The Daily Audio Bible

Jeremiah’s Question

12 You are right and good, O Lord, when I complain to You about my trouble. Yet I would like to talk with You about what is fair. Why does the way of the sinful go well? Why do all those who cannot be trusted have it so easy? ² You have planted them, and they have taken root. They grow and have given fruit. You are near on their lips but far from their heart. ³ But You know me, O Lord. You see me. And You test how my heart is with You. Take them off like sheep to be killed. Set them apart for the day of killing. ⁴ How long will the land be filled with sorrow? How long will the grass of every field dry up? For the sin of those who live in it, animals and birds have been taken away, because men have said, “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵ “If you have run with men on foot and they have made you tired, then how can you run as fast as horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do among all the trees beside the Jordan? ⁶ For even your brothers and those of your father’s house have not been faithful to you. They have cried to you in a loud voice. Do not believe them, even if they say pleasing things to you.”

The Lord’s Sorrow for Israel

⁷ “I have left My house. I have left My chