23“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?”

24“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the Lord.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

25“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds? 27They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.

28 Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the Lord. 29“Is not My word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”

30“Therefore behold,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”

31“Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, ‘The Lord declares it.’”

32“Indeed,” declares the Lord, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the Lord.

33“Now when this people or a prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares the Lord.’

34 As for the prophet or priest or anyone who claims, ‘This is the burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household.

35 This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36But refer no more to the burden of the Lord, for each man’s word becomes the burden, so that you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts, our God.

37 Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and ‘What has the Lord spoken?’

38 But if you claim, ‘This is the burden of the Lord,’ then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, ‘This is the burden of the Lord,’ and I specifically told you not to make this claim, 39therefore I will surely forget you and will cast you out of My presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and perpetual humiliation that will never be forgotten.”

1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. 2One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

3“Jeremiah,” the Lord asked, “what do you see?”

“Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

8 But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem— those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. 9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them. 10And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:

3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day— twenty-three years— the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. 4And the Lord has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

5 The prophets told you, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and deeds, and you can dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 6Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’

7‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’

8 Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

10 Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

12 But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the Lord, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

13 I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the Lord had sent me, 18to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day — Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people; 20all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; 26all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another — all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.

27“Then you are to tell them that this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’

28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it! 29For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of Hosts.’

30 So you are to prophesy all these words against them and say to them:

32 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

33 Those slain by the Lord on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come. 3Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness — the son of destruction — is revealed. 4He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Do you not remember that I told you these things while I was still with you? 6And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

9 The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, 10and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. 11For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, 12in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.

13 But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. 14To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.