Day 280 of 365

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

²"Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

³Their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.

⁴Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed, they cover their heads.

⁵Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes her young, because there is no grass.

⁶The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage."

⁷"Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name's sake, Lord; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.

⁸You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

⁹Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can't save? Yet you, Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us."

¹⁰Thus says the Lord to this people, "Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."

¹¹The Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people for their good.

¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence."

¹³Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets tell them, 'You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"

¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land:' 'By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.'

¹⁶The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them."

¹⁷"You shall say this word to them, 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

¹⁸If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.'"

¹⁹"Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

²⁰We acknowledge, Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.

²¹Do not abhor us, for your name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, do not break your covenant with us.

²²Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren't you he, Lord our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things."

¹Then the Lord said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

²It shall happen, when they tell you, 'Where shall we go forth?' Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord: "Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

³I will appoint over them four kinds, says the Lord: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

⁴I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

⁵For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?

⁶'You have rejected me,' says the Lord, 'you have gone backward:' therefore have I stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed you; I am weary with repenting.

⁷I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they did not return from their ways.

⁸Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.

⁹She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies," says the Lord.

¹⁰"Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me."

¹¹The Lord said, "Most certainly I will strengthen you for good; most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of distress.

¹²Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze?

¹³Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.

¹⁴I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you."

¹⁵"Lord, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; do not take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, Lord, God of Hosts.

¹⁷I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand; for you have filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?"

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord, "If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.

²⁰I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you," says the Lord.

²¹"I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible."

¹The word of the Lord came also to me, saying,

²"You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.

³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land:

⁴They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.

⁵For thus says the Lord, 'Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, even loving kindness and tender mercies.

⁶Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;

⁷neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

⁸You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.

⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall tell you, 'Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?'

¹¹Then you shall tell them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

¹²and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you do not listen to me:

¹³therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.'

¹⁴Therefore behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that it shall no more be said, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;'

¹⁵but, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them.' I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the Lord, "and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

¹⁷For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

¹⁸First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."

¹⁹"Lord, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, 'Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

²⁰Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?'"

²¹"Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is the Lord.

¹Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord.

²Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.

³If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

⁴But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared.

⁵I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. I hope in his word.

⁶My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning; more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is loving kindness. With him is abundant redemption.

⁸He will redeem Israel from all their sins.

¹The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

²to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;

³to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;

⁴to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man:

⁵that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel:

⁶to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸My son, listen to your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching:

⁹for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹If they say, "Come with us, Let's lie in wait for blood; let's lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

¹²let's swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.

¹³We'll find all valuable wealth. We'll fill our houses with spoil.

¹⁴You shall cast your lot among us. We'll all have one purse."

¹⁵My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path,

¹⁶for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:

¹⁸but these lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

²⁰Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.

²¹She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:

²²"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.

²⁴Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;

²⁵but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;

²⁶I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;

²⁷when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.

²⁸Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;

²⁹because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

³⁰They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.

³¹Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

³²For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm."