The Book of JEREMIAH - Chapter Eighteen

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

11 ‘Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord says: look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.” 12 But they will reply, “It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.”’

13 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Enquire among the nations:

    who has ever heard anything like this?

A most horrible thing has been done

    by Virgin Israel.

14 

Does the snow of Lebanon

    ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters from distant sources

    ever stop flowing?

15 

Yet my people have forgotten me;

    they burn incense to worthless idols,

which made them stumble in their ways,

    in the ancient paths.

They made them walk in byways,

    on roads not built up.

16 

Their land will be an object of horror

    and of lasting scorn;

all who pass by will be appalled

    and will shake their heads.

17 

Like a wind from the east,

    I will scatter them before their enemies;

I will show them my back and not my face

    in the day of their disaster.’

18 They said, ‘Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.’

19 

Listen to me, Lord;

    hear what my accusers are saying!

20 

Should good be repaid with evil?

    Yet they have dug a pit for me.

Remember that I stood before you

    and spoke on their behalf

    to turn your wrath away from them.

21 

So give their children over to famine;

    hand them over to the power of the sword.

Let their wives be made childless and widows;

    let their men be put to death,

    their young men slain by the sword in battle.

22 

Let a cry be heard from their houses

    when you suddenly bring invaders against them,

for they have dug a pit to capture me

    and have hidden snares for my feet.

23 

But you, Lord, know

    all their plots to kill me.

Do not forgive their crimes

    or blot out their sins from your sight.

Let them be overthrown before you;

    deal with them in the time of your anger.

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READINGS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

Chapter Eighteen

Read by Sir David Suchet

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The Silent Sermons of God! 

- Bishop T.D. Jakes

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OVERVIEW 

The Book of JEREMIAH

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

Jeremiah "The Bible in 5" 

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-=-

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

David Pawson

Part 1

Part 2 

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Change my heart O God 

~ Maranatha! Music ~

The Potter's Hand 

 Hillsong Worship

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The Book of JEREMIAH - Chapter Seventeen

 

1 

‘Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,

    inscribed with a flint point,

on the tablets of their hearts

    and on the horns of their altars.

2 

Even their children remember

    their altars and Asherah poles

beside the spreading trees

    and on the high hills.

3 

My mountain in the land

    and your wealth and all your treasures

I will give away as plunder,

    together with your high places,

    because of sin throughout your country.

4 

Through your own fault you will lose

    the inheritance I gave you.

I will enslave you to your enemies

    in a land you do not know,

for you have kindled my anger,

    and it will burn for ever.’

5 

This is what the Lord says:

‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

    who draws strength from mere flesh

    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6 

That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

    they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

    in a salt land where no one lives.

7 

‘But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

    whose confidence is in him.

8 

They will be like a tree planted by the water

    that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

    its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

    and never fails to bear fruit.’

9 

The heart is deceitful above all things

    and beyond cure.

    Who can understand it?

10 

‘I the Lord search the heart

    and examine the mind,

to reward each person according to their conduct,

    according to what their deeds deserve.’

11 

Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay

    are those who gain riches by unjust means.

When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,

    and in the end they will prove to be fools.

12 

A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,

    is the place of our sanctuary.

13 

Lord, you are the hope of Israel;

    all who forsake you will be put to shame.

Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust

    because they have forsaken the Lord,

    the spring of living water.

14 

Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed;

    save me and I shall be saved,

    for you are the one I praise.

15 

They keep saying to me,

    ‘Where is the word of the Lord?

    Let it now be fulfilled!’

16 

I have not run away from being your shepherd;

    you know I have not desired the day of despair.

    What passes my lips is open before you.

17 

Do not be a terror to me;

    you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18 

Let my persecutors be put to shame,

    but keep me from shame;

let them be terrified,

    but keep me from terror.

Bring on them the day of disaster;

    destroy them with double destruction.

————————

19 This is what the Lord said to me: ‘Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Say to them, “Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 

21 This is what the Lord says: be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline. 24 But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, 25 then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited for ever. 26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank-offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.”’

