Day 297 of 730

¹Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

²(after that Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem),

³by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,

⁴"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵'Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.

⁶Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not be diminished.

⁷Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.'

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Do not let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them,' says the Lord.

¹⁰"For thus says the Lord, 'After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

¹¹For I know the plans that I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans for your welfare, and not for calamity, to give you hope and a future.

¹²You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

¹³You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will be found by you,' says the Lord, 'and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,' says the Lord; 'and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.'

¹⁵"Because you have said, 'The Lord has raised us up prophets in Babylon';

¹⁶thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven't gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷thus says the Lord of hosts; 'Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.

¹⁸I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

¹⁹because they have not listened to my words,' says the Lord, 'with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,' says the Lord.

²⁰'Hear therefore the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.'

²¹"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: 'Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes;

²²and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "The Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire";

²³because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness,' says the Lord."

²⁴"Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

²⁵'Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, "Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶'The Lord has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

²⁷Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,

²⁸because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, "The captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit?"'"'

²⁹Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹"Send to all them of the captivity, saying, 'Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;

³²therefore," thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to my people, says the Lord, because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord."'"

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²"Thus speaks the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

³For, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,' says the Lord; 'and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.'"

⁴These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

⁵For thus says the Lord: "We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

⁶Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

⁷Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

⁸It shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord of hosts, "that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bondservant;

⁹but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

¹⁰Therefore do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord; neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

¹¹For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished."

¹²For thus says the Lord, "Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous.

¹³There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines.

¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.

¹⁵Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.

¹⁶Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; and those who despoil you shall be a spoil, and all who prey on you will I give for a prey.

¹⁷For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds," says the Lord; "because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.'"

¹⁸Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited in its own way.

¹⁹Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

²⁰Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them.

²¹Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from their midst; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says the Lord.

²²You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

²³Behold, the storm of the Lord, his wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.

²⁴The fierce anger of the Lord will not return, until he has executed, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.

¹Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.

²The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

³He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

⁴He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.

⁶The Lord upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God,

⁸who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.

⁹He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰He doesn't delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.

¹²Praise the Lord, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion!

¹³For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.

¹⁴He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

¹⁵He sends out his commandment to the earth. His word runs very swiftly.

¹⁶He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.

¹⁷He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can stand before his cold?

¹⁸He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

¹⁹He shows his word to Jacob; his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.

²⁰He has not done this for just any nation. They do not know his ordinances. Praise Yah!

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.