Jeremiah 7:21-8:3
New King James Version
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (A)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 (B)For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, (C)‘Obey My voice, and (D)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 (E)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but (F)followed[a] the counsels and the [b]dictates of their evil hearts, and (G)went[c] backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even (H)sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 (I)Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but (J)stiffened their neck. (K)They did worse than their fathers.
27 “Therefore (L)you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
Judgment on Obscene Religion
28 “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God (M)nor receive correction. (N)Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29 (O)Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. (P)“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to [d]pollute it. 31 And they have built the (Q)high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to (R)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, (S)which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32 “Therefore behold, (T)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; (U)for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33 The (V)corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to (W)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 (X)the land shall be desolate.
Jeremiah Mourns for His People
8 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its 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. 2 They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and (Y)which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered (Z)nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. 3 Then (AA)death shall be chosen rather than life by all the [e]residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 7:24 walked in
- Jeremiah 7:24 stubbornness or imagination
- Jeremiah 7:24 Lit. they were
- Jeremiah 7:30 defile
- Jeremiah 8:3 remnant
Jeremiah 9:22-23
New King James Version
22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord:
‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall (A)as refuse on the open field,
Like cuttings after the harvester,
And no one shall gather them.’ ”
23 Thus says the Lord:
(B)“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his (C)might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
Malachi 3:4-18
New King James Version
4 “Then (A)the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be [a]pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.
5 And I will come near you for judgment;
I will be a swift witness
Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers,
(B)Against perjurers,
Against those who (C)exploit wage earners and (D)widows and orphans,
And against those who turn away an alien—
Because they do not fear Me,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I am the Lord, (E)I do not change;
(F)Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of (G)your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
(H)Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
(I)“But you said,
‘In what way shall we return?’
Do Not Rob God
8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
(J)In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 (K)Bring all the tithes into the (L)storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the (M)windows of heaven
And (N)pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke (O)the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 “And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be (P)a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
The People Complain Harshly
13 “Your(Q) words have been [b]harsh against Me,”
Says the Lord,
“Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 (R)You have said,
‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the Lord of hosts?
15 So now (S)we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are [c]raised up;
They even (T)tempt God and go free.’ ”
A Book of Remembrance
16 Then those (U)who feared the Lord (V)spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So (W)a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who [d]meditate on His name.
17 “They(X) shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My (Y)jewels.[e]
And (Z)I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 (AA)Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
Footnotes
- Malachi 3:4 pleasing
- Malachi 3:13 Lit. strong
- Malachi 3:15 Lit. built
- Malachi 3:16 Or esteem
- Malachi 3:17 Lit. special treasure
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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