Jeremiah 5 - 6, Romans 2, Psalm 98 — Legacy Standard Bible

Jerusalem Refuses to Repent

5“^aRoam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,And see now and know,And seek in her open squares,If you can ^bfind a man,^cIf there is one who does justice, who seeks faithfulness,Then I will pardon her.²“And ^aif they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’Then they swear to a lie.”³O Yahweh, do not ^aYour eyes look for faithfulness?You have ^bstruck them,But they did not ¹weaken;You have consumed them,But they ^crefused to receive discipline.They have ^dmade their faces stronger than rock;They have refused to ²repent.⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor;They are foolish;For they ^ado not know the way of YahwehOr the legal judgment of their God.⁵“Let me go to the greatAnd let me speak to them,For ^athey know the way of YahwehAnd the legal judgment of their God.”But they too, altogether, have ^bbroken the yokeAnd torn apart the bonds.⁶Therefore ^aa lion from the forest will strike them down;A ^bwolf of the deserts will devastate them;A ^cleopard is watching their cities.Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in piecesBecause their ^dtransgressions are many;Their acts of faithlessness are mighty.⁷“Why should I pardon you?Your sons have forsaken MeAnd ^asworn by those who are ^bnot gods.I had satisfied them to the full,Then they ^ccommitted adulteryAnd trooped to the harlot’s house.⁸“They were well-fed lusty horses,Each one neighing after his ^aneighbor’s wife.⁹“Shall I not punish ¹these people,” declares Yahweh,“And on a nation such as this^aShall I not avenge Myself?¹⁰“Go up through her vine rows and make them a ruin,But do not make a complete destruction;Remove her branches,For they are not Yahweh’s.¹¹“For the ^ahouse of Israel and the house of JudahHave dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares Yahweh.¹²They have ^adealt falsely about YahwehAnd said, “¹^,^bNot He;Calamity will ^cnot come on us,And we ^dwill not see sword or famine.¹³“The ^aprophets are as wind,And the word is not in them.Thus it will be done to them!”

A Stubborn and Rebellious People

¹⁴Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word,Behold, I am ^amaking My words in your mouth fireAnd this people wood, and it will devour them.

¹⁵“Behold, I am ^abringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.“It is an enduring nation;It is an ancient nation,A nation whose ^btongue you do not know,Nor can you ¹understand what they say.¹⁶“Their ^aquiver is like an ^bopen grave;All of them are mighty men.¹⁷“They will ^adevour your harvest and your food;They will devour your sons and your daughters;They will devour your flocks and your herds;They will devour your ^bvines and your fig trees;They will demolish with the sword your ^cfortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will not make you a complete destruction. ¹⁹“It shall come about ^awhen ¹they say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^bserve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of JacobAnd cause it to be heard in Judah, saying,²¹‘Now hear this, O people who are simpleminded fools and without a heart of wisdom,Who have ^aeyes but do not see,Who have ears but do not hear.²²‘Do you not ^afear Me?’ declares Yahweh.‘Do you not tremble in My presence?For I have ^bplaced the sand as a boundary for the sea,A perpetual statute, so it cannot cross over it.Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.²³‘But this people has a ^astubborn and rebellious heart;They have turned aside and gone away.²⁴‘They do not say in their heart,“Let us now fear Yahweh our God,Who ^agives rain in its season,Both ^bthe ¹early rain and the ²late rain,Who keeps for usThe ^cappointed weeks of the harvest.”²⁵‘Your ^ainiquities have turned these away,And your sins have withheld good from you.²⁶‘For wicked men are found among My people;They ^awatch like fowlers ¹lying in wait;They set a ²trap;They catch men.²⁷‘Like a cage full of birds,So their houses are full of ^adeceit;Therefore they have become great and rich.²⁸‘They are ^afat, they are sleek;They also ¹excel in deeds of evil;They do not plead the cause,The cause of the ²^,^borphan, that they may succeed;And they do not ³render justice for the poor.²⁹‘^aShall I not punish ¹these people?’ declares Yahweh,‘On a nation such as thisShall I not avenge Myself?’³⁰“A horrible and ^aappalling thingHas happened in the land:³¹The ^aprophets prophesy with lying,And the priests have dominion ¹by their own hand;And My people ^blove it so!But what will you do at the end of it?

