1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: 2“Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it, the Lord is His name: 3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: 5The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness.

6 Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity and will rebuild them as in former times. 8And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me.

9 So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.

10 This is what the Lord says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted — inhabited by neither man nor beast — there will be heard again 11the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the Lord, saying:

For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the Lord.

12 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. 13In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

17 For this is what the Lord says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.”

19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20“This is what the Lord says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, 21then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. 22As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

23 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24“Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The Lord has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. 25This is what the Lord says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.”

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities. 2The Lord, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. 3And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon.

4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; 5you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the Lord.”

6 In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah 7as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah— against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.

8 After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord 9that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage. 10So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them, 11but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 13“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying: 14Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear.

15 Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name. 16But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

17 Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the Lord — freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. 19The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf, 20I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.

22 Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

1 Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, 2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.

3 They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected, 5because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6 By pointing out these things to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of faith and sound instruction that you have followed.

7 But reject irreverent, silly myths. Instead, train yourself for godliness. 8For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come. 9This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance.

10 To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe. 11Command and teach these things.

12 Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.

14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given you through the prophecy spoken over you at the laying on of the hands of the elders. 15Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 16Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.