A Servant serves by Gary Rose

Servant; this is a hard concept for some of us. We are taught things like “Be all you can be” from childhood onward. Face it, most of us think that servants are unimportant people, servants, because they do not have enough abilities or drive to rise above menial tasks. This may or may not be the truth. When I was growing up, my mother used to take me to a doctor who had the most unusual name: Cheznekowski (I think that’s how it was spelled). He was a bit abrupt, with piercing eyes and a strange accent. He spoke slowly and carefully and sometimes would use English in strange ways, but for all this, I thought he was an OK doctor. Then, one day, after my visit was over, we had a bit of a conversation. This was very unusual, because he never talked about himself much. What he did say at this time I remembered though, because it made me think. He said something like: I wasn’t always a doctor in America, Gary, I used to practice in Czechoslovakia before that country was overrun by the Nazis; in fact, I was something like your “Surgeon General” there. But, I am glad to be in America, because here at least I can be free and still practice medicine. I found out later that he had to go back to medical school and everything that goes along with becoming a doctor again. That must have been very humbling, but he handled his situation well. I wondered to myself how any one of us would behave if we were faced with a situation like this. What if we were given talents and then for some reason, couldn’t do what we loved? For that matter, what do we do with the talents God has given us right now? Jesus spoke a parable about this…

Matthew 25 ( World English Bible )

[11] As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately. [12] He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. [13] He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins,* 10 minas was more than 3 years’ wages for an agricultural laborer. and told them, ‘Conduct business until I come.’ [14] But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’ [15] “It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business. [16] The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’ [17] “He said to him, ‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ [18] “The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.’ [19] “So he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ [20] Another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, [21] for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’ [22] “He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow. [23] Then why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?’ [24] He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.’ [25] “They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ [26] ‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him. [27] But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”

Being a servant means using what God has given you to the best of your abilities. Not, when you feel like it, or in a haphazard way, but enthusiastically. In the case above, it involved money (mina’s), but it just as well could have been something else. One servant pleased his Lord greatly and was rewarded accordingly; another, had everything taken away from him. Why? The answer is verse 27- that man really didn’t want to be a servant anyway. In his heart, he had rejected his nobleman master and ultimately it was his undoing.

The point of all this is- You may be many things in this life, but first and foremost you will always be a servant of God. So, forget titles and do what you need to do; doctor Cheznekowski, did. And so can YOU!

Bible Reading November 13 & 14 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading November 13 & 14

World  English  Bible

Nov. 13

Jeremiah 1-4

Jer 1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

Jer 1:2 to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

Jer 1:3 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.

Jer 1:4 Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

Jer 1:5 Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Jer 1:6 Then said I, Ah, Lord Yahweh! behold, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child.

Jer 1:7 But Yahweh said to me, Don't say, I am a child; for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.

Jer 1:8 Don't be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you, says Yahweh.

Jer 1:9 Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth:

Jer 1:10 behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

Jer 1:11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what see you? I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

Jer 1:12 Then said Yahweh to me, You have well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it.

Jer 1:13 The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, What see you? I said, I see a boiling caldron; and its face is from the north.

Jer 1:14 Then Yahweh said to me, Out of the north evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.

Jer 1:15 For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

Jer 1:16 I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Jer 1:17 You therefore gird up your waist, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

Jer 1:18 For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and 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.

Jer 1:19 They shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you, says Yahweh, to deliver you.

Jer 2:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

Jer 2:2 Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Jer 2:3 Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come on them, says Yahweh.

Jer 2:4 Hear you the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

Jer 2:5 thus says Yahweh, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Jer 2:6 Neither said they, Where is Yahweh 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 none passed through, and where no man lived?

Jer 2:7 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.

Jer 2:8 The priests didn't say, Where is Yahweh? and those who handle the law didn't know me: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Jer 2:9 Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Yahweh, and with your children's children will I contend.

Jer 2:10 For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.

Jer 2:11 Has a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Jer 2:12 Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says Yahweh.

Jer 2:13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jer 2:14 Is Israel a servant? is he a native-born slave? why is he become a prey?

Jer 2:15 The young lions have roared on him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

Jer 2:16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.

Jer 2:17 Haven't you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?

Jer 2:18 Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

Jer 2:19 Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

Jer 2:20 For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green tree you did bow yourself, playing the prostitute.

Jer 2:21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

Jer 2:22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord Yahweh.

Jer 2:23 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;

Jer 2:24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire; in her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

Jer 2:25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Jer 2:26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;

Jer 2:27 who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: 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.

Jer 2:28 But where are your gods that you have made you? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.

