One Year Bible

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

Lamentation for Judah

19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh, the pain in my chest!

My heart pounds within me;

I cannot be silent.

For I have heard the sound of the horn,

the alarm of battle.

20 Disaster after disaster is proclaimed,

for the whole land is laid waste.

My tents are destroyed in an instant,

my curtains in a moment.

21 How long must I see the signal flag

and hear the sound of the horn?

22“For My people are fools;

they have not known Me.

They are foolish children,

without understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil,

but they know not how to do good.”

23 I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and void;

I looked to the heavens,

and they had no light.

24 I looked at the mountains,

and behold, they were quaking;

all the hills were swaying.

25 I looked, and no man was left;

all the birds of the air had fled.

26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert.

All its cities were torn down

before the Lord,

before His fierce anger.

27 For this is what the Lord says:

“The whole land will be desolate,

but I will not finish its destruction.

28 Therefore the earth will mourn

and the heavens above will grow dark.

I have spoken, I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back.”

29 Every city flees

at the sound of the horseman and archer.

They enter the thickets

and climb among the rocks.

Every city is abandoned;

no inhabitant is left.

30 And you, O devastated one, what will you do,

though you dress yourself in scarlet,

though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

though you enlarge your eyes with paint?

You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you;

they want to take your life.

31 For I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child —

the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands to say,

“Woe is me,

for my soul faints before the murderers!”

No One Is Just

1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.

Look now and take note; search her squares.

If you can find a single person,

anyone who acts justly,

anyone who seeks the truth,

then I will forgive the city.

2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’

they are swearing falsely.”

3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?

You struck them, but they felt no pain.

You finished them off,

but they refused to accept discipline.

They have made their faces harder than stone

and refused to repent.

4 Then I said, “They are only the poor;

they have played the fool,

for they do not know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

5 I will go to the powerful

and speak to them.

Surely they know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.”

But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke

and torn off the chains.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,

a wolf from the desert will ravage them.

A leopard will lie in wait near their cities,

and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.

For their rebellious acts are many,

and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

7“Why should I forgive you?

Your children have forsaken Me

and sworn by gods that are not gods.

I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery

and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions,

each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

9 Should I not punish them for these things?”

declares the Lord.

“Should I not avenge Myself

on such a nation as this?

10 Go up through her vineyards and ravage them,

but do not finish them off.

Strip off her branches,

for they do not belong to the Lord.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”

declares the Lord.

12 They have lied about the Lord and said:

“He will not do anything; harm will not come to us;

we will not see sword or famine.

13 The prophets are but wind,

for the word is not in them.

So let their own predictions befall them.”

Judgment Proclaimed

14 Therefore this is what the Lord God of Hosts says:

“Because you have spoken this word,

I will make My words a fire in your mouth

and this people the wood it consumes.

15 Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you,

O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.

“It is an established nation,

an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know

and whose speech you do not understand.

16 Their quivers are like open graves;

they are all mighty men.

17 They will devour your harvest and food;

they will consume your sons and daughters;

they will eat up your flocks and herds;

they will feed on your vines and fig trees.

With the sword they will destroy

the fortified cities in which you trust.”

18“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a full end of you. 19And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

21“Hear this,

O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes but do not see,

who have ears but do not hear.

22 Do you not fear Me?”

declares the Lord.

“Do you not tremble before Me,

the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea,

an enduring barrier it cannot cross?

The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.

They roar but cannot cross it.

23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They have turned aside and gone away.

24 They have not said in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the Lord our God,

who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season,

who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

25 Your iniquities have diverted these from you;

your sins have deprived you of My bounty.

26 For among My people are wicked men;

they watch like fowlers lying in wait;

they set a trap to catch men.

27 Like cages full of birds,

so their houses are full of deceit.

Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

28 They have grown fat and sleek,

and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked.

They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless,

that they might prosper;

nor have they defended

the rights of the needy.

