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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Nancy: Welcome to immerse: the
daily bible reading experience.
day 200 and 65
this message came to Jeremiah from the
Lord, early in the reign of Je Jolla
Kim, son of Josiah, king of Judah.
This is what the Lord says.
Stand in the courtyard in front of
the temple of the Lord and make an
announcement to the people who have come
there to worship from all over Judah.
Give them my entire message.
Include every word.
Perhaps they will listen and turn
from their evil ways, then I will
change my mind about the disaster.
I am ready to pour out on
them because of their sins.
Say to them, this is what the Lord says.
If you will not listen to me and obey
my word, I have given you, and if you
will not listen to my servants, the
prophets for I sent them again and
again to warn you, but you would not
listen to them, then I will destroy
this temple as I destroyed Shiloh.
The place where the Tabernacle
was located, and I will make
Jerusalem an object of cursing
in every nation on earth.
The priests, the prophets, and all
the people listened to Jeremiah as he
spoke in front of the Lord's temple.
But when Jeremiah had finished his
message saying everything the Lord
had told him to say, the priests and
prophets and all the people at the temple
mobbed him, kill him, they shouted.
What right.
Do you have to prophesy in the
Lord's name that this temple
will be destroyed like Shiloh?
What do you mean?
Saying that Jerusalem will be
destroyed and left with no inhabitants
and all the people threatened him
as he stood in front of a temple.
When the officials of Judah heard
what was happening, they rushed over
from the palace and sat down at the
new gate of the temple to hold court.
The priests and prophets
presented their accusations to
the officials and the people.
This man should die.
They said, you have heard with your
own ears what a traitor he is for.
He has prophesied against this city.
Then Jeremiah spoke to the officials
and the people in his own defense.
The Lord sent me to prophesy
against this temple and this city.
He said, the Lord gave me
every word that I have spoken.
But if you stop your sinning and begin
to obey the Lord your God, he will
change his mind about this disaster
that he has announced against you.
As for me, I am in your hands.
Do with me as you think best, but
if you kill me, rest assured that
you will be killing an innocent man.
The responsibility for such a
deeded will lie on you on this
city and on every person living
in it for it is absolutely true.
That the Lord sent me to speak
every word you have heard.
Then the officials and the people
said to the priests and prophets,
this man does not deserve the death
sentence for he has spoken to us
in the name of the Lord our God.
Then some of the wise old men stood and
spoke to all the people assembled there.
They said, remember when Micah
of Mahe prophesied during the
reign of King Hezekiah of Judah?
He told the people of Judah.
This is what the Lord
of Heaven's army says.
Mount Zion will be plowed
like an open field.
Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins.
A thicket will grow on the heights
where the temple now stands.
But did King Hezekiah and the
people kill him for saying this?
No.
They turned from their sins
and worshiped the Lord.
They begged him for mercy.
Then the Lord changed his mind
about the terrible disaster he
had pronounced against them.
We are about to do ourselves
great harm at this time.
Uriah son of Shamaya from ETH Jira
was also prophesying for the Lord
and he predicted the same terrible
disaster against the city and
nation as Jeremiah did when King Je
Hoya Kim and the Army officers and
officials heard what he was saying.
The king sent someone to kill
him, but Uriah heard about the
plan and escaped in fear to Egypt.
Then King Jehoiakim sent l Nathan,
son of Aboar to Egypt, along with
several other men to capture Uriah.
They took him prisoner and brought
him back to King Jehoiakim.
The king then killed Uriah with a sword
and had him buried in an unmarked grave.
Nevertheless, a Hakum son of
Chaffin stood up for Jeremiah and
persuaded the court not to turn
him over to the mob to be killed.
This message came to Jeremiah from
the Lord, early in the Reign of
Zakiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah.
This is what the Lord said to me.
Make a yoke and fasten it on
your neck with leather straps.
Then send messages to the kings of
Edem, Moab, Amman Tire and Seiden
through their ambassadors who have
come to see kings at AIAA in Jerusalem.
Give them this message for their masters.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's
armies, the God of Israel says, with
my great strength and powerful arm,
I made the earth and all its people
and every animal I can give these
things of mine to anyone I choose.
Now I will give your countries
to King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon, who is my servant.
I have put everything, even the
wild animals under his control.
All the nations will serve
him, his son and his grandson.
Until his time is up, then many
nations and great kings will
conquer and rule over Babylon.
