JEREMIAH 23

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The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch  23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD. 3 “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and act wisely

And do justice and righteousness in the land.

6 “In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell securely;

And this is His name by which He will be called,

‘The LORD our righteousness.’

    7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”
False Prophets Denounced9 As for the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of the LORD

And because of His holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers;

For the land mourns because of the curse.

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil

And their might is not right.

11 “For both prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.

12 “Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them,

They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it;

For I will bring calamity upon them,

The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

13 “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

14 “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:

The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;

And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood

And make them drink poisonous water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”

16 Thus says the LORD of hosts,

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are leading you into futility;

They speak a vision of their own imagination,

Not from the mouth of the LORD.

17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me,

‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace”’;

And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

18 “But who has stood in the council of the LORD,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given heed to His word and listened?

19 “Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling tempest;

It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

20 “The anger of the LORD will not turn back

Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;

In the last days you will clearly understand it.

21 “I did not send these prophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

22 “But if they had stood in My council,

Then they would have announced My words to My people,

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

23 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD,

“And not a God far off?

24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares the LORD.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

    25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26 How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? 28 The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. 29 “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30 Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.
    33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ The LORD declares, ‘I will abandon you.’ 34 Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35 Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ 36 For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ 38 For if you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ surely thus says the LORD, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’”’ 39 Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. 40 I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

JEREMIAH 24

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Baskets of Figs and the Returnees  24:1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD! 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”
    4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.
    8 ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness--indeed, thus says the LORD--so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them. 10 I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’”

PROVERBS 17

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked17:1 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it

Than a house full of feasting with strife.

2 A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully,

And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,

But the LORD tests hearts.

4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips;

A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

5 He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker;

He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.

6 Grandchildren are the crown of old men,

And the glory of sons is their fathers.

7 Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool,

Much less are lying lips to a prince.

8 A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner;

Wherever he turns, he prospers.

9 He who conceals a transgression seeks love,

But he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.

10 A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding

Than a hundred blows into a fool.

11 A rebellious man seeks only evil,

So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

12 Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs,

Rather than a fool in his folly.

13 He who returns evil for good,

Evil will not depart from his house.

14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water,

So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,

Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

16 Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom,

When he has no sense?

17 A friend loves at all times,

And a brother is born for adversity.

18 A man lacking in sense pledges

And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

19 He who loves transgression loves strife;

He who raises his door seeks destruction.

20 He who has a crooked mind finds no good,

And he who is perverted in his language falls into evil.

21 He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow,

And the father of a fool has no joy.

22 A joyful heart is good medicine,

But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

23 A wicked man receives a bribe from the bosom

To pervert the ways of justice.

24 Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding,

But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

25 A foolish son is a grief to his father

And bitterness to her who bore him.

26 It is also not good to fine the righteous,

Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

27 He who restrains his words has knowledge,

And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

28 Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;

When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

2 PETER 2

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The Rise of False Prophets  2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
    4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.
    Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
    17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. 18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”