Through the Bible – Day 303

Bible text(s)

Jeremiah 23

Jeremiah thinks about unfaithful prophets

₉When I think of the prophets,

I am shocked, and I tremble

like someone drunk,

because of the LORD

and his sacred words.

₁₀Those unfaithful prophets

misuse their power

all over the country.

So God turned the pasture lands

into scorching deserts.

The LORD will punish unfaithful prophets

₁₁The LORD told me to say:

You prophets and priests

think so little of me, the LORD,

that you even sin

in my own temple!

₁₂Now I will punish you

with disaster,

and you will slip and fall

in the darkness.

I, the LORD, have spoken.

₁₃The prophets in Samaria

were disgusting to me,

because they preached

in the name of Baal

and led my people astray.

₁₄And you prophets in Jerusalem

are even worse.

You're unfaithful in marriage

and never tell the truth.

You even lead others to sin

instead of helping them

turn back to me.

You and the people of Jerusalem

are evil like Sodom

and Gomorrah.

₁₅You prophets in Jerusalem

have spread evil everywhere.

That's why I, the LORD, promise

to give you bitter poison

to eat and drink.

The LORD gives a warning

The LORD said:

₁₆Don't listen to the lies

of these false prophets,

you people of Judah!

The message they preach

is something they imagined;

it did not come from me,

the LORD All-Powerful.

₁₇These prophets go to people

who refuse to respect me

and who are stubborn

and do whatever they want.

The prophets tell them,

“The LORD has promised

everything will be fine.”

₁₈But I, the LORD, tell you

that these prophets

have never attended a meeting

of my council in heaven

or heard me speak.

₁₉They are evil! So in my anger

I will strike them

like a violent storm.

₂₀I won't calm down,

until I have finished

what I have decided to do.

Some day you will understand

exactly what I mean.

₂₁I did not send these prophets

or speak to them,

but they ran to find you

and to preach their message.

₂₂If they had been in a meeting

of my council in heaven,

they would have told

you people of Judah

to give up your sins

and come back to me.

₂₃I am everywhere—

both near and far,

₂₄in heaven and on earth.

There are no secret places

where you can hide from me.

₂₅These unfaithful prophets claim that I have given them a dream or a vision, and then they tell lies in my name. ₂₆But everything they say comes from their own twisted minds. How long can this go on? ₂₇They tell each other their dreams and try to get my people to reject me, just as their ancestors left me and worshipped Baal. ₂₈Their dreams and my truth are as different as straw and wheat. But when prophets speak for me, they must say only what I have told them. ₂₉My words are a powerful fire; they are a hammer that shatters rocks.

_30-32These unfaithful prophets claim I give them their dreams, but it isn't true. I didn't choose them to be my prophets, and yet they babble on and on, speaking in my name, while stealing words from each other. And when my people hear these liars, they are led astray instead of being helped. So I warn you that I am now the enemy of these prophets. I, the LORD, have spoken.

News and nuisance

The LORD said to me:

₃₃Jeremiah, when a prophet or a priest or anyone else comes to you and asks, “Does the LORD have news for us?” tell them, “You people are a nuisance to the LORD, and he will get rid of you.”

₃₄If any of you say, “Here is news from the LORD,” I will punish you and your families, even if you are a prophet or a priest. ₃₅Instead, you must ask your friends and relatives, “What answer did the LORD give?” or “What has the LORD said?” ₃₆It seems that you each have your own news! So if you say, “Here is news from the LORD,” you are twisting my words into a lie. Remember that I am your God, the LORD All-Powerful.

₃₇If you go to a prophet, it's all right to ask, “What answer did the LORD give to my question?” or “What has the LORD said?” ₃₈But if you disobey me and say, “Here is news from the LORD,” ₃₉I will pick you up and throw you far away. And I will abandon this city of Jerusalem that I gave to your ancestors. ₄₀You will never be free from your shame and disgrace.

Jeremiah 24

Jeremiah has a vision of two baskets of figs

₁The LORD spoke to me in a vision after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had come to Judah and taken King Jehoiachin, his officials, and all the skilled workers back to Babylonia. In this vision I saw two baskets of figs in front of the LORD's temple. ₂One basket was full of very good figs that ripened early, and the other was full of rotten figs that were not fit to eat.

