born, and there you 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:14.240 shall die. But to the land to which they desire 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.899 to return, there they shall not return. Is this 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:21.439 man Coniah a despised broken idol, a vessel in 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.860 which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:27.699 he and his descendants, and cast into a land 00:04:27.699 --> 00:04:31.300 which they do not know? O earth, earth, earth, 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:34.459 hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:38.560 write this man down as childless, a man who shall 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:41.319 not prosper in his days, for none of his descendants 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.899 shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:50.290 and ruling anymore in Judah. Chapter 23 Woe to 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:52.310 the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep 00:04:52.310 --> 00:04:55.389 of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus 00:04:55.389 --> 00:04:58.110 says the Lord, God of Israel, against the shepherds 00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:00.470 who feed my people, you have scattered my flock, 00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:03.750 driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:06.269 I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, 00:05:06.269 --> 00:05:08.810 says the Lord, but I will gather the remnant 00:05:08.810 --> 00:05:11.430 of my flock out of all the countries where I 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:13.930 have driven them, and bring them back to their 00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:16.589 folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:19.819 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:23.600 them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:27.060 nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord. Behold, 00:05:27.060 --> 00:05:29.139 the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will 00:05:29.139 --> 00:05:31.680 raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.019 shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:37.160 and righteousness in the earth. In his days Judah 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:39.740 will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. 00:05:40.019 --> 00:05:43.579 Now this is his name by which he will be called, 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:47.279 the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, behold, 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:49.560 the days are coming, says the Lord, that they 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:52.399 shall no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:54.620 up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, 00:05:54.779 --> 00:05:57.439 but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led 00:05:57.439 --> 00:05:59.879 the descendants of the house of Israel from the 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:02.199 north country and from all the countries where 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:04.980 I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:08.480 own land. My heart within me is broken because 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:11.600 of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.199 a drunken man and like a man whom wine has overcome. 00:06:15.769 --> 00:06:18.449 because of the lord and because of his holy words 00:06:18.449 --> 00:06:21.709 for the land is full of adulterers for because 00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:24.750 of a curse the land mourns the pleasant places 00:06:24.750 --> 00:06:27.649 of the wilderness are dried up their course of 00:06:27.649 --> 00:06:31.370 life is evil and their might is not right for 00:06:31.370 --> 00:06:34.290 both prophet and priest are profane yes in my 00:06:34.290 --> 00:06:36.569 house i have found their wickedness says the 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:39.629 lord therefore their way shall be to them like 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:42.449 slippery ways in the darkness they shall be driven 00:06:42.449 --> 00:06:45.259 on and fall in them for I will bring disaster 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.680 on them. The year of their punishment, says the 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:50.399 Lord, and I have seen folly in the prophets of 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.779 Samaria. They prophesied by Baal and caused my 00:06:53.779 --> 00:06:57.300 people Israel to err. Also I have seen a horrible 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.699 thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:02.639 adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:05.180 the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:08.019 back from his wickedness. All of them are like 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:11.240 Sodom to me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 00:07:11.930 --> 00:07:14.470 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts concerning 00:07:14.470 --> 00:07:17.509 the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with warm 00:07:17.509 --> 00:07:20.470 wood, and make them drink the water of Gaul. 00:07:20.730 --> 00:07:23.829 For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:26.850 has gone out into all the land. Thus says the 00:07:26.850 --> 00:07:29.189 Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of 00:07:29.189 --> 00:07:31.810 the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you 00:07:31.810 --> 00:07:34.709 worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, 00:07:34.889 --> 00:07:37.610 not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually 00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:40.550 say to those who despise me, The Lord has said, 00:07:40.889 --> 00:07:43.170 you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks 00:07:43.170 --> 00:07:45.750 according to the dictates of his own heart, they 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:49.209 say, no evil shall come upon you. For who has 00:07:49.209 --> 00:07:51.589 stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived 00:07:51.589 --> 00:07:54.990 and heard his word? Who has marked his word and 00:07:54.990 --> 00:07:58.050 heard it? behold a whirlwind of the lord has 00:07:58.050 --> 00:08:01.569 gone forth in fury a violent whirlwind it will 00:08:01.569 --> 00:08:04.269 fall violently on the head of the wicked the 00:08:04.269 --> 00:08:06.970 anger of the lord will not turn back until he 00:08:06.970 --> 00:08:09.230 has executed and performed the thoughts of his 00:08:09.230 --> 00:08:11.910 heart in the latter days you will understand 00:08:11.910 --> 00:08:15.529 it perfectly i have not sent these prophets yet 00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:18.110 they ran I have not spoken to them, yet they 00:08:18.110 --> 00:08:21.290 prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel 00:08:21.290 --> 00:08:24.110 and had caused my people to hear my words, then 00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:26.589 they would have turned them from their evil way 00:08:26.589 --> 00:08:29.850 and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:33.230 near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar 00:08:33.230 --> 00:08:36.230 off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, 00:08:36.490 --> 00:08:39.450 so I shall not see him, says the Lord? Do I not 00:08:39.450 --> 00:08:42.389 fill heaven and earth, says the Lord? I have 00:08:42.389 --> 00:08:44.779 heard what the prophets have said. who prophesy 00:08:44.779 --> 00:08:47.679 lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:51.220 dreamed. How long will this be in the heart of 00:08:51.220 --> 00:08:53.620 the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they 00:08:53.620 --> 00:08:55.720 are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 00:08:55.879 --> 00:08:58.779 who try to make my people forget my name by their 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:01.519 dreams, which everyone tells his neighbor, as 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:05.019 their fathers forgot my name for Baal. The prophet 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:07.960 who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.080 who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.320 What is the chaff to the wheat? says the lord 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.860 is not my word like a fire says the lord and 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:20.179 like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:23.500 therefore behold i am against the prophets says 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:26.500 the lord who steal my words everyone from his 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:29.320 neighbor behold i am against the prophets says 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.019 the lord who use their tongues and say he says 00:09:32.579 --> 00:09:35.220 Behold, I am against those who prophesy false 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:38.279 dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:41.360 my people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.779 Yet I did not send them or command them. Therefore 00:09:44.779 --> 00:09:47.879 they shall not profit this people at all, says 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:50.919 the Lord. So when these people, or the prophet 00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:53.840 or the priest, ask you, saying, What is the oracle 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.480 of the Lord? You shall then say to them, What 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.350 oracle? I will even forsake you, says the Lord. 00:09:59.590 --> 00:10:01.809 And as for the prophet and the priest and the 00:10:01.809 --> 00:10:04.690 people who say, The oracle of the Lord, I will 00:10:04.690 --> 00:10:08.009 even punish that man and his house. Thus every 00:10:08.009 --> 00:10:11.230 one of you shall say to his neighbor and everyone 00:10:11.230 --> 00:10:14.549 to his brother, What has the Lord answered? And 00:10:14.549 --> 00:10:17.090 what has the Lord spoken? And the oracle of the 00:10:17.090 --> 00:10:20.610 Lord you shall mention no more. For every man's 00:10:20.610 --> 00:10:23.570 word will be his oracle. For you have perverted 00:10:23.570 --> 00:10:26.070 the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts. 00:10:26.490 --> 00:10:29.830 our god thus you shall say to the prophet what 00:10:29.830 --> 00:10:32.889 has the lord answered you and what has the lord 00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:36.110 spoken but since you say the oracle of the lord 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:39.090 therefore thus says the lord because you say 00:10:39.090 --> 00:10:42.389 this word the oracle of the lord and i have sent 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:45.049 to you saying do not say the oracle of the lord 00:10:45.049 --> 00:10:48.809 therefore behold i even i will utterly forget 00:10:48.809 --> 00:10:51.370 you and forsake you and the city that i gave 00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:54.049 you and your fathers and will cast you out of 00:10:54.049 --> 00:10:57.029 my presence and I will bring an everlasting reproach 00:10:57.029 --> 00:10:59.990 upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall not 00:10:59.990 --> 00:11:08.210 be forgotten. I hope you enjoyed today's reading 00:11:08.210 --> 00:11:10.529 as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing 00:11:10.529 --> 00:11:12.590 you again tomorrow to continue on our journey. 00:11:12.750 --> 00:11:14.389 God bless you and have a great day.