Yahweh Disciplines Israel

6“Flee for safety, O sons of ^aBenjamin,From the midst of Jerusalem!Now blow a trumpet in TekoaAnd raise a signal over ¹^,^bBeth-haccerem,For evil looks down from the ^cnorth,As well as great destruction.²“The comely and ^adelicate one, ^bthe daughter of Zion, I will ruin.³“^aShepherds and their flocks will come to her;They will ^bpitch their tents ¹around her;They will pasture each in his ²place.⁴“^aSet yourselves apart for war against her;Arise, and let us go up at ^bnoon.Woe to us, for the day declines,For the shadows of the evening stretch out!⁵“Arise, and let us go up by nightAnd ¹^,^adestroy her ²palaces!”⁶For thus says Yahweh of hosts,“^aCut down her treesAnd cast up a ^bsiege against Jerusalem.This is the city to be punished,In whose midst there is only ^coppression.⁷“^aLike a well ¹keeps its waters fresh,So she ²keeps fresh her evil.^bViolence and devastation are heard in her;^cSickness and wounds are continually before Me.⁸“^aHeed discipline, O Jerusalem,Lest ^bMy soul become disgusted at you,Lest I make you a desolation,A land not inhabited.”

⁹Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “They will ^athoroughly glean as the vine the ^bremnant of Israel;Pass your hand again like a grape gathererOver the branches.”

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warningThat they may hear?Behold, their ^aears are uncircumcised,And they cannot give heed.Behold, ^bthe word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them;They have no delight in it.¹¹But I am ^afull of the wrath of Yahweh;I am ^bweary of holding it in.“^cPour it out on the infants in the streetAnd on the ¹gathering of choice men together;For both husband and wife shall be captured,The aged with the one full of days.¹²“Their ^ahouses shall be turned over to others,Their fields and their wives together,For I will ^bstretch out My handAgainst the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh.¹³“For ^afrom the least of them even to the greatest of them,Everyone is ^bgreedy for gain,And from the prophet even to the priestEveryone practices lying.¹⁴“They have ^ahealed the brokenness of My people superficially,Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’But there is no peace.¹⁵“Were they ^aashamed because of the abomination they have done?They were not even ashamed at all;They did not even know how to feel dishonor.Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;At the time that I punish them,They shall be cast down,” says Yahweh.

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ^aancient paths,Where the good way is, and walk in it;And ^byou will find rest for your souls.But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

¹⁷“And I set ^awatchmen over you, saying,‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’¹⁸“Therefore hear, O nations,And know, O congregation, what is among them.¹⁹“^aHear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil on this people,The ^bfruit of their ¹plans,Because they have not given heed to My words,And as for My law, they have ^crejected it also.²⁰“^aFor what purpose does ^bfrankincense come to Me from ShebaAnd the ¹^,^csweet cane from a distant land?^dYour burnt offerings are not acceptable,And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”²¹Therefore, thus says Yahweh,“Behold, ^aI am ¹laying stumbling blocks before this people.And they will stumble against them,^bFathers and sons together;Neighbor and ²friend will perish.”

Mourn the Coming Destroyer

²²Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, ^aa people is coming from the land of the north,And a great nation will be aroused from the ^bremote parts of the earth.

