JEREMIAH 6

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Destruction of Jerusalem Impending6:1 “Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin,

From the midst of Jerusalem!

Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa

And raise a signal over Beth-haccerem;

For evil looks down from the north,

And a great destruction.

2 “The comely and dainty one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off.

3 “Shepherds and their flocks will come to her,

They will pitch their tents around her,

They will pasture each in his place.

4 “Prepare war against her;

Arise, and let us attack at noon.

Woe to us, for the day declines,

For the shadows of the evening lengthen!

5 “Arise, and let us attack by night

And destroy her palaces!”

6 For thus says the LORD of hosts,

“Cut down her trees

And cast up a siege against Jerusalem.

This is the city to be punished,

In whose midst there is only oppression.

7 “As a well keeps its waters fresh,

So she keeps fresh her wickedness.

Violence and destruction are heard in her;

Sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

8 “Be warned, O Jerusalem,

Or I shall be alienated from you,

And make you a desolation,

A land not inhabited.”

9 Thus says the LORD of hosts,

“They will thoroughly glean as the vine the remnant of Israel;

Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer

Over the branches.”

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning

That they may hear?

Behold, their ears are closed

And they cannot listen.

Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them;

They have no delight in it.

11 But I am full of the wrath of the LORD;

I am weary with holding it in.

“Pour it out on the children in the street

And on the gathering of young men together;

For both husband and wife shall be taken,

The aged and the very old.

12 “Their houses shall be turned over to others,

Their fields and their wives together;

For I will stretch out My hand

Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD.

13 “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,

Everyone is greedy for gain,

And from the prophet even to the priest

Everyone deals falsely.

14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

But there is no peace.

15 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?

They were not even ashamed at all;

They did not even know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

At the time that I punish them,

They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.

16 Thus says the LORD,

“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,

Where the good way is, and walk in it;

And you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

17 “And I set watchmen over you, saying,

‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

18 “Therefore hear, O nations,

And know, O congregation, what is among them.

19 “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,

The fruit of their plans,

Because they have not listened to My words,

And as for My law, they have rejected it also.

20 “For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba

And the sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable

And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”

21 Therefore, thus says the LORD,

“Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people.

And they will stumble against them,

Fathers and sons together;

Neighbor and friend will perish.”

The Enemy from the North22 Thus says the LORD,

“Behold, a people is coming from the north land,

And a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

23 “They seize bow and spear;

They are cruel and have no mercy;

Their voice roars like the sea,

And they ride on horses,

Arrayed as a man for the battle

Against you, O daughter of Zion!”

24 We have heard the report of it;

Our hands are limp.

Anguish has seized us,

Pain as of a woman in childbirth.

25 Do not go out into the field

And do not walk on the road,

For the enemy has a sword,

Terror is on every side.

26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth

And roll in ashes;

Mourn as for an only son,

A lamentation most bitter.

For suddenly the destroyer

Will come upon us.

27 “I have made you an assayer and a tester among My people,

That you may know and assay their way.”

28 All of them are stubbornly rebellious,

Going about as a talebearer.

They are bronze and iron;

They, all of them, are corrupt.

29 The bellows blow fiercely,

The lead is consumed by the fire;

In vain the refining goes on,

But the wicked are not separated.

30 They call them rejected silver,

Because the LORD has rejected them.

JEREMIAH 7

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Message at the Temple Gate  7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 “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 by these gates to worship the LORD!’” 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ 5 For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
    8 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’--that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.
    12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things,” declares 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, 14 therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.
    16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and 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 in order to spite Me. 19 Do they spite Me?” declares the LORD. “Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”
    21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. 22 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 and sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.
    27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

29 ‘Cut off your hair and cast it away,

And take up a lamentation on the bare heights;

For the LORD has rejected and forsaken

The generation of His wrath.’

30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the LORD, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 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, and it did not come into My mind.
    32 “Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. 33 The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.

PROVERBS 6

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Parental Counsel6:1 My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor,

Have given a pledge for a stranger,

2 If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,

Have been caught with the words of your mouth,

3 Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;

Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,

Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.

4 Give no sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids;

5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand

And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard,

Observe her ways and be wise,

7 Which, having no chief,

Officer or ruler,

8 Prepares her food in the summer

And gathers her provision in the harvest.

9 How long will you lie down, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

10 “A little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to rest”--

11 Your poverty will come in like a vagabond

And your need like an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man,

Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,

13 Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,

Who points with his fingers;

14 Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,

Who spreads strife.

15 Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;

Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

16 There are six things which the LORD hates,

Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:

17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood,

18 A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that run rapidly to evil,

19 A false witness who utters lies,

And one who spreads strife among brothers.

20 My son, observe the commandment of your father

And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;

21 Bind them continually on your heart;

Tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk about, they will guide you;

When you sleep, they will watch over you;

And when you awake, they will talk to you.

23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;

And reproofs for discipline are the way of life

24 To keep you from the evil woman,

From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,

Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.

26 For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread,

And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom

And his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can a man walk on hot coals

And his feet not be scorched?

29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;

Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.

30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals

To satisfy himself when he is hungry;

31 But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;

He must give all the substance of his house.

32 The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense;

He who would destroy himself does it.

33 Wounds and disgrace he will find,

And his reproach will not be blotted out.

34 For jealousy enrages a man,

And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

35 He will not accept any ransom,

Nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.

1 PETER 1

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A Living Hope, and a Sure Salvation  1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
    To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
    10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things into which angels long to look.
    13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
    17 If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
    22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS,

AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS.

THE GRASS WITHERS,

AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,

25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”

And this is the word which was preached to you.