Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹This is what the LORD says: “Be just and fair to all. Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display my righteousness among you.

²Blessed are all those who are careful to do this. Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days of rest and keep themselves from doing wrong.

³“Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will never let me be part of his people.’ And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’

⁴For this is what the LORD says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me.

⁵I will give them — within the walls of my house — a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear!

⁶“I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD, who serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to my covenant.

⁷I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

⁸For the Sovereign LORD, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.”

⁹Come, wild animals of the field! Come, wild animals of the forest! Come and devour my people!

¹⁰For the leaders of my people — the LORD’s watchmen, his shepherds — are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes. They love to lie around, sleeping and dreaming.

¹¹Like greedy dogs, they are never satisfied. They are ignorant shepherds, all following their own path and intent on personal gain.

¹²“Come,” they say, “let’s get some wine and have a party. Let’s all get drunk. Then tomorrow we’ll do it again and have an even bigger party!”

¹Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come.

²For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.

³“But you — come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

⁴Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars!

⁵You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.

⁶Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys. You worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings. They, not I, are your inheritance. Do you think all this makes me happy?

⁷You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me.

⁸You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies.

⁹You have gone to Molech with olive oil and many perfumes, sending your agents far and wide, even to the world of the dead.

¹⁰You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. Desire gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary.

¹¹“Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you? Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me and my words? Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?

¹²Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you.

¹³Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”

¹⁴God says, “Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.”

¹⁵The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

¹⁶For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away — all the souls I have made.

¹⁷I was angry, so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way.

¹⁸I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn,

¹⁹bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,” says the LORD, who heals them.

²⁰“But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.

²¹There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.

¹“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!

²Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.

³‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.

⁴What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.

⁵You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?

⁶“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

⁷Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

⁸“Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.

⁹Then when you call, the LORD will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

¹⁰Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

¹¹The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

¹²Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

¹³“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.

¹⁴Then the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.

²It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

³Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption.

⁴No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin.

⁵They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.

⁶Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark.

⁷Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them.

⁸They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.

⁹So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.

¹¹We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.

¹²For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.

¹³We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.

¹⁴Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.

¹⁵Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

¹⁶He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.

¹⁸He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.

¹⁹In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,” says the LORD.

²¹“And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the LORD rises to shine on you.

²Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the LORD rises and appears over you.

³All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance.

⁴“Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home.

⁵Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy, for merchants from around the world will come to you. They will bring you the wealth of many lands.

⁶Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the LORD.

⁷The flocks of Kedar will be given to you, and the rams of Nebaioth will be brought for my altars. I will accept their offerings, and I will make my Temple glorious.

⁸“And what do I see flying like clouds to Israel, like doves to their nests?

⁹They are ships from the ends of the earth, from lands that trust in me, led by the great ships of Tarshish. They are bringing the people of Israel home from far away, carrying their silver and gold. They will honor the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has filled you with splendor.

¹⁰“Foreigners will come to rebuild your towns, and their kings will serve you. For though I have destroyed you in my anger, I will now have mercy on you through my grace.

¹¹Your gates will stay open day and night to receive the wealth of many lands. The kings of the world will be led as captives in a victory procession.

¹²For the nations that refuse to serve you will be destroyed.

¹³“The glory of Lebanon will be yours — the forests of cypress, fir, and pine — to beautify my sanctuary. My Temple will be glorious!

¹⁴The descendants of your tormentors will come and bow before you. Those who despised you will kiss your feet. They will call you the City of the LORD, and Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵“Though you were once despised and hated, with no one traveling through you, I will make you beautiful forever, a joy to all generations.

¹⁶Powerful kings and mighty nations will satisfy your every need, as though you were a child nursing at the breast of a queen. You will know at last that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.

¹⁷I will exchange your bronze for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze, and your stones for iron. I will make peace your leader and righteousness your ruler.

¹⁸Violence will disappear from your land; the desolation and destruction of war will end. Salvation will surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who enter there.

¹⁹“No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

²⁰Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.

²¹All your people will be righteous. They will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there with my own hands in order to bring myself glory.

²²The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen.”

¹The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.

²He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.

³To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.

⁴They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.

⁵Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.

⁶You will be called priests of the LORD, ministers of our God. You will feed on the treasures of the nations and boast in their riches.

⁷Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.

⁸“For I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹Their descendants will be recognized and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”

¹⁰I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels.

¹¹The Sovereign LORD will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere.

¹Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.

²The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth.

³The LORD will hold you in his hand for all to see — a splendid crown in the hand of God.

⁴Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride.

⁵Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

⁶O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD.

⁷Give the LORD no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

⁸The LORD has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength: “I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine.

⁹You raised the grain, and you will eat it, praising the LORD. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.”

¹⁰Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.

¹¹The LORD has sent this message to every land: “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’”

¹²They will be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the LORD.” And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place” and “The City No Longer Forsaken.”

¹Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength? “It is I, the LORD, announcing your salvation! It is I, the LORD, who has the power to save!”

²Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?

³“I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes.

⁴For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors.

⁵I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me.

⁶I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”

⁷I will tell of the LORD’s unfailing love. I will praise the LORD for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love.

⁸He said, “They are my very own people. Surely they will not betray me again.” And he became their Savior.

⁹In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.

