The Living Bible (242 page)

Jeremiah
13

The Lord said to me, Go and buy a linen loincloth and wear it, but don’t wash it—don’t put it in water at all.
²
 So I bought the loincloth and put it on.
³
 Then the Lord’s message came to me again. This time he said,
⁴
 Take the loincloth out to the Euphrates River and hide it in a hole in the rocks.

    
⁵
 So I did; I hid it as the Lord had told me to.
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 Then, a long time afterwards, the Lord said: Go out to the river again and get the loincloth.
⁷
 And I did; I dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was mildewed and falling apart. It was utterly useless!

    
^8-9
 Then the Lord said: This illustrates the way that I will rot the pride of Judah and Jerusalem.
¹⁰
 This evil nation refuses to listen to me and follows its own evil desires, and worships idols; therefore, it shall become as this loincloth—good for nothing.
¹¹
 Even as a loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so I made Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were my people, an honor to my name. But then they turned away.

    
¹²
 Tell them this: The Lord God of Israel says, All your wine jugs will be full of wine. And they will reply, Of course, you don’t need to tell us how prosperous we will be!
*
¹³
 Then tell them: That’s not what I mean.
*
I mean that I will fill everyone living in this land with helpless bewilderment—from the king sitting on David’s throne, and the priests and the prophets, right on down to all the people.
¹⁴
 And I will smash fathers and sons against each other, says the Lord. I will not let pity nor mercy spare them from utter destruction.

    
¹⁵
 Oh, that you were not so proud and stubborn! Then you would listen to the Lord, for he has spoken.
¹⁶
 Give glory to the Lord your God before it is too late, before he causes deep, impenetrable darkness to fall upon you so that you stumble and fall upon the dark mountains; then, when you look for light, you will find only terrible darkness.
¹⁷
 Do you still refuse to listen? Then in loneliness my breaking heart shall mourn because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears because the Lord’s flock shall be carried away as slaves.

    
¹⁸
 Say to the king and queen mother,
*
Come down from your thrones and sit in the dust, for your glorious crowns are removed from your heads. They are no longer yours.
¹⁹
 The cities of the Negeb to the south of Jerusalem have closed their gates against the enemy. They must defend themselves, for Jerusalem cannot help;
*
and all Judah shall be taken away as slaves.

    
²⁰
 See the armies marching from the north! Where is your flock, Jerusalem,
*
your beautiful flock he gave you to take care of ?
²¹
 How will you feel when he sets your allies over you as your rulers? You will writhe in pain like a woman having a child.
²²
 And if you ask yourself, Why is all this happening to me? It is because of the grossness of your sins; that is why you have been raped and destroyed by the invading army.
²³
 Can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin? or a leopard take away his spots? Nor can you who are so used to doing evil now start being good.

    
^24-25
 Because you have put me out of your mind and put your trust in false gods, I will scatter you as chaff is scattered by the fierce winds off the desert. This then is your allotment, that which is due you, which I have measured out especially for you.
²⁶
 I myself will expose you to utter shame.
²⁷
 I am keenly aware of your apostasy, your faithlessness to me, and your abominable idol worship in the fields and on the hills. Woe upon you, O Jerusalem! How long before you will be pure?

Jeremiah
14

This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord, explaining why he was holding back the rain:

    
²
 Judah mourns; business has ground to a halt; all the people prostrate themselves to the earth, and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.
³
 The nobles send servants for water from the wells, but the wells are dry. The servants return, baffled and desperate, and cover their heads in grief.
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 The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain; the farmers are afraid.
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 The deer deserts her fawn because there is no grass.
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 The wild donkeys stand upon the bare hills panting like thirsty jackals. They strain their eyes looking for grass to eat, but there is none to be found.

    
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 O Lord, we have sinned against you grievously, yet help us for the sake of your own reputation!
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 O Hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble, why are you as a stranger to us, as one passing through the land who is merely stopping for the night?
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 Are you also baffled? Are you helpless to save us? O Lord, you are right here among us, and we carry your name; we are known as your people. O Lord, don’t desert us now!

    
¹⁰
 But the Lord replies: You have loved to wander far from me and have not tried to follow in my paths. Now I will no longer accept you as my people; now I will remember all the evil you have done and punish your sins.

    
¹¹
 The Lord told me again: Don’t ask me anymore to bless this people. Don’t pray for them anymore.
¹²
 When they fast, I will not pay any attention; when they present their offerings and sacrifices to me, I will not accept them. What I will give them in return is war and famine and disease.