Jer 2:29 Why will you contend with me? you all have transgressed against me, says Yahweh.

Jer 2:30 In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

Jer 2:31 Generation, see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? or a land of thick darkness? why say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more to you?

Jer 2:32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

Jer 2:33 How trimmest you your way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women have you taught your ways.

Jer 2:34 Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: you did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.

Jer 2:35 Yet you said, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with you, because you say, I have not sinned.

Jer 2:36 Why go you about so much to change your way? you shall be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

Jer 2:37 From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head: for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.

Jer 3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Won't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says Yahweh.

Jer 3:2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see; where have you not been lain with? By the ways have you sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

Jer 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

Jer 3:4 Will you not from this time cry to me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth?

Jer 3:5 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.

Jer 3:6 Moreover Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute.

Jer 3:7 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.

Jer 3:8 I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

Jer 3:9 It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

Jer 3:10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says Yahweh.

Jer 3:11 Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

Jer 3:12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says Yahweh; I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful, says Yahweh, I will not keep anger forever.

Jer 3:13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says Yahweh.

Jer 3:14 Return, backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

Jer 3:15 and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Jer 3:16 It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.

Jer 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

Jer 3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

Jer 3:19 But I said, How I will 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.

Jer 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel, says Yahweh.

Jer 3:21 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 Yahweh their God.

Jer 3:22 Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.

Jer 3:23 Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel.

Jer 3:24 But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

Jer 3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.

Jer 4:1 If you will return, Israel, says Yahweh, if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;

Jer 4:2 and you shall swear, As Yahweh lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

Jer 4:3 For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns.

Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Jer 4:5 Declare you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow you the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

Jer 4:6 Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, don't stay; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

Jer 4:7 A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

Jer 4:8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn't turned back from us.

Jer 4:9 It shall happen at that day, says Yahweh, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

Jer 4:10 Then said I, Ah, Lord Yahweh! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the life.

Jer 4:11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;

Jer 4:12 a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them.

Jer 4:13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are ruined.

Jer 4:14 Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

Jer 4:15 For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:

Jer 4:16 make you mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

Jer 4:17 As keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me, says Yahweh.

Jer 4:18 Your way and your doings have procured these things to you; this is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.

Jer 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Jer 4:20 Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.

Jer 4:21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jer 4:22 For my people are foolish, they don't know me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Jer 4:23 I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

Jer 4:24 I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

Jer 4:25 I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

Jer 4:26 I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, and before his fierce anger.

Jer 4:27 For thus says Yahweh, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.

Jer 4:28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.

Jer 4:29 Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

Jer 4:30 You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.

Jer 4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul faints before the murderers.

Nov. 14

Jeremiah 5-9

Jer 5:1 Run you back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.

Jer 5:2 Though they say, As Yahweh lives; surely they swear falsely.

Jer 5:3 O Yahweh, don't your eyes look on truth? you have stricken them, but they were not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Jer 5:4 Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God:

Jer 5:5 I will get me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Jer 5:6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

Jer 5:7 How can I pardon you? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.

Jer 5:8 They were as fed horses roaming at large; everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

Jer 5:9 Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Jer 5:10 Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh's.

Jer 5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says Yahweh.

Jer 5:12 They have denied Yahweh, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

Jer 5:13 and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

Jer 5:14 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Jer 5:15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel, says Yahweh: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know, neither understand what they say.

Jer 5:16 Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

Jer 5:17 They shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

Jer 5:18 But even in those days, says Yahweh, I will not make a full end with you.

Jer 5:19 It shall happen, when you shall say, Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us? then you shall say to them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Jer 5:20 Declare you this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

Jer 5:21 Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don't see; who have ears, and don't hear:

Jer 5:22 Don't you fear me? says Yahweh: won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.

Jer 5:23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

Jer 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Jer 5:25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.

Jer 5:26 For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.

Jer 5:27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and grew rich.

Jer 5:28 They are grew fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy they don't judge.

Jer 5:29 Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Jer 5:30 A wonderful and horrible thing is happen in the land:

Jer 5:31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it?

Jer 6:1 Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.

Jer 6:2 The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.

Jer 6:3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed everyone in his place.

Jer 6:4 Prepare you war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Jer 6:5 Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

Jer 6:6 For thus has Yahweh of Armies said, Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

Jer 6:7 As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.

Jer 6:8 Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.

Jer 6:9 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

Jer 6:10 To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen: behold, the word of Yahweh is become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Jer 6:11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh; I am weary with holding in: pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.

Jer 6:12 Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh.

Jer 6:13 For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

Jer 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Jer 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Yahweh.

Jer 6:16 Thus says Yahweh, Stand you in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein.

