Jeremiah 17 - 18

The Deceitful Heart

The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus;

With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart

And on the horns of their altars,

As they remember their children,

So they remember their altars and their Asherim

By green trees on the high hills.

O mountain of Mine in the countryside,

I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for plunder,

Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance

That I gave you;

And I will make you serve your enemies

In the land which you do not know,

For you have kindled a fire in My anger

Which will burn forever.

5 Thus says Yahweh,

“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind

And makes flesh his strength,

And whose heart turns away from Yahweh.

And he will be like a juniper in the desert

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will dwell in stony wastes in the wilderness,

A land of salt which is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh

And whose trust is Yahweh.

And he will be like a tree planted by the water,

That sends forth its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of drought

Nor refrain from yielding fruit.

“The heart is more deceitful than all else

And is desperately sick;

Who can know it?

I, Yahweh, search the heart;

I test the inmost being,

Even to give to each man according to his ways,

According to the fruit of his deeds.

As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,

So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;

In the midst of his days it will forsake him,

And in the end he will be a wicked fool.”

A glorious throne on high from the beginning

Is the place of our sanctuary.

O Yahweh, the hope of Israel,

All who forsake You will be put to shame.

Those who turn away on earth will be written down

Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even Yahweh.

Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed;

Save me and I will be saved,

For You are my praise.

Behold, they keep saying to me,

“Where is the word of Yahweh?

Let it come now!”

But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,

Nor have I longed for the sickening day;

You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips

Was in Your presence.

Do not be a terror to me;

You are my refuge in the day of calamity.

Let those who pursue me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame;

Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed.

Bring on them a day of calamity,

And crush them with twofold crushing!

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

19 Thus Yahweh said to me, “Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem, 20 and say to them, ‘Listen to the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates: 21 Thus says Yahweh, “Take care of yourselves, and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or receive discipline. 24 “But it will be, if you listen carefully to Me,” declares Yahweh, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, 25 then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. 26 And they will come in from the cities of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of Yahweh. 27 But if you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.”’”

The Potter and the Clay

The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, so he turned around and made it into another vessel, according to what was right in the eyes of the potter to make. 5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to tear down, or to make it perish; 8 but if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to do against it. 9 Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10 but if it does evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will relent concerning the good which I promised, to do good to it. 11 So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am forming calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and do good in your ways and your deeds.”’ 12 But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ 13 “Therefore thus says Yahweh,

‘Ask now among the nations,

Who ever heard the like of this?

The virgin of Israel

Has done a most appalling thing.

Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?

Or is the cold flowing water from a strange land ever uprooted?

For My people have forgotten Me;

They burn incense to worthless gods,

And they have stumbled from their ways,

From the ancient paths,

To walk in bypaths,

Not on a highway,

To make their land an object of horror,

An object of perpetual hissing;

Everyone who passes by it will be horrified

And shake his head.

Like an east wind I will scatter them

Before the enemy;

I will show them My back and not My face

In the day of their disaster.’”

18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to perish from the priest, nor counsel to the wise man, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.”
19

Do give heed to me, O Yahweh,

And listen to the voice of those who contend against me!

Should good be repaid with evil?

For they have dug a pit for me.

Remember how I stood before You

To speak good on their behalf,

So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

Therefore, give their children over to famine

And deliver them up to the power of the sword;

And let their wives become childless and widowed.

Let their men also be smitten to death,

Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

May an outcry be heard from their houses,

When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;

For they have dug a pit to capture me

And hidden snares for my feet.

Yet You, O Yahweh, know

All their deadly counsel against me;

Do not atone for their iniquity

Or blot out their sin from before You.

But may they be overthrown before You;

Deal with them in the time of Your anger!

Romans 8

The Spirit of God Dwells in You

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we eagerly wait for it. 26 And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. 29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; 30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.

God Is for Us

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;

We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 105:1 - 105:24

Remember His Wondrous Deeds

Oh give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name;

Make known His acts among the peoples.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;

Muse on all His wondrous deeds.

Boast in His holy name;

Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad.

Inquire of Yahweh and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

Remember His wondrous deeds which He has done,

His miracles and the judgments uttered by His mouth,

O seed of Abraham, His servant,

O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

He is Yahweh our God;

His judgments are in all the earth.

He has remembered His covenant forever,

The word which He commanded for a thousand generations,

Which He cut with Abraham,

And His oath to Isaac.

Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,

To Israel as an everlasting covenant,

Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

As the portion of your inheritance,”

When they were only a few men in number,

Of little account, and sojourners in it.

And they wandered about from nation to nation,

From one kingdom to another people.

He permitted no man to oppress them,

And He reproved kings for their sakes:

“Do not touch My anointed ones,

And to My prophets do no evil.”

And He called for a famine upon the land;

He broke the whole staff of bread.

He sent a man before them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

They afflicted his feet with fetters,

He himself was laid in irons;

Until the time that his word came to pass,

The word of Yahweh refined him.

The king sent and released him,

The ruler of peoples sent and set him free.

He set him up as lord of his house

And ruler over all his possessions,

To imprison his princes at will,

And that he might teach his elders wisdom.

Then Israel came to Egypt;

And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

And He caused His people to be very fruitful,

And He caused them to be stronger than their adversaries.