    
¹³
 Then I said, O Lord God, their prophets are telling them that all is well—that no war or famine will come. They tell the people you will surely send them peace, that you will bless them.

    
¹⁴
 Then the Lord said: The prophets are telling lies in my name. I didn’t send them or tell them to speak or give them any message. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen nor heard; they speak foolishness concocted out of their own lying hearts.
¹⁵
 Therefore, the Lord says, I will punish these lying prophets who have spoken in my name though I did not send them, who say no war shall come nor famine. By war and famine they themselves shall die!
¹⁶
 And the people to whom they prophesy—their bodies shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war; there shall be no one to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters—all will be gone. For I will pour out terrible punishment upon them for their sins.

    
¹⁷
 Therefore, tell them this: Night and day my eyes shall overflow with tears; I cannot stop my crying, for my people have been run through with a sword and lie mortally wounded on the ground.
¹⁸
 If I go out in the fields, there lie the bodies of those the sword has killed; and if I walk in the streets, there lie those dead from starvation and disease. And yet the prophets and priests alike have made it their business to travel through the whole country, reassuring everyone that all is well, speaking of things they know nothing about.

    
¹⁹
 “O Lord,” the people will cry, “have you completely rejected Judah? Do you abhor Jerusalem? Even after punishment, will there be no peace? We thought, Now at last he will heal us and bind our wounds. But no peace has come, and there is only trouble and terror everywhere.
²⁰
 O Lord, we confess our wickedness, and that of our fathers too.
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 Do not hate us, Lord, for the sake of your own name. Do not disgrace yourself and the throne of your glory by forsaking your promise to bless us!
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 What heathen god can give us rain? Who but you alone, O Lord our God, can do such things as this? Therefore we will wait for you to help us.”

Jeremiah
15

Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, even then I wouldn’t help them—away with them! Get them out of my sight!
²
 And if they say to you, But where can we go? Tell them the Lord says: Those who are destined for death, to death; those who must die by the sword, to the sword; those doomed to starvation, to famine; and those for captivity, to captivity.
³
 I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the vultures and wild animals to finish up what’s left.
⁴
 Because of the wicked things Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will punish you so severely that your fate will horrify the peoples of the world.

    
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 Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?
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 You have forsaken me and turned your backs upon me. Therefore, I will clench my fists against you to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.
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 I will sift you at the gates of your cities and take from you all that you hold dear, and I will destroy my own people because they refuse to turn back to me from all their evil ways.
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 There shall be countless widows; at noontime I will bring death to the young men and sorrow to their mothers. I will cause anguish and terror to fall upon them suddenly.
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 The mother of seven sickens and faints, for all her sons are dead. Her sun is gone down while it is yet day. She sits childless now, disgraced, for all her children have been killed.

    
¹⁰
 Then Jeremiah said, “What sadness is mine, my mother; oh, that I had died at birth. For I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a creditor soon to foreclose nor a debtor refusing to pay—yet they all curse me.
¹¹
 Well, let them curse! Lord, you know how I have pled with you on their behalf—how I have begged you to spare these enemies of mine.”

    
^12-13
 Can a man break bars of northern iron or bronze? This people’s stubborn will can’t be broken either. So, because of all your sins against me, I will deliver your wealth and treasures as loot to the enemy.
¹⁴
 I will have your enemies take you as slaves to a land where you have never been before, for my anger burns like fire, and it shall consume you.

    
¹⁵
 Then Jeremiah replied, “Lord, you know it is for your sake that I am suffering. They are persecuting me because I have proclaimed your word to them. Don’t let them kill me! Rescue me from their clutches, and give them what they deserve!
¹⁶
 Your words are what sustain me; they are food to my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and delight me. How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord.
^17-18
 I have not joined the people in their merry feasts. I sit alone beneath the hand of God. I burst with indignation at their sins. Yet you have failed me in my time of need! You have let them keep right on with all their persecutions. Will they never stop hurting me? Your help is as uncertain as a seasonal mountain brook—sometimes a flood, sometimes as dry as a bone.”

    
¹⁹
 The Lord replied: “Stop this foolishness and talk some sense! Only if you return to trusting me will I let you continue as my spokesman. You are to influence
them,
not let them influence
you!
²⁰
 They will fight against you like a besieging army against a high city wall. But they will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and deliver you, says the Lord.
²¹
 Yes, I will certainly deliver you from these wicked men and rescue you from their ruthless hands.”