²³“They take hold of ^abow and spear;They are ^bcruel and have no compassion;Their voice ^croars like the sea,And they ride on horses,Arranged as a man for the battleAgainst you, O daughter of Zion!”²⁴We have ^aheard the report of it;Our hands are limp.^bDistress has taken hold of us,Pain as of a woman in childbirth.²⁵^aDo not go out into the fieldAnd ^bdo not walk on the road,For the enemy has a sword;^cTerror is on every side.²⁶O daughter of my people, ^agird yourself with sackclothAnd ^broll in ashes;¹^,^cMourn as for an only son,A lamentation most bitter.For suddenly the destroyerWill come upon us.²⁷“I have ^amade you a tester of metals and ¹an assayer among My people,That you may know and test their way.”²⁸All of them are rebelliously stubborn,^aGoing about as a slanderer.They are ^bbronze and iron;They, all of them, are corrupt.²⁹The bellows blow fiercely;The lead ¹is consumed by the fire;In vain the refining goes on,But the ^aevil ones are not ²separated.³⁰^aThey call them rejected silverBecause ^bYahweh has rejected them.

God’s Righteous Judgment

2Therefore you are ^awithout excuse, ^bO man, everyone who passes judgment, for in that which ^cyou judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ²And we know that the judgment of God ¹rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³But do you presume this, ^aO man—who passes judgment on those who practice such things and does the same—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you think lightly of ^athe riches of His ^bkindness and ^cforbearance and ^dpatience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But ¹because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ^ayou are storing up wrath for yourself ^bin the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶^awho will repay to each according to his works: ⁷to those who by ^aperseverance in doing good seek for ^bglory and honor and ^cimmortality, ^deternal life; ⁸but to those who are ^aselfishly ambitious and ^bdo not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger. ⁹There will be ^aaffliction and turmoil ¹for every soul of man who works out evil, of the Jew ^bfirst and also of the Greek, ¹⁰but ^aglory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew ^bfirst and also to the Greek. ¹¹For ^athere is no partiality with God.

¹²For all who have sinned ¹^,^awithout the Law will also perish ²without the Law, and all who have sinned ³under the Law will be judged ⁴by the Law. ¹³For it is ^anot the hearers ¹of the Law who are ²just before God, but the doers ³of the Law will be justified. ¹⁴For when Gentiles who do not have ¹the Law ^anaturally do the things of the Law, these, not having ²the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵in that they demonstrate ^athe work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶on the day when, ^aaccording to my gospel, ^bGod will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The Jew Is Judged by the Law

¹⁷But if you bear the name “Jew” and ^arely ¹upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸and know His will and ¹^,^aapprove the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a ¹corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ²the immature, having in the Law ^athe embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, ²¹you, therefore, ^awho teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ¹preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^arob temples? ²³You who ^aboast ¹in the Law, through your transgression of the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴For “^athe name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^bbecause of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^apractice ¹the Law, but if you are a transgressor ²of the Law, ^byour circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶^aSo if ^bthe ¹uncircumcised man ^cobserves the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And ^ahe who is physically uncircumcised, if he ¹fulfills the Law, will he not ^bjudge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor ²of the Law? ²⁸For ^ahe is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹But ^ahe is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^bcircumcision is that which is of the heart, by the ^cSpirit, not by the letter; ^dand his praise is not from men, but from God.

Sing to Yahweh a New Song

A Psalm.

Sing to Yahweh a ^anew song,For He has done ^bwondrous deeds,His ^cright hand and His ^dholy arm have ¹worked out His salvation.²^aYahweh has made known His salvation;He has ^brevealed His righteousness in the eyes of the nations.³He has ^aremembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;^bAll the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.⁴^aMake a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth;^bBreak forth and sing for joy and sing praises.⁵Sing praises to Yahweh with the ^alyre,With the lyre and the ^bsound of singing.⁶With ^atrumpets and the sound of the horn^bMake a loud shout before ^cKing Yahweh.⁷Let the ^asea roar, as well as its fullness,The ^bworld and those who dwell in it.⁸Let the ^arivers clap their hands,Let the ^bmountains sing together for joy⁹Before Yahweh, for He is coming to ^ajudge the earth;He will judge the world with righteousnessAnd ^bthe peoples with ¹equity.