So you must submit to
Babylon's King and serve him.
Put your neck under Babylon's yoke.
I will punish any nation that refuses
to be his slave, says the Lord.
I will send war, famine, and
disease upon that nation until
Babylon has conquered it.
Do not listen to your false prophets,
fortune tellers, interpreters of dreams,
mediums, and sorcerers who say The
King of Babylon will not conquer you.
They're all liars, and their
lies will lead to your being
driven out of your land.
I will drive you out and send you far
away to die, but the people of any
nation that submits to the King of
Babylon will be allowed to stay in their
own country to farm the land as usual.
I the Lord have spoken.
Then I repeated this same
message to King Zakiah of Judah.
If you want to live, submit to the yoke of
the king of Babylon and his people, why do
you insist on dying you and your people?
Why should you choose war, famine,
and disease, which the Lord will
bring against every nation that
refuses to submit to Babylon's King?
Do not listen to the false prophets
who keep telling you, the King
of Babylon will not conquer you.
They are liars.
This is what the Lord says.
I have not sent these prophets.
They are telling you lies in my name,
so I will drive you out from this land.
You will all die, you and
all these prophets too.
Then I spoke to the priests and the people
and said, this is what the Lord says.
Do not listen to your prophets who claim
that soon the gold articles taken from
my temple will be returned from Babylon.
It is all a lie.
Do not listen to them.
Surrender to the king of
Babylon and you will live.
Why should this whole city be
destroyed if they really are prophets
and speak the Lord's messages.
Let them pray to the
Lord of heaven's armies.
Let them pray that the articles
remaining in the Lord's temple and in
the king's palace and in the palaces
of Jerusalem will not be carried away
to Babylon for the Lord of Heaven's.
Armies has spoken about the pillars in
front of the temple, the great bronze
basin called the Sea, the water carts,
and all the other ceremonial articles.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
left them here when he exiled.
Je Hoya Kin son of Je Hoya
Kim, king of Judah, Babylon.
Along with all the other
nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
Yes.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies,
the God of Israel says about the precious
things still in the temple, in the
palace of Judah's King and in Jerusalem.
They will all be carried away to
Babylon and will stay there until
I send for them, says the Lord.
Then I will bring them
back to Jerusalem again.
One day in late summer of that same year.
The fourth year of the Reign of Zakiah,
king of Judah, Hananiah, son of Azer,
A prophet from Gibeon addressed me
publicly in the temple while all
the priests and people listened.
He said, this is what the Lord of
Heaven's armies, the God of Israel
says, I will remove the yoke of
the king of Babylon from your next.
Within two years, I will bring back
all the temple treasures that King
Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon.
And I will bring back JE Joa kin son of
Je Joa Kim, king of Judah, and all the
other captives that were taken to Babylon.
I will surely break the yo that the
King of Babylon has put on your necks.
I the Lord have spoken.
Jeremiah responded to Hananiah
as they stood in front of all the
priests and people at the temple.
He said, amen.
May your prophecies come true.
I hope the Lord does everything you say.
I hope he does bring back from
Babylon, the treasures of this
temple and all the captives.
But listen now to the solemn words.
I speak to you in the presence
of all these people, the ancient
prophets who preceded you and me
spoke against many nations always
warning of war, disaster, and disease.
So a prophet who predicts peace
must show he is right only
when his predictions come true.
Can we know that he is
really from the Lord?
Then Hananiah, the prophet took the
yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke
it in pieces, and Hananiah said
again to the crowd that had gathered.
This is what the Lord says.
Just as this yoke has been broken
within two years, I will break the yoke
of oppression from all the nations.
Now subject to King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
With that, Jeremiah left the
temple area soon after this
confrontation with Hananiah.
The Lord gave this message to Jeremiah.
Go and tell Hananiah this
is what the Lord says.
You have broken a wooden yoke, but you
have replaced it with a yoke of iron.
The Lord of heaven's armies, the God
of Israel, says, I have put a yoke
of iron on the necks of all these
nations, forcing them into slavery.
Under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
I have put everything, even the
wild animals under his control.
Then Jeremiah the prophet, said
to Hananiah, listen, Hananiah,
the Lord has not sent you, but
the people believe your lies.
Therefore, this is what the Lord says.
You must die.
Your life will end this very year because
you have rebelled against the Lord.
Two months later, the
prophet Hananiah died.
Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem
to the elders, priests, prophets, and
all the people who had been exiled
to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.
This was after King Je Hoa kin, the
Queen mother, the court officials,
the other officials of Judah and
all the craftsmen and artisans
had been deported from Jerusalem.
He sent the letter with ssa, son of
Shahan and Miah, son of Hill Kayah.
When they went to Babylon as King
Zedekiah's ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar,
this is what Jeremiah's letter said.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies,
the God of Israel says to all the captives
he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem,
build homes and plan to stay plant gardens
and eat the food they produce, marry and
have children, then find spouses for them
so that you may have many grandchildren.
Multiply.
Do not dwindle away and work for
the peace and prosperity of the
city where I sent you into exile.
Pray to the Lord for it, for its
welfare will determine your welfare.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's
armies, the God of Israel says.
Do not let your prophets and fortune
tellers who are with you in the
land of Babylon trick you do not
listen to their dreams because they
are telling you lies in my name.
I have not sent them, says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says.
You will be in Babylon for 70 years,
but then I will come and do for you all
the good things I have promised, and
I will bring you home again for I know
the plans I have for you, says the Lord.
They are plans for good
and not for disaster.
To give you a future and a hope in
those days when you pray, I will listen.
If you look for me
wholeheartedly, you will find me.
I will be found by you, says the Lord.
I will end your captivity
and restore your fortunes.
I will gather you out of the nations
where I sent you and will bring
you home again to your own land.
You claim that the Lord has raised up
prophets for you in Babylon, but this
is what the Lord says about the king
who sits on David's throne and all
those still living here in Jerusalem.
Your relatives who are
not exiled to Babylon.
This is what the Lord
of Heaven's armies says.
I will send war, famine, and
disease upon them and make them
like bad figs, too rotten to eat.
Yes, I will pursue them with war,
famine, and disease, and I will
scatter them around the world.
In every nation where I send them, I will
make them an object of damn nation horror,
contempt, and mockery for They refuse to
listen to me, though I have spoken to them
repeatedly through the prophets I sent.
And you who are in exile have not
listened either, says the Lord, therefore,
Listen to this message from the Lord.
All you captives there in Babylon.
This is what the Lord of
Heaven's armies, the God of
Israel says about your prophets.
Ahab, son of Coah and Zakiah, son of
Meia, who are telling you lies in my name.
I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar
for execution before your eyes.
Their terrible fate will become proverbial
so that the Judean exiles will curse
someone by saying, may the Lord make
you like Zeek and Ahab, whom the King of
Babylon burned alive for these men have
done terrible things among my people.
They have committed adultery with their
neighbor's wives and have lied in my
name saying things I did not command.
I am a witness to this.
I the Lord have spoken.
The Lord sent this message to
Shamaya, the Alemite in Babylon.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's
armies, the God of Israel says.
You wrote a letter on your own authority
to Zephaniah son of Meia, the priest,
and you sent copies to the other
priests, sent people in Jerusalem.
You wrote to Zephaniah, the Lord has
appointed you to replace Je Jolla as the
priest in charge of the house of the Lord.
You are responsible to put into
stocks and neck irons any crazy
man who claims to be a prophet.
So why have you done nothing
to stop Jeremiah from OV who
pretends to be a prophet among you?
Jeremiah sent a letter here
to Babylon predicting that our
captivity will be a long one.
He said, build homes and plan
to stay plant gardens and
eat the food they produce.
But when Zephaniah, the priest
received Shah's letter, he took
it to Jeremiah and read it to him.
Then the Lord gave this
message to Jeremiah.
Send an open letter to
all the exiles in Babylon.
Tell them this is what the Lord says
concerning Shamaya, the Alemite,
since he has prophesied to you
when I did not send him, and has
tricked you into believing his lies.
I will punish him and his family.
None of his descendants will see the
good things I will do for my people, for
he has incited you to rebel against me.
I, the Lord have spoken.
The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah.
He said, this is what the
Lord the God of Israel says.
Write down for the record everything
I have said to you, Jeremiah.
For the time is coming.
When I will restore the fortunes of my
people of Israel and Judah, I will bring
them home to this land that I gave to
their ancestors and they will possess it.
Again.
I, the Lord have spoken.
This is the message the Lord
gave concerning Israel and Judah.
This is what the Lord says.
I hear cries of fear.
