Nancy: Welcome to immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
day 200 and 61
immersed in Jeremiah.
The book of Jeremiah is the longest book within the prophets containing oracles
and stories drawn from a period of more than 30 years, but a single historical
situation looms over the whole book.
The Babylonian empire threatens and then destroys Jerusalem
leading to the exile of its people.
This constitutes the single biggest crisis that God's people had ever encountered.
God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet when he is still young.
Jeremiah actually protests that he's too young and God tells him to renew the
warning that earlier prophets had sounded.
The people of Judah confidently think they will never be conquered because the Lord
has made his home in the Jerusalem temple.
But Jeremiah warns them.
Do you really think you can steal murder, commit adultery, lie and burn
incense to bail and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and
stand before me in my temple and chant.
We are safe.
Only to go right back to all those evils again.
But the more Jeremiah insists that disaster is imminent, the more
the leaders and people resist him.
He is mocked and hated and even accused of treason against the nation.
Finally, he is thrown in prison where he nearly dies, but through it all,
even in the midst of deep depression, Jeremiah faithfully fulfills his
calling for the Lord had told him.
Today, I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms.
Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow others.
You must build up and plant.
The material in the book of Jeremiah is organized into four major parts.
Each marked off at the end by a reference to Jeremiah's words
being written down and then read.
The first part is a collection of his Oracles about Judah spoken at
different points in his career.
The second part of the book, Jeremiah recounts stories and messages related
to events in Jerusalem during the reigns of Je Jolla, Kim and Zakiah in the years
just before the final Babylonian invasion.
More stories like these make up the third part of the book where they
concentrate on the final years of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of
Jerusalem, like many of the prophets.
Jeremiah also proclaimed messages about other nations.
These oracles are collected in the last section where a message predicting
babylon's eventual downfall has the last word among Jeremiah's messages.
At some point, the introduction to these oracles to the nations became
separated from the actual messages and was left earlier in the book.
In this edition, we've reunited the introduction with the Oracles themselves
after the end of Jeremiah's messages.
The book concludes with an epilogue that describes in terrible
detail the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple.
This epilogue closely matches the devastating ending of
the book of Samuel Kings.
Even though the book closes with an account of this tragic demise of the
Kingdom of Judah, a bright hope for God's people still lives at its center.
A special oracle called the Book of Comfort is placed in the middle of the
second section, which puts it right in the center of Jeremiah's book as a whole Hear.
The Lord promises that because his love for his people is everlasting.
He will bring them back from exile.
I will bring them from the north and from the distant corners of the earth.
A great company will return tears of joy, will stream down their faces, and
I will lead them home with great care.
God told Jeremiah that his words would both tear down and build up and plant.
So it is fitting that in the center of the book, God promises that
he will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
God is going to put his instructions deep within them, transforming
them from the inside out.
The rebellion of Adam has been living in the hearts of God's
people, but a new day is promised, a day of forgiveness and renewal.
When all God's hopes and dreams for Israel will be realized, this
is the great future that moves.
The Bible's great story forward.
The prophet Jeremiah,
these are the words of Jeremiah, son of Hilah, one of the priests from the
town of Anth in the land of Benjamin.
The Lord first gave messages to Jeremiah during the 13th year of the Reign of
Josiah, son of Amman, king of Judah.
The Lord's messages continued throughout the reign of King Jo Jolla, Kim Josiah's
son, until the 11th year of the Reign of Kings at Eiah, another of Josiah's sons.
In August of that 11th year, the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.
The Lord gave me this message.
I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb.
Before you were born.
I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.
Oh, sovereign Lord.
I said, I can't speak for you.
I'm too young.
The Lord replied, don't say I'm too young for you.
Must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.
And don't be afraid of the people.
For I will be with you and will protect you.
I the Lord have spoken.
Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, look, I have
put my words in your mouth today.
I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms.
Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow others.
You must build up and plant.
Then the Lord said to me, look, Jeremiah, what do you see?
And I replied, I see a branch from an almond tree.
The Lord said That's right, and it means that I'm watching and I will
certainly carry out all my plans.
