Jeremiah 7

Evil in the Land

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. 8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’⁠—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim. 16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 19 Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.” 21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
29
“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.’

The Valley of Slaughter

30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.
31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. 33 And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away. 34 And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.

Psalm 80

Restore Us, O God

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
2
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!

3
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!

4
O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6
You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7
Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!

8
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11
It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
12
Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

14
Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15
the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16
They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
17
But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
18
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!

19
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalm 81

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.

Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2
Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3
Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

4
For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule of the God of Jacob.
5
He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7
In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8
Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9
There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11
“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13
Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14
I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15
Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16
But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Proverbs 16


The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.
3
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
4
The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even the wicked for the day of trouble.
5
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
be assured, he will not go unpunished.
6
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
7
When a man’s ways please the Lord,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8
Better is a little with righteousness
than great revenues with injustice.
9
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.
10
An oracle is on the lips of a king;
his mouth does not sin in judgment.
11
A just balance and scales are the Lord’s;
all the weights in the bag are his work.
12
It is an abomination to kings to do evil,
for the throne is established by righteousness.
13
Righteous lips are the delight of a king,
and he loves him who speaks what is right.
14
A king’s wrath is a messenger of death,
and a wise man will appease it.
15
In the light of a king’s face there is life,
and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.
16
How much better to get wisdom than gold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
17
The highway of the upright turns aside from evil;
whoever guards his way preserves his life.
18
Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19
It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
than to divide the spoil with the proud.
20
Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
21
The wise of heart is called discerning,
and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
22
Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.
23
The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
24
Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
25
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
26
A worker’s appetite works for him;
his mouth urges him on.
27
A worthless man plots evil,
and his speech is like a scorching fire.
28
A dishonest man spreads strife,
and a whisperer separates close friends.
29
A man of violence entices his neighbor
and leads him in a way that is not good.
30
Whoever winks his eyes plans dishonest things;
he who purses his lips brings evil to pass.
31
Gray hair is a crown of glory;
it is gained in a righteous life.
32
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
33
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.