There is terror and no peace.
Now let me ask you a question.
Do men give birth to babies?
Then why do they stand there?
Ashen faced, hands pressed against
their sides like a woman in labor.
In all history, there has never
been such a time of terror.
It will be a time of trouble for
my people, Israel, yet in the end,
they will be saved for in that day,
says the Lord of heaven's armies.
I will break the yoke from their
necks and snap their chains.
Foreigners will no
longer be their masters.
For my people will serve the
Lord their God and their king
descended from David the king.
I will raise up for them.
So do not be afraid.
Jacob, my servant, do not be
dismayed Israel says the Lord.
For I will bring you home again
from distant lands and your children
will return from their exile.
Israel will return to a life of peace
and quiet and no one will terrorize them.
For I am with you and will
save you, says the Lord.
I will completely destroy the nations
where I have scattered you, but I
will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you, but with
justice, I cannot let you go unpunished.
This is what the Lord says.
Your injury is incurable,
a terrible wound.
There is no one to help you
or to bind up your injury.
No medicine can heal you.
All your lovers, your allies have left
you and do not care about you anymore.
I have wounded you cruelly as though
I were your enemy for your sins
are many, and your guilt is great.
Why do you protest your punishment?
This wound that has no cure?
I have had to punish you because your
sins are many and your guilt is great.
But all who devour you will be
devoured and all your enemies
will be sent into exile.
All who plunder you will be plundered
and all who attack you will be attacked.
I will give you back your health
and heal your wounds, says the
Lord for you called an outcast
Jerusalem for whom no one caress.
This is what the Lord says.
When I bring Israel home again from
captivity and restore their fortunes,
Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its
ruins and the palace reconstructed.
As before, there will be joy and
songs of Thanksgiving, and I will
multiply my people, not diminish them.
I will honor them, not despise them.
Their children will prosper
as they did long ago.
I will establish them as a
nation before me, and I will
punish anyone who hurts them.
They will have their own ruler again,
and he will come from their own people.
I will invite him to approach me,
says the Lord, for who would dare
to come unless invited you will be
my people and I will be your God.
Look, the Lord's anger bursts out like
a storm, a driving wind that swirls
down on the heads of the wicked.
The fierce anger of the Lord will not
diminish until it has finished all
he has planned in the days to come.
You will understand all this in
that day, says the Lord, I will
be the God of all the families of
Israel and they will be my people.
This is what the Lord says.
Those who survive the coming
destruction will find blessings
even in the barren land, for I will
give rest to the people of Israel.
Long ago, the Lord said to
Israel, I have loved you, my
people, with an everlasting love.
With unfailing love, I
have drawn you to myself.
I will rebuild you my Virgin Israel.
You will again be happy and dance
merrily with your tambourines.
Again, you will plant your vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria and
eat from your own gardens there.
The day will come when Watchmen will
shout from the hill country of Efraim.
Come let us go up to Jerusalem
to worship the Lord our God.
Now this is what the Lord says.
Sing with joy for Israel.
Shout for the greatest of nations.
Shout out with praise and joy.
Save your people, oh Lord, the
remnant of Israel for I will bring
them from the north and from the
distant corners of the earth.
I will not forget the blind and lame the
expectant mothers and women in labor.
A great company will return tears of
joy, will stream down their faces, and
I will lead them home with great care.
They will walk beside quiet streams
and on smooth paths where they
will not stumble for I am Israel's
father, and E is my oldest child.
Listen to this message from the Lord.
You nations of the world proclaim
it in distant coastlands.
The Lord who scattered his people
will gather them and watch over
them as a shepherd does His flock.
For the Lord has redeemed Israel
from those two strong for them.
They will come home and sing songs
of joy on the heights of Jerusalem.
They will be radiant because
of the Lord's good gifts.
The abundant crops of grain, new wine
and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and
herds, their life will be like a watered
garden and all their sorrows will be gone.
The young women will dance for
joy, and the men old and young
will join in the celebration.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will comfort them and exchange
their sorrow for rejoicing.
The priests will enjoy abundance.
And my people will feast on my good gifts.
I the Lord have spoken.
This is what the Lord says.
A cry is heard in rama deep
anguish and bitter weeping.
Rachel weeps for her children refusing to
be comforted for her children are gone.
But now this is what the Lord says.
Do not weep any longer for I
will reward you, says the Lord.