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READINGS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

Chapter Seventeen

Read by Sir David Suchet

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Becoming The Tree God Intends Us To Be 

| Jeremiah 17 |

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OVERVIEW 

The Book of JEREMIAH

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

Jeremiah "The Bible in 5" 

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-=-

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

David Pawson

Part 1

Part 2 

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The Book of JEREMIAH - Chapter Sixteen

 

1 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 ‘You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.’ 3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: 4 ‘They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.’

5 For this is what the Lord says: ‘Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,’ declares the Lord. 6 ‘Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. 7 No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead – not even for a father or a mother – nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

8 ‘And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.

10 ‘When you tell these people all this and they ask you, “Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?” 11 then say to them, “It is because your ancestors forsook me,” declares the Lord, “and followed other gods and served and worshipped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. 12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favour.”

14 ‘However, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when it will no longer be said, “As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,” 15 but it will be said, “As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.” For I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors.

16 ‘But now I will send for many fishermen,’ declares the Lord, ‘and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. 17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. 18 I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.’

19 

Lord, my strength and my fortress,

    my refuge in time of distress,

to you the nations will come

    from the ends of the earth and say,

‘Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,

    worthless idols that did them no good.

20 

Do people make their own gods?

    Yes, but they are not gods!’

21 

‘Therefore I will teach them –

    this time I will teach them

    my power and might.

Then they will know

    that my name is the Lord.

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READINGS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

Chapter Sixteen

Read by Sir David Suchet

-=-=-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book of JEREMIAH

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

Jeremiah "The Bible in 5" 

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-=-

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

David Pawson

Part 1

Part 2 

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AUGUST - READINGS

AUGUST -  READINGS

from the New International Version (UK)

The Book of JEREMIAH - Chapter Fifteen

1 Then the Lord said to me: ‘Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, “Where shall we go?” tell them, “This is what the Lord says:

‘“Those destined for death, to death;

those for the sword, to the sword;

those for starvation, to starvation;

those for captivity, to captivity.”

3 ‘I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,’ declares the Lord, ‘the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. 4 I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

5 

‘Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?

    Who will mourn for you?

    Who will stop to ask how you are?

6 

You have rejected me,’ declares the Lord.

    ‘You keep on backsliding.

So I will reach out and destroy you;

    I am tired of holding back.

7 

I will winnow them with a winnowing fork

    at the city gates of the land.

I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,

    for they have not changed their ways.

8 

I will make their widows more numerous

    than the sand of the sea.

At midday I will bring a destroyer

    against the mothers of their young men;

suddenly I will bring down on them

    anguish and terror.

9 

The mother of seven will grow faint

    and breathe her last.

Her sun will set while it is still day;

    she will be disgraced and humiliated.

I will put the survivors to the sword

    before their enemies,’

declares the Lord.

10 

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,

    a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!

I have neither lent nor borrowed,

    yet everyone curses me.

11 

The Lord said,

‘Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;

    surely I will make your enemies plead with you

    in times of disaster and times of distress.

12 

‘Can a man break iron –

    iron from the north – or bronze?

13 

‘Your wealth and your treasures

    I will give as plunder, without charge,

because of all your sins

    throughout your country.

14 

I will enslave you to your enemies

    in a land you do not know,

for my anger will kindle a fire

    that will burn against you.’

15 

Lord, you understand;

    remember me and care for me.

    Avenge me on my persecutors.

You are long-suffering – do not take me away;

    think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.

16 

When your words came, I ate them;

    they were my joy and my heart’s delight,

for I bear your name,

    Lord God Almighty.

17 

I never sat in the company of revellers,

    never made merry with them;

I sat alone because your hand was on me

    and you had filled me with indignation.

18 

Why is my pain unending

    and my wound grievous and incurable?

You are to me like a deceptive brook,

    like a spring that fails.

19

 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘If you repent, I will restore you

    that you may serve me;

if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,

    you will be my spokesman.

Let this people turn to you,

    but you must not turn to them.

20 

I will make you a wall to this people,

    a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you

    but will not overcome you,

for I am with you

    to rescue and save you,’

declares the Lord.

21 

‘I will save you from the hands of the wicked

    and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.’

-=-=-=-=-=-=

READINGS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

Chapter Fifteen

Read by Sir David Suchet

-=-=-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book of JEREMIAH

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

Jeremiah "The Bible in 5" 

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-=-

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

David Pawson

Part 1

Part 2 

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