Through My Bible Yr 2 – March 19

Jeremiah 11

The Covenant Is Broken

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : ² “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. ³ Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant- ⁴ the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. ⁵ Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’-the land you possess today.”
I answered, “Amen, LORD.”

⁶ The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. ⁷ From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.” ⁸But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’ ”

⁹ Then the LORD said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. ¹¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. ¹² The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. ¹³You have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴“Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

¹⁵ “What is my beloved doing in my temple
as she works out her evil schemes with many?
Can consecrated meat avert your punishment ?
When you engage in your wickedness,
then you rejoice. ^[a]”

¹⁶ The LORD called you a thriving olive tree
with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
he will set it on fire,
and its branches will be broken.

¹⁷The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal.

Plot Against Jeremiah

¹⁸ Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. ¹⁹ I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”

²⁰ But, O LORD Almighty, you who judge righteously
and test the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.

²¹ “Therefore this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands’- ²² therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.’ ”

Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah’s Complaint

¹ You are always righteous, O LORD,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?

² You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.

³ Yet you know me, O LORD;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!

⁴ How long will the land lie parched ^[b]
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country, ^[c]
how will you manage in the thickets by ^[d]the Jordan?

⁶ Your brothers, your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.

⁷ “I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.

⁸ My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.

⁹ Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.

¹⁰ Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.

¹¹ It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.

¹² Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the LORD will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.

¹³ They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
So bear the shame of your harvest
because of the LORD’s fierce anger.”

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. ¹⁶ And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’-even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. ¹⁷ But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 11:15 Or Could consecrated meat avert your punishment? / Then you would rejoice
2. Jeremiah 12:4 Or land mourn
3. Jeremiah 12:5 Or If you put your trust in a land of safety
4. Jeremiah 12:5 Or the flooding of

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.