Jeremiah 9 - 10 - Legacy Standard Bible

Jeremiah 9 - 10

Oh that my head were waters

And my eyes a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had in the desert

A travelers’ lodging place,

That I might leave my people

And go from them!

For all of them are adulterers,

A solemn assembly of treacherous men.

“They bend their tongue like their bow;

Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,

For they go onward from evil to evil,

And they do not know Me,” declares Yahweh.

“Let everyone beware of his neighbor,

And do not trust any brother,

Because every brother surely supplants,

And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

Everyone deceives his neighbor

And does not speak the truth;

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They weary themselves committing iniquity.

Your habitation is in the midst of deceit;

Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares Yahweh.

7 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Behold, I will refine them and test them;

For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

Their tongue is a slaughtering arrow;

It speaks deceit;

With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,

But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.

Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares Yahweh.

“On a nation such as this

Shall I not avenge Myself?

“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,

And for the pastures of the wilderness a funeral lamentation,

Because they are turned into ruin so that no one passes through,

And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;

Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,

A haunt of jackals;

And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, turned into ruin like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13 Yahweh said, “Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice nor walked according to it, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 16 I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.” 17 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Carefully consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;

And send for the skillful women, that they may come!

Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,

That our eyes may shed tears

And our eyelids flow with water.

For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion,

‘How we are destroyed!

We are put to great shame,

For we have left the land

Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

Indeed, hear the word of Yahweh, O you women,

And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And everyone her neighbor a funeral lamentation.

For death has come up through our windows;

It has entered our palaces

To cut off the infants from the streets,

The choice men from the open squares.

Speak, “Thus declares Yahweh,

‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field

And like the sheaf after the reaper,

But no one will gather them.’”

23 Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh. 25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26 Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”

Yahweh Alone Is the Living God

Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says Yahweh,

“Do not learn the way of the nations,

And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens

Although the nations are terrified by them;

For the statutes of the peoples are vanity

Because it is wood cut from the forest,

The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

They make it beautiful with silver and with gold;

They strengthen it with nails and with hammers

So that it will not totter.

Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,

And they cannot speak;

They must be carried

Because they cannot take a step!

Do not fear them,

For they can do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.”

There is none like You, O Yahweh;

You are great, and great is Your name in might.

Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?

Indeed it is Your due!

For among all the wise men of the nations

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

But they are altogether senseless and foolish;

They are in a discipline of vanities—it is mere wood!

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,

And gold from Uphaz,

The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

They are all the work of wise craftsmen.

But Yahweh is the true God;

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

At His wrath the earth quakes,

And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

11 Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12

It is He who made the earth by His power,

Who established the world by His wisdom;

And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

When He gives forth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain,

And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Every man is senseless, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images;

For his molten images are a lie,

And there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, a work of mockery;

In the time of their punishment they will perish.

The portion of Jacob is not like these;

For the Maker of all is He,

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;

Yahweh of hosts is His name.

Gather up your bundle from the ground,

You who inhabit a land under siege!

18 For thus says Yahweh,

“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land

At this time,

And will cause them distress,

That they may find it.”

Woe is me, because of my injury!

My wound is desperately sick.

But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,

And I must bear it.”

My tent is destroyed,

And all my ropes are torn out;

My sons have gone from me and are no more.

There is no one to stretch out my tent again

Or to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds have become senseless

And have not sought Yahweh;

Therefore they have not prospered,

And all their flock is scattered.

The sound of a report! Behold, it comes—

A great quaking out of the land of the north—

To make the cities of Judah

A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

I know, O Yahweh, that a man’s way is not in himself,

Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

Discipline me, O Yahweh, but with justice;

Not with Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You

And on the families that do not call Your name,

For they have devoured Jacob;

They have devoured him and consumed him

And have made desolate his abode.

Romans 4

Abraham and David’s Faith Counted as Righteousness

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God! 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,

And whose sins have been covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”

9 Therefore, is this blessing on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.” 10 How then was it counted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised. 13 For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been abolished; 15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no trespass. 16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all— 17 as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”—in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. 18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your seed be.” 19 And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to do. 22 Therefore it was also counted to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was counted to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those who believe upon Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification.

Psalm 100 - 101

Serve Yahweh with Gladness

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth.

Serve Yahweh with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that Yahweh, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For Yahweh is good;

His lovingkindness endures forever

And His faithfulness, generation unto generation.

Consider the Way of the Blameless

Of David. A Psalm.

I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,

To You, O Yahweh, I will sing praises.

I will consider the way of the blameless.

When will You come to me?

I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.

I will set no vile thing before my eyes;

I hate the work of those who fall away;

It shall not cling to me.

A crooked heart shall depart from me;

I will know no evil.

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;

Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart, I will not endure.

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may abide with me;

He who walks in the way of the blameless is the one who will minister to me.

He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;

He who speaks lies shall not be established before my eyes.

Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,

To cut off from the city of Yahweh all the workers of iniquity.