Then the Lord spoke to me again and asked, what do you see now?
And I replied, I see a pot of boiling water spilling from the north.
Yes, the Lord said, for terror from the north will boil out
on the people of this land.
Listen, I'm calling the armies of the kingdoms of the
north to come to Jerusalem.
I, the Lord have spoken.
They will set their thrones at the gates of the city.
They will attack its walls and all the other towns of Judah.
I will pronounce judgment on my people for all their evil, for deserting me
and burning incense to other gods.
Yes, they worship idols made with their own hands.
Get up and prepare for action.
Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say.
Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them.
Foresee today I have made you strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured
like an iron pillar or a bronze wall.
You will stand against the whole land, the kings, officials,
priests, and people of Judah.
They will fight you, but they will fail for I am with you
and I will take care of you.
I, the Lord have spoken.
The Lord gave me another message.
He said, go and shout this message to Jerusalem.
This is what the Lord says.
I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago,
how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.
In those days, Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of his children.
All who harmed his people were declared guilty and disaster fell on them.
I, the Lord have spoken.
Listen to the word of the Lord, people of Jacob, all you families of
Israel, this is what the Lord says.
What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me?
They worshiped worthless idols only to become worthless themselves.
They did not ask, where is the Lord who brought us safely out of
Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, A land of deserts and
pits, a land of drought and death.
Where no one lives or even travels.
And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness,
you defiled my land and corrupted the possession I had promised you.
The priests did not ask, where is the Lord?
Those who taught my word ignored me.
The rulers turned against me, and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,
wasting their time on worthless idols.
Therefore, I will bring my case against you, says the Lord.
I will even bring charges against your children's children in the years to come.
Go West and look in the land of Cyprus.
Go east and search through the land of Keter.
Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this?
Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though
they're not Gods at all yet?
My people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in
horror and dismay says the Lord.
For my people have done two evil things.
They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug
for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.
Why has Israel become a slave?
Why has he been carried away as plunder?
Strong lions have roared against him, and the land has been destroyed.
The towns are now in ruins and no one lives in them anymore.
Egyptians marching from their cities of Memphis and ese have destroyed
Israel's glory and power, and you have brought this upon yourselves by
rebelling against the Lord your God, even though he was leading you on the way.
What have you gained by your alliances with Egypt and
your covenants with Assyria?
What good to you are the streams of the Nile or the waters of the Euphrates River.
Your wickedness will bring its own punishment.
Your turning from me will shame you.
You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord
your God and not to fear him.
I the Lord.
The Lord of heaven's armies have spoken.
Long ago I broke the yoke that oppressed you and tore away
the chains of your slavery.
But still, you said, I will not serve you on every hill and under
every green tree you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols.
But I was the one who planted you choosing a vine of the purest stock, the very best.
How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?
No amount of soap or lie can make you clean.
I still see the stain of your guilt.
I the sovereign Lord, have spoken.
You say that's not true.
I haven't worshiped the images of Baal, but how can you say that?
Go and look.
In any valley in the land, face the awful sins you have done.
You are like a restless female camel, desperately searching for a mate.
You are like a wild donkey sniffing the wind at mating time.
Who can restrain her lust?
Those who desire her don't need to search for.
She goes running to them.
When will you stop running?
When will you stop panting after other gods?
But you say, save your breath.
I'm in love with these foreign gods and I can't stop loving them.
Now.
Israel is like a thief who feels shame only when he gets caught.
They're kings, officials, priests and prophets all are alike in this to an
image carved from a piece of wood.
They say, you are my father to an idol, chiseled from a block of stone.
They say, you are my mother.
They turn their backs on me, but in times of trouble, they cry out to
me, come and save us, but why not call on these gods you have made?
When trouble comes, let them save you if they can, for you have as many
gods as there are towns in Judah.
Why do you accuse me of doing wrong?
You are the ones who have rebelled, says the Lord, I have punished your children,
but they did not respond to my discipline.
You yourselves have killed your prophets as a lion kills its prey.
Oh my people.
Listen to the words of the Lord.
Have I been like a desert to Israel?
Have I been to them?
