Jeremiah 10

• 1. Hear the word of the LORD, O Israel!
• 2. This is what the LORD says: "Do not act like other nations who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them.
• 3. Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree and carve an idol.
• 4. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.
• 5. There stands their god like a helpless scarecrow in a garden! It cannot speak, and it needs to be carried because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good."
• 6. LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power.
• 7. Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone! Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world, there is no one like you.
• 8. The wisest of people who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood!
• 9. They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen who make their idols. Then they dress these gods in royal purple robes made by expert tailors.
• 10. But the LORD is the only true God, the living God. He is the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations hide before his wrath.
• 11. Say this to those who worship other gods: "Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth."
• 12. But God made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. He has stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
• 13. When he speaks, there is thunder in the heavens. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.
• 14. Compared to him, all people are foolish and have no knowledge at all! They make idols, but the idols will disgrace their makers, for they are frauds. They have no life or power in them.
• 15. Idols are worthless; they are lies! The time is coming when they will all be destroyed.
• 16. But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including Israel, his own special possession. The LORD Almighty is his name!
• 17. "Pack your bag and prepare to leave; the siege is about to begin,"
• 18. says the LORD. "For suddenly, I will fling you from this land and pour great troubles upon you. At last you will feel my anger."
• 19. My wound is desperate, and my grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.
• 20. My home is gone, and no one is left to help me rebuild it. My children have been taken away, and I will never see them again.
• 21. The shepherds of my people have lost their senses. They no longer follow the LORD or ask what he wants of them. Therefore, they fail completely, and their flocks are scattered.
• 22. Listen! Hear the terrifying roar of great armies as they roll down from the north. The towns of Judah will be destroyed and will become a haunt for jackals.
• 23. I know, LORD, that a person's life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course.
• 24. So correct me, LORD, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.
• 25. Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to recognize you--on nations that do not call upon your name. For they have utterly devoured your people Israel, making the land a desolate wilderness.

Jeremiah 11

• 1. The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
• 2. "Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of their covenant with me.
• 3. Say to them, `This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who does not obey the terms of my covenant!
• 4. For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of slavery in Egypt, "If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God."
• 5. I said this so I could keep my promise to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey--the land you live in today.'" Then I replied, "So be it, LORD!"
• 6. Then the LORD said, "Broadcast this message in the streets of Jerusalem. Go from town to town throughout the land and say, `Remember the covenant your ancestors made, and do everything they promised.
• 7. For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, repeating over and over again to this day: "Obey me!"
• 8. But your ancestors did not pay any attention; they would not even listen. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in our covenant.'"
• 9. Again the LORD spoke to me and said, "I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
• 10. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers. They have refused to listen to me and are worshiping idols. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.
• 11. Therefore, says the LORD, I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries.
• 12. Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and offer incense before them. But the idols will not save them when disaster strikes!
• 13. Look now, people of Judah, you have as many gods as there are cities and towns. Your altars of shame--altars for burning incense to your god Baal--are along every street in Jerusalem.
• 14. "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress.
• 15. What right do my beloved people have to come to my Temple, where they have done so many immoral things? Can their sacrifices avert their destruction? They actually rejoice in doing evil!
• 16. "I, the LORD, once called them a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit. But now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire, leaving them charred and broken.
• 17. I, the LORD Almighty, who planted this olive tree, have ordered it destroyed. For the people of Israel and Judah have done evil, provoking my anger by offering incense to Baal."
• 18. Then the LORD told me about the plots my enemies were making against me.
• 19. I had been as unaware as a lamb on the way to its slaughter. I had no idea that they were planning to kill me! "Let's destroy this man and all his words," they said. "Let's kill him, so his name will be forgotten forever."
• 20. O LORD Almighty, you are just, and you examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.
• 21. The men of Anathoth wanted me dead. They said they would kill me if I did not stop speaking in the LORD's name.
• 22. So this is what the LORD Almighty says about them: "I will punish them! Their young men will die in battle, and their little boys and girls will starve.
• 23. Not one of these plotters from Anathoth will survive, for I will bring disaster upon them when their time of punishment comes."

Jeremiah 12

• 1. LORD, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. Now let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?
• 2. You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but in their hearts they give you no credit at all.
• 3. But as for me, LORD, you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like helpless sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered!
• 4. How long must this land weep? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. Yet the people say, "The LORD won't do anything!"
• 5. Then the LORD replied to me, "If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
• 6. Even your own brothers, members of your own family, have turned on you. They have plotted, raising a cry against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.
• 7. "I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
• 8. My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them as though I hated them.
• 9. My chosen people have become as disgusting to me as a vulture. And indeed, they are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild beasts to pick their corpses clean!
• 10. "Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
• 11. They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.
• 12. Destroying armies plunder the land. The sword of the LORD kills people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape!
• 13. My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worked hard, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame, for the fierce anger of the LORD is upon them."
• 14. Now this is what the LORD says: "As for all the evil nations reaching out for the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands just as Judah will be uprooted from hers.
• 15. But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own inheritance.
• 16. And if these nations quickly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, `As surely as the LORD lives' (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.
• 17. But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

New Living Translation: 262 of 324 days.