Jer 6:17 I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not listen.

Jer 6:18 Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.

Jer 6:19 Hear, earth: behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Jer 6:20 To what purpose comes there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

Jer 6:21 Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

Jer 6:22 Thus says Yahweh, Behold, a people comes from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

Jer 6:23 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.

Jer 6:24 We have heard its report; our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

Jer 6:25 Don't go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side.

Jer 6:26 Daughter of my people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us.

Jer 6:27 I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people; that you may know and try their way.

Jer 6:28 They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.

Jer 6:29 The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.

Jer 6:30 Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.

Jer 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

Jer 7:2 Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.

Jer 7:3 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

Jer 7:4 Don't you trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, are these.

Jer 7:5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

Jer 7:6 if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:

Jer 7:7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.

Jer 7:8 Behold, you trust in lying words, that can't profit.

Jer 7:9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

Jer 7:10 and 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?

Jer 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.

Jer 7:12 But go you now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

Jer 7:13 Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn't hear; and I called you, but you didn't answer:

Jer 7:14 therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

Jer 7:15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

Jer 7:16 Therefore don't you pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

Jer 7:17 Don't you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?

Jer 7:20 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

Jer 7:21 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.

Jer 7:22 For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

Jer 7:23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk you in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.

Jer 7:24 But they didn't listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Jer 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

Jer 7:26 yet they didn't listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.

Jer 7:27 You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.

Jer 7:28 You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

Jer 7:29 Cut off your hair, Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

Jer 7:31 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 didn't command, nor did it come into my mind.

Jer 7:32 Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there be no place to bury.

Jer 7:33 The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.

Jer 7:34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.

Jer 8:1 At that time, says Yahweh, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;

Jer 8:2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

Jer 8:3 Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of Armies.

Jer 8:4 Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

Jer 8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

Jer 8:6 I listened and heard, but they didn't speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

Jer 8:7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know Yahweh's law.

Jer 8:8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

Jer 8:9 The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what manner of wisdom is in them?

Jer 8:10 Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.

Jer 8:11 They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Jer 8:12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yahweh.

Jer 8:13 I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

Jer 8:14 Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.

Jer 8:15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

Jer 8:16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.

Jer 8:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yahweh.

Jer 8:18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

Jer 8:19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: isn't Yahweh in Zion? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?

Jer 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Jer 8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

Jer 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jer 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Jer 9:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

Jer 9:3 They bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh.

Jer 9:4 Take you heed everyone of his neighbor, and don't you trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

Jer 9:5 They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

Jer 9:6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.

Jer 9:7 Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my people?

Jer 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him.

Jer 9:9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Jer 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone.

Jer 9:11 I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

Jer 9:12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?

Jer 9:13 Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,

Jer 9:14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them;

Jer 9:15 therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

Jer 9:16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

Jer 9:17 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:

Jer 9:18 and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

Jer 9:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

Jer 9:20 Yet hear the word of Yahweh, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.

Jer 9:21 For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.

Jer 9:22 Speak, Thus says Yahweh, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them.

Jer 9:23 Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches;

Jer 9:24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.

Jer 9:25 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in their uncircumcision:

Jer 9:26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

Nov. 13

Titus 3

Tit 3:1 Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

Tit 3:2 to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men.

Tit 3:3 For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Tit 3:4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared,

Tit 3:5 not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Tit 3:6 whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior;

Tit 3:7 that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Tit 3:8 This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men;

Tit 3:9 but shun foolish questionings, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

Tit 3:10 Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning;

Tit 3:11 knowing that such a one is perverted, and sins, being self-condemned.

Tit 3:12 When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis, for I have determined to winter there.

Tit 3:13 Send Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollos on their journey speedily, that nothing may be lacking for them.

Tit 3:14 Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.

Tit 3:15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.

Nov. 14

Philemon

Phm 1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,

Phm 1:2 to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house:

Phm 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Phm 1:4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

Phm 1:5 hearing of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints;

Phm 1:6 that the fellowship of your faith may become effective, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us in Christ Jesus.

Phm 1:7 For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Phm 1:8 Therefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate,

Phm 1:9 yet for love's sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Phm 1:10 I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,

Phm 1:11 who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.

Phm 1:12 I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,

Phm 1:13 whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.

Phm 1:14 But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.

Phm 1:15 For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever,

Phm 1:16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

Phm 1:17 If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.

Phm 1:18 But if he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, put that to my account.

Phm 1:19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides).

Phm 1:20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.

Phm 1:21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say.

Phm 1:22 Also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

Phm 1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,

Phm 1:24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

Phm 1:25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.