29 Should I not punish them for these things?”

declares the Lord.

“Should I not avenge Myself

on such a nation as this?

30 A horrible and shocking thing

has happened in the land.

31 The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it so,

but what will you do in the end?’’

Jerusalem’s Final Warning

1 “ Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin;

flee from Jerusalem!

Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa;

send up a signal over Beth-haccherem,

for disaster looms from the north,

even great destruction.

2 Though she is beautiful and delicate,

I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

3 Shepherds and their flocks

will come against her;

they will pitch their tents all around her,

each tending his own portion:

4‘Prepare for battle against her;

rise up, let us attack at noon.

Woe to us, for the daylight is fading;

the evening shadows grow long.

5 Rise up, let us attack by night

and destroy her fortresses!’”

6 For this is what the Lord of Hosts says:

“Cut down the trees

and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.

This city must be punished;

there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

7 As a well gushes its water,

so she pours out her evil.

Violence and destruction resound in her;

sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

8 Be forewarned, O Jerusalem,

or I will turn away from you;

I will make you a desolation,

a land without inhabitant.”

9 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

“Glean the remnant of Israel

as thoroughly as a vine.

Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer

over the branches.”

10 To whom can I give this warning?

Who will listen to me?

Look, their ears are closed,

so they cannot hear.

See, the word of the Lord has become offensive to them;

they find no pleasure in it.

11 But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;

I am tired of holding it back.

“Pour it out on the children in the street,

and on the young men gathered together.

For both husband and wife will be captured,

the old and the very old alike.

12 Their houses will be turned over to others,

their fields and wives as well,

for I will stretch out My hand

against the inhabitants of the land,”

declares the Lord.

13“For from the least of them to the greatest,

all are greedy for gain;

from prophet to priest,

all practice deceit.

14 They dress the wound of My people

with very little care,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace at all.

15 Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed?

No, they have no shame at all;

they do not even know how to blush.

So they will fall among the fallen;

when I punish them, they will collapse,”

says the Lord.

Colossians 1:18-2:7

18And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. 19For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds. 22But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence — 23if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Paul’s Suffering for the Church

(2 Corinthians 11:16–33)

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church. 25I became its servant by the commission God gave me to fully proclaim to you the word of God, 26the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to His saints. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I also labor, striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.

1 For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, 2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. 5For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.

Alive with Christ

(Ephesians 2:1–10)

6 Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, 7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Psalm 77:1-20

In the Day of Trouble I Sought the Lord

1 For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

I cried out to God;

I cried aloud to God to hear me.

2 In the day of trouble I sought the Lord;

through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary;

my soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered You, O God, and I groaned;

I mused and my spirit grew faint.

Selah

4 You have kept my eyes from closing;

I am too troubled to speak.

5 I considered the days of old,

the years long in the past.

6 At night I remembered my song;

in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

7“Will the Lord spurn us forever

and never show His favor again?

8 Is His loving devotion gone forever?

Has His promise failed for all time?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has His anger shut off His compassion?”

Selah

10 So I said, “I am grieved

that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

11 I will remember the works of the Lord;

yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.

12 I will reflect on all You have done

and ponder Your mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is so great as our God?

14 You are the God who works wonders;

You display Your strength among the peoples.

15 With power You redeemed Your people,

the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

Selah

16 The waters saw You, O God;

the waters saw You and swirled;

even the depths were shaken.

17 The clouds poured down water;

the skies resounded with thunder;

Your arrows flashed back and forth.

18 Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind;

the lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and quaked.

19 Your path led through the sea,

Your way through the mighty waters,

but Your footprints were not to be found.

20 You led Your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Proverbs 24:23-25

Further Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise:

To show partiality in judgment

is not good.

24 Whoever tells the guilty, “You are innocent”—

peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

25 but it will go well with those who convict the guilty,

and rich blessing will come upon them.

sozo church

One Year Bible

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

Colossians 1:18-2:7

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 24:23-25