Your children will come back to you From
the distant land of the enemy, there
is hope for your future, says the Lord.
Your children will come
again to their own land.
I have heard Israel saying, you
disciplined me severely like a calf
that needs training for the yoke.
Turn me again to you and restore me.
For you alone are the Lord My God.
I turned away from God,
but then I was sorry.
I kicked myself for my stupidity.
I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did
in my younger days is not Israel, still
my son, my darling child, says the Lord.
I often have to punish
him, but I still love him.
That's why I long for him and
surely will have mercy on him.
Set up road signs, put up guideposts mark.
Well, the path by which you came.
Come back again.
My Virgin Israel.
Return to your towns here.
How long will you wander my
wayward daughter for the Lord will
cause something new to happen.
Israel will embrace her God.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies,
the God of Israel says When I bring
them back from captivity, the people
of Judah and its towns will again say.
The Lord bless you.
Oh, righteous home.
Oh Holy Mountain.
Townspeople and farmers and
shepherds alike will live
together in peace and happiness.
For I have given rest to the weary
and joy to the sorrowing at this.
I woke up and looked around.
My sleep had been very sweet.
The day is coming, says the Lord, when I
will greatly increase the human population
and the number of animals here in Israel
and Judah in the past, I deliberately
uprooted and tore down this nation.
I overthrew it, destroyed it,
and brought disaster upon it.
But in the future, I will just as
deliberately plant it and build it up.
I the Lord have spoken.
The people will no longer
quote this proverb.
The parents have eaten sour
grapes, but their children's
mouths pucker at the taste.
All people will die for their own sins.
Those who eat the sour grapes will
be the ones whose mouths will pucker.
The day is coming, says the Lord.
When I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and Judah.
This covenant will not be like the
one I made with their ancestors when
I took them by the hand and brought
them out of the land of Egypt.
They broke that covenant though
I loved them as a husband.
Loves his wife, says the Lord.
But this is the new covenant I
will make with the people of Israel
after those days says the Lord.
I will put my instructions
deep within them and I will
write them on their hearts.
I will be their God and they will be
my people and they will not need to
teach their neighbors nor will they
need to teach their relatives saying,
you should know the Lord for everyone
from the least to the greatest will
know me already says the Lord and I
will forgive their wickedness and I
will never again remember their sins.
It is the Lord who provides the sun
to light the day and the moon and
stars to light the night, and who
stirs the sea into roaring waves.
His name is the Lord of Heaven's
armies, and this is what he says.
I am as likely to reject my people Israel
as I am to abolish the laws of nature.
This is what the Lord says,
just as the heavens cannot be
measured and the foundations of
the earth cannot be explored.
So I will not consider casting them
away for the evil they have done.
I, the Lord have spoken.
The day is coming, says the Lord, when
all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me.
From the tower of Hael to the corner gate,
a measuring line will be stretched out
over the hill of Garib and across to Goa.
And the entire area, including the
graveyard and ash dump in the valley
and all the fields out to the Kidron
Valley on the east as far as the
horse gate will be holy to the Lord.
The city will never again
be captured or destroyed.
The following message came to Jeremiah
from the Lord in the 10th year of
the Reign of Zakiah, king of Judah.
This was also the 18th year of
the Reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Jerusalem was then under siege from
the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah
was imprisoned in the courtyard
of the guard in the royal palace.
Kings Akia had put him there asking
why he kept giving this prophecy.
This is what the Lord says.
I'm about to hand this city over to the
king of Babylon and he will take it.
Kings at AIA will be captured by
the Babylonians and taken to meet
the king of Babylon face-to-face.
He will take Zeek to Babylon and I will
deal with him there, says the Lord.
If you fight against the
Babylonians, you will never succeed.
At that time, the Lord sent me a message.
He said, your cousin Hael son of Shalom
will come and say to you by my field at
Hoff, by law you have the right to buy
it before it is offered to anyone else.
Then just as the Lord had said
he would, My cousin, Hannah Mel,
came and visited me in the prison.
He said, please buy my field at
Anau in the land of Benjamin.
By law, you have the right to buy
it before it is offered to anyone
else, so buy it for yourself.
Then I knew that the message I had
heard was from the Lord, so I bought
the field at Hoff, paying Hannah
Mel, 17 pieces of silver for it.
I signed and sealed the deeded
of purchase before witnesses.
Weighed out the silver and paid him.