A land of darkness?
Why then do my people say at last, we are free from God?
We don't need him anymore.
Does a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride, her wedding dress?
Yet for years on end, my people have forgotten me.
How you plot and scheme to win your lovers.
Even an experienced prostitute could learn from you.
Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the
poor, though you didn't catch them breaking into your houses, and yet
you say, I have done nothing wrong.
Surely God isn't angry with me, but now I will punish you severely because you
claim you have not sinned first here.
Then there you flit from one ally to another asking for help, but your new
friends in Egypt will let you down.
Just as Assyria did before in despair, you'll be led into exile
with your hands on your heads.
For the Lord has rejected the nations you trust, they will not help you at all.
If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he
will not take her back again for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are
you trying to come back to me?
Says the Lord.
Look at the shrines on every hilltop.
Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.
That's why even the spring rains have failed for you are a brazen
prostitute and completely shameless.
Yet you say to me, father, you have been my guide since my youth.
Surely you won't be angry forever.
Surely you can forget about it.
So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can
during the reign of King Josiah.
The Lord said to me, have you seen what Fickle Israel has done?
Like a wife who commits adultery?
Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.
I thought after she has done all this, she will return to me, but she did not return,
and her faithless, sister Judah saw this.
She saw that I divorced Faithless Israel because of her adultery, but
that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she too has left me
and given herself to prostitution.
Israel treated it all so lightly.
She thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols
made of wood and stone.
So now the land has been polluted.
But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah, has never sincerely returned to me.
She has only pretended to be sorry.
I, the Lord have spoken.
Then the Lord said to me, even faithless, Israel is less
guilty than treacherous Judah.
Therefore go and give this message to Israel.
This is what the Lord says, oh Israel, my faithless.
People come home to me again for I am merciful.
I will not be angry with you forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt.
Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God, and committed
adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
I, the Lord have spoken.
Return home, you wayward children, says the Lord.
For I am your master, I will bring you back to the land of Israel, one from
this town, and two from that family, from wherever you are scattered.
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will guide you
with knowledge and understanding.
And when your land is once more filled with people says the Lord, you will no
longer wish for the good old days when you possess the Ark of the Lord's covenant.
You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no
need to rebuild the ark in that day.
Jerusalem will be known as the throne of the Lord.
All nations will come there to honor the Lord.
They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.
In those days, the people of Judah and Israel will return
together from exile in the north.
They will return to the land.
I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.
I thought to myself, I would love to treat you as my own children.
I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land, the
finest possession in the world.
I looked forward to your calling me father, and I wanted you
never to turn from me, but you have been unfaithful to me.
I.
You people of Israel, you have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.
I the Lord have spoken voices are heard high on the wind swept mountains.
The weeping and pleading of Israel's people for they have chosen crooked paths
and have forgotten the Lord their God.
My wayward children says the Lord come back to me and I
will heal your wayward hearts.
Yes, we are coming.
The people reply for you are the Lord our God.
Our worship of idols on the hills and our religious orgies on the mountains are a
delusion only in the Lord our God will Israel ever find salvation from childhood.
We have watched as everything our ancestors worked for their flocks
and herds, their sons and daughters was squandered on a delusion.
Let us now lie down in shame and cover ourselves with dishonor.
For we and our ancestors have sinned against the Lord
our God, from our childhood.
To this day, we have never obeyed him.
Oh, Israel says the Lord.
If you wanted to return to me, you could.
You could throw away your detestable idols and stray away.
No more.
Then when you swear by my name saying, as surely as the Lord lives, you
could do so with truth, justice, and righteousness, then you would be a
blessing to the nations of the world and all people would come and praise my name.
This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts.
Do not waste your good seed among thorns.
Oh, people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power.
Change your hearts before the Lord or my anger will burn like an unquenchable
fire because of all your sins.
Shout to Judah and broadcast to Jerusalem.
Tell them to sound the alarm throughout the land.
Run for your lives.
Flee to the fortified cities.
Raise a signal.
Flag as a warning for Jerusalem.
Flee now.
Do not delay.
For I am bringing terrible destruction upon you from the north.
A lion stalks from its den a destroyer of nations.
It has left its layer and is headed your way.
It's going to devastate your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins with no one living in them anymore.
So put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts for the fierce
Anger of the Lord is still upon us.
In that day says the Lord the king and the officials will tremble in fear.
The priests will be struck with horror and the prophets will be appalled.
Then I said, oh, sovereign Lord, the people have been deceived by
what you said, for you promised peace for Jerusalem, but the
sword is held at their throats.
The time is coming when the Lord will say to the people of Jerusalem, my dear
people, A burning wind is blowing in from the desert and it's not a gentle breeze.
Useful for winnowing grain.
It is a roaring blast sent by me.
Now I will pronounce your destruction.
Our enemy rushes down on us like storm clouds.
His chariots are like whirlwinds.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
How terrible it will be for we are doomed.
Jerusalem cleanse your heart that you may be saved.
How long will you harbor your evil thoughts?
Your destruction has been announced from Dan and the Hill country of Raim.
Warn the surrounding nations and announce this to Jerusalem.
The enemy is coming from a distant land raising a battle
cry against the towns of Judah.
They surround Jerusalem like Watchmen around a field.
For my people have rebelled against me, says the Lord.
Your own actions have brought this upon you.
This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart.
My heart.
I arrive in pain.
My heart pounds within me.
I cannot be still for I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and
the roar of their battle cries.
Waves of destruction roll over the land until it lies in complete desolation.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed.
In a moment, my shelters are crushed.
How long must I see the battle flags and hear the trumpets of war?
My people are foolish and do not know me, says the Lord.
They are stupid children who have no understanding.
They are clever enough at doing wrong.
They have no idea how to do right.
I looked at the earth and it was empty and formless.
I looked at the heavens and there was no light.
I looked at the mountains and hills and they trembled and shook.
I looked and all the people were gone.
All the birds of the sky had flown away.
I looked and the fertile fields had become a wilderness.
The towns lay in ruins crushed by the Lord's fierce anger.
This is what the Lord says.
The whole land will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely.
The earth will mourn and the heavens will be draped in black.
Because of my decree against my people, I have made up my
mind and will not change it.
At the noise of chariot tears and archers, the people flee in terror.
They hide in the bushes and run for the mountains.
All the towns have been abandoned.
Not a person remains.
What are you doing?
You who have been plundered?
Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing and put on gold jewelry?
Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara?
Your primping will do you no good.
The allies who were your lovers despise you and seek to kill you.
I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor.
The groans of a woman giving birth to her first child.
It is beautiful Jerusalem, gasping for breath and crying out, help.
I'm being murdered.
Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the Lord.
Look high and low.
Search throughout the city.
If you can find even one, just an honest person.
I will not destroy the city.
But even when they are under oath saying, as surely as the Lord lives,
they're still telling lies, Lord, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people, but they paid no attention.
You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined with faces set like stone.
They have refused to repent.
Then I said, but what can we expect from the poor?
They are ignorant.
They don't know the ways of the Lord.
They don't understand God's laws.
So I will go and speak to their leaders.
Surely they know the ways of the Lord and understand God's laws.
But the leaders too, as one man had thrown off God's yoke and broken his chains.
So now a lion from the forest will attack them.
A wolf from the desert will pounce on them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns, tearing apart any who dare
to venture out for their rebellion is great, and their sins are many.
How can I pardon you for even Your children have turned from me.
They have sworn by gods that are not Gods at all.
I fed my people until they were full, but they thanked me by committing
adultery and lining up at the brothels.
They're well fed lusty stallions, each naying for his neighbor's wife.
Should I not punish them for this?
Says the Lord.
Should I not avenge myself against such a nation, go down the rows of the
vineyards and destroy the grapevines, leaving a scattered few alive.
Strip the branches from the vines for these people do not belong to the Lord.
The people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me, says the Lord.
They have lied about the Lord and said he won't bother us.
No disasters will come upon us.
There will be no war or famine.
God's prophets are all windbags who don't really speak for him.
Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves.
This concludes today's Immerse Reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.