₃“Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?”

“Figs,” I said. “Some are very good, but the others are too rotten to eat.”

₄Then the LORD told me to say:

₅People of Judah, the good figs stand for those of you I sent away as exiles to Babylonia, ₆where I am watching over them. Then some day I will bring them back to this land. I will plant them, instead of uprooting them, and I will build them up, rather than tearing them down. ₇I will give them a desire to know me and to be my people. They will want me to be their God, and they will turn back to me with all their heart.

₈The rotten figs stand for King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and all the others who were not taken away to Babylonia, whether they stayed here in Judah or went to live in Egypt. ₉I will punish them with a terrible disaster, and everyone on earth will tremble when they hear about it. I will force the people of Judah to go to foreign countries, where they will be cursed and insulted. ₁₀War and hunger and disease will strike them, until they finally disappear from the land that I gave them and their ancestors.

Jeremiah 25

Seventy years of exile

_1-2In the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, which was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia, the LORD told me to speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. So I told them:

₃For twenty-three years now, ever since the thirteenth year that Josiah was king, I have been telling you what the LORD has told me. But you have not listened.

₄The LORD has sent prophets to you time after time, but you refused to listen. ₅They told you that the LORD had said:

Change your ways! If you stop doing evil, I will let you stay for ever in this land that I gave your ancestors. ₆I don't want to harm you. So don't make me angry by worshipping idols and other gods.

₇But you refused to listen to my prophets. So I, the LORD, say that you have made me angry by worshipping idols, and you are the ones who were hurt by what you did. ₈You refused to listen to me, ₉and now I will let you be attacked by nations from the north, and especially by my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. You and other nearby nations will be destroyed and left in ruins for ever. Everyone who sees what has happened will be shocked, but they will still make fun of you. ₁₀I will put an end to your parties and wedding celebrations; no one will grind grain or be here to light the lamps at night. ₁₁This country will be as empty as a desert, because I will make all of you the slaves of the king of Babylonia for seventy years.

₁₂When that time is up, I will punish the king of Babylonia and his people for everything they have done wrong, and I will turn that country into a wasteland for ever. ₁₃My servant Jeremiah has told you what I said I will do to Babylonia and to the other nations, and he wrote it all down in this book. I will do everything I threatened. ₁₄I will pay back the Babylonians for every wrong they have done. Great kings from many other nations will conquer the Babylonians and force them to be slaves.

Jeremiah 23:9-25:14CEVOpen in Bible reader

Hebrews 1

The greatness of God's Son

₁Long ago in many ways and at many times God's prophets spoke his message to our ancestors. ₂But now at last, God sent his Son to bring his message to us. God created the universe by his Son, and everything will some day belong to the Son. ₃God's Son has all the brightness of God's own glory and is like him in every way. By his own mighty word, he holds the universe together.

After the Son had washed away our sins, he sat down at the right side of the glorious God in heaven. ₄He had become much greater than the angels, and the name he was given is far greater than any of theirs.

Jesus is greater than angels

₅God has never said

to any of the angels,

“You are my Son, because today

I have become your Father!”

Neither has God said

to any of them,

“I will be his Father,

and he will be my Son!”

₆When God brings his firstborn Son into the world, he commands all his angels to worship him.

₇And when God speaks about the angels, he says,

“I change my angels into wind

and my servants

into flaming fire.”

₈But God says about his Son,

“You are God,

and you will rule

as King for ever!

Your royal power

brings about justice.

₉You loved justice

and hated evil,

and so I, your God,

have chosen you.

I appointed you

and made you happier

than any of your friends.”

₁₀The Scriptures also say,

“In the beginning, Lord,

you were the one

who laid the foundation

of the earth

and created the heavens.

₁₁They will all disappear

and wear out like clothes,

but you will last for ever.

₁₂You will roll them up

like a robe

and change them

like a garment.

But you are always the same,

and you will live for ever.”

₁₃God never said to any

of the angels,

“Sit at my right side

until I make your enemies

into a footstool for you!”

₁₄Angels are merely spirits sent to serve people who are going to be saved.

Hebrews 1:1-14CEVOpen in Bible reader