You Can Read the Bible

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. Jeremiah 1:1-2

You might recall from 2 Kings that Josiah reigned near the end of Judah’s term. Jeremiah’s parents would have remembered the treacherous days of Manasseh, when the LORD had promised by His servants the prophets, “Because Manasseh…has done more evil than all the Amorites did… Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle… And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies.”

Jeremiah would see this promise fulfilled, as evidenced by the first paragraph of this book. In fact, it appears that Jeremiah’s calling coincides with the start of a countdown, around 40 years before the ultimate fall of Jerusalem. In Jeremiah’s first vision Jeremiah is let in on this secret: “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north… and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem… and I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me.”

The remainder of this oracle is encouragement for Jeremiah. In fact, listen as the LORD promises to build defenses, but not for Judah! “To all to whom I send you,” declares the LORD, …whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you.” Pay attention throughout this book to Jeremiah’s emotions and the LORD’s encouragement – and consider the times in which Jeremiah lived.

In the final two-thirds of today’s reading Jeremiah presents the LORD’s case against His people. The LORD laments over Israel’s covenantal failure: “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest.” One metaphor of note is that of infidelity – especially marital infidelity. This surfaced sparingly in Isaiah, but becomes a strong image in these opening chapters of Jeremiah. This is how seriously the LORD takes His covenant with them, and He wants them to know why they are being judged.

Our verse for this week is Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Jeremiah 1 through 3. Now let’s read it!

Jeremiah 1 - 3

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. Jehovah's word came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Now Jehovah's word came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord Jehovah! Behold, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child." But Jehovah said to me, "Don't say, 'I am a child;' for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don't be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you," says Jehovah. Then Jehovah stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. Then Jehovah said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." Moreover Jehovah's word came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree." Then Jehovah said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it." Jehovah's word came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north." Then Jehovah said to me, "Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north," says Jehovah. "They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah. I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. "You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land--against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you", says Jehovah, "to rescue you." Jehovah's word came to me, saying, "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Jehovah says, "I remember for you the kindness of your youth, your love as a bride, how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to Jehovah, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,"' says Jehovah." Hear Jehovah's word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! Jehovah says, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless? They didn't say, 'Where is Jehovah who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?' I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests didn't say, 'Where is Jehovah?' and those who handle the law didn't know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit. "Therefore I will yet contend with you," says Jehovah, "and I will contend with your children's children. For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see. Send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn't profit. "Be astonished, you heavens, at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate," says Jehovah. "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can't hold water. Is Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive? The young lions have roared at him and raised their voices. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. "Haven't you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, when he led you by the way? Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? "Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, Jehovah of Armies. "For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, 'I will not serve;' for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord Jehovah. "How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. "Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.' As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so the house of Israel is ashamed-- they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, who tell wood, 'You are my father,' and a stone, 'You have given birth to me,' for they have turned their back to me, and not their face, but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and save us!' "But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble, for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah. "Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," says Jehovah. "I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. Generation, consider Jehovah's word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more'? "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways. Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You didn't find them breaking in, but it is because of all these things. "Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.' Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. You will also leave that place with your hands on your head; for Jehovah has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won't prosper with them. "They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man's, should he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says Jehovah. "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute's forehead and you refused to be ashamed. Will you not from this time cry to me, 'My Father, you are the guide of my youth!'? "'Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way." Moreover, Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there. I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear, but she also went and played the prostitute. Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says Jehovah. Jehovah said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, you backsliding Israel,' says Jehovah; 'I will not look in anger on you, for I am merciful,' says Jehovah. 'I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Jehovah your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,'" says Jehovah. "Return, backsliding children," says Jehovah, "for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days," says Jehovah, "they will no longer say, 'the ark of Jehovah's covenant!' It will not come to mind. They won't remember it. They won't miss it, nor will another be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem 'Jehovah's Throne;' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jehovah's name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers. "But I said, 'How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!' and I said, 'You shall call me "My Father", and shall not turn away from following me.' "Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel," says Jehovah. A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God. Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. "Behold, we have come to you; for you are Jehovah our God. Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Jehovah our God. But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Jehovah our God's voice."

You Can Read the Bible

Gn

Genesis

Ex

Exodus

Lv

Leviticus

Nm

Numbers

Dt

Deuteronomy

Jo

Joshua

Jg

Judges

Ru

Ruth

1Sm

1 Samuel

2Sm

2 Samuel

1Kg

1 Kings

2Kg

2 Kings

1Ch

1 Chronicles

2Ch

2 Chronicles

Er

Ezra

Ne

Nehemiah

Es

Esther

Jb

Job

Ps

Psalms

Pr

Proverbs

Ec

Ecclesiastes

Sg

Song of Songs

Is

Isaiah

Je

Jeremiah

Lm

Lamentations

Ez

Ezekiel

Dn

Daniel

Hs

Hosea

Jl

Joel

Am

Amos

Ob

Obadiah

Jo

Jonah

Mi

Micah

Na

Nahum

Hb

Habakkuk

Zp

Zephaniah

Hg

Haggai

Zc

Zechariah

Mc

Malachi

Mt