¹⁰But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he became their enemy and fought against them.

¹¹Then they remembered those days of old when Moses led his people out of Egypt. They cried out, “Where is the one who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people?

¹²Where is the one whose power was displayed when Moses lifted up his hand — the one who divided the sea before them, making himself famous forever?

¹³Where is the one who led them through the bottom of the sea? They were like fine stallions racing through the desert, never stumbling.

¹⁴As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led your people, LORD, and gained a magnificent reputation.”

¹⁵LORD, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now?

¹⁶Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, LORD, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past.

¹⁷LORD, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants, the tribes that are your special possession.

¹⁸How briefly your holy people possessed your holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it.

¹⁹Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you, as though we had never been known as your people.

¹Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!

²As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!

³When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked!

⁴For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!

⁵You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved?

⁶We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

⁷Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.

⁸And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.

⁹Don’t be so angry with us, LORD. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.

¹¹The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed.

¹²After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?

¹The LORD says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.

²All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.

³All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on pagan altars.

⁴At night they go out among the graves, worshiping the dead. They eat the flesh of pigs and make stews with other forbidden foods.

⁵Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.

⁶“Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them —

⁷both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors,” says the LORD. “For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full!

⁸“But I will not destroy them all,” says the LORD. “For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away — some of those grapes are good!’), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there.

⁹I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it, and my servants will live there.

¹⁰The plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks for my people who have searched for me, and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.

¹¹“But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD and have forgotten his Temple, and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,

¹²now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword. All of you will bow down before the executioner. For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned — before my very eyes — and chose to do what you know I despise.”

¹³Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “My servants will eat, but you will starve. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed.

¹⁴My servants will sing for joy, but you will cry in sorrow and despair.

¹⁵Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and will call his true servants by another name.

¹⁶All who invoke a blessing or take an oath will do so by the God of truth. For I will put aside my anger and forget the evil of earlier days.

¹⁷“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

¹⁸Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.

²⁰“No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!

²¹In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.

²²Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

²³They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed.

²⁴I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?

²My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken! “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.

³But those who choose their own ways — delighting in their detestable sins — will not have their offerings accepted. When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it’s as if they had blessed an idol.

⁴I will send them great trouble — all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.”

⁵Hear this message from the LORD, all you who tremble at his words: “Your own people hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ‘Let the LORD be honored!’ they scoff. ‘Be joyful in him!’ But they will be put to shame.

⁶What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies.

⁷“Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son.

⁸Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born.

⁹Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?” asks the LORD. “No! I would never keep this nation from being born,” says your God.

¹⁰“Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her.

¹¹Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

¹²This is what the LORD says: “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap.

¹³I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”

¹⁴When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the LORD’s hand of blessing on his servants — and his anger against his enemies.

¹⁵See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.

¹⁶The LORD will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.

¹⁷“Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center — feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats — will come to a terrible end,” says the LORD.

¹⁸“I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory.

¹⁹I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations — to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.

²⁰They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD.

²¹“And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the LORD, have spoken!

²²“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the LORD.

²³“All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.

²⁴And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror.”

¹These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests from the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

²The LORD first gave messages to Jeremiah during the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

³The LORD’s messages continued throughout the reign of King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah, another of Josiah’s sons. In August of that eleventh year the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.

⁴The LORD gave me this message:

⁵“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.”

⁶“O Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

⁷The LORD replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.

⁸And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

⁹Then the LORD reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth!

¹⁰Today 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.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?” And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.”

¹²And the LORD said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”

¹³Then 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.”

¹⁴“Yes,” the LORD said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land.

¹⁵Listen! I am 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.

¹⁶I 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!

¹⁷“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.

¹⁸For see, 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.

¹⁹They will fight you, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹The LORD gave me another message. He said,

²“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.

³In 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!”

⁴Listen to the word of the LORD, people of Jacob — all you families of Israel!

⁵This 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.

⁶They 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?’

⁷“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.

⁸The 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.

⁹Therefore, 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.

¹⁰“Go west and look in the land of Cyprus ; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this?

¹¹Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols!

¹²The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the LORD.

¹³“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!

¹⁴“Why has Israel become a slave? Why has he been carried away as plunder?

¹⁵Strong lions have roared against him, and the land has been destroyed. The towns are now in ruins, and no one lives in them anymore.

¹⁶Egyptians, marching from their cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes, have destroyed Israel’s glory and power.

¹⁷And you have brought this upon yourselves by rebelling against the LORD your God, even though he was leading you on the way!

¹⁸“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?

¹⁹Your 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!

²⁰“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.

²¹But 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?

²²No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!

²³“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.

²⁴You 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!

²⁵When 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!’

²⁶“Israel is like a thief who feels shame only when he gets caught. They, their kings, officials, priests, and prophets — all are alike in this.

²⁷To 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!’

²⁸But 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.

²⁹Why do you accuse me of doing wrong? You are the ones who have rebelled,” says the LORD.

³⁰“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.

³¹“O 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!’

³²Does a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me.

³³“How you plot and scheme to win your lovers. Even an experienced prostitute could learn from you!

³⁴Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the poor, though you didn’t catch them breaking into your houses!

³⁵And 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.

³⁶First 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.

³⁷In despair, you will 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.