Then I took the sealed deeded and an
unsealed copy of the deeded, which
contained the terms and conditions of the
purchase, and I handed them to Barrack
son of Niah and grandson of Macia.
I did all this in the presence of
my cousin Hael, the witnesses who
had signed the deeded and all the
men of Judah who were there in
the courtyard of the Guardhouse.
Then I said to Barrick, as they all
listened, This is what the Lord of
Heaven's armies, the God of Israel says,
take both this sealed deeded and the
unsealed copy and put them into a pottery
jar to preserve them for a long time.
For this is what the Lord of Heaven's
armies, the God of Israel says, someday
people will again own property here
in this land and will buy and sell
houses and vineyards and fields.
Then after I had given the papers
to Barrick, I prayed to the Lord.
Oh, sovereign Lord, you made
the heavens and earth by your
strong hand and powerful arm.
Nothing is too hard for you.
You show unfailing love to thousands,
but you also bring the consequences
of one generation's sin upon the next.
You are the great and powerful
God, the Lord of heaven's armies.
You have all wisdom and do
great and mighty miracles.
You see the conduct of all people
and you give them what they deserve.
You performed miraculous signs
and wonders in the land of Egypt.
Things still remembered to this day, and
you have continued to do great miracles
in Israel and all around the world.
You have made your name
famous to this day.
You brought Israel out of Egypt
with mighty signs and wonders
with a strong hand and powerful
arm, and with overwhelming terror.
You gave the people of Israel this land
that you had promised their ancestors long
before a land flowing with milk and honey.
Our ancestors came and conquered
it and lived in it, but they refuse
to obey you or follow your word.
They have not done anything you commanded.
That is why you have sent this
terrible disaster upon them.
See how the siege ramps have
been built against the city walls
through war, famine, and disease.
The city will be handed over to the
Babylonians who will conquer it.
Everything has happened, just as you
said, and yet, oh, sovereign Lord, you
have told me to buy the field paying
good money for it before these witnesses.
Even though the city will soon be
handed over to the Babylonians, then
this message came to Jeremiah from
the Lord, I am the Lord, the God
of all the peoples of the world.
Is anything too hard for me?
Therefore, this is what the Lord says.
I will hand this city over to the
Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, and he will capture it.
The Babylonians outside the walls
will come in and set fire to the city.
They will burn down all these
houses where the people provoked
my anger by burning incense to Baal
on the rooftops and by pouring out
liquid offerings to other gods.
Israel and Judah have done nothing
but wrong since their earliest days.
They have infuriated me with all
their evil deeds, says the Lord.
From the time this city was built until
now, it has done nothing but anger me,
so I am determined to get rid of it.
The sins of Israel and Judah, the
sins of the people of Jerusalem, the
kings, the officials, the priests and
the prophets have stirred up my anger.
My people have turned their backs on
me and have refused to return even
though I diligently taught them, they
would not receive instruction or obey.
They have set up their abominable idols
right in my own temple, defiling it.
They have built pagan shrines to
bail in the valley of Ben Ham,
and there they sacrificed their
sons and daughters to Molech.
I have never commanded
such a horrible deeded.
It never even crossed my
mind to command such a thing.
What an incredible evil causing
Judah to sin so greatly.
Now, I want to say something
more about this city.
You have been saying.
It will fall to the king of Babylon
through war, famine, and disease.
But this is what the Lord,
the God of Israel says.
I will certainly bring my people
back again from all the countries
where I will scatter them in my fury.
I will bring them back to this very city
and let them live in peace and safety.
They will be my people and I will be
their God, and I will give them one
heart and one purpose to worship me
forever for their own good and for
the good of all their descendants.
I.
And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them.
I will never stop doing good for them.
I will put a desire in their hearts to
worship me and they will never leave me.
I will find joy doing good for them
and will faithfully and wholeheartedly
replant them in this land.
This is what the Lord says, just as I have
brought all these calamities on them, so I
will do all the good I have promised them.
Fields will again be bought and
sold in this land, about which you
now say it has been ravaged by the
Babylonians, a desolate land where
people and animals have all disappeared.
Yes, fields will once again be bought
and sold deeds, signed and sealed and
witnessed in the land of Benjamin and here
in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and
in the Hill country, in the foothills of
Judah and in the Negev too for someday.
I will restore prosperity to them.
I the Lord have spoken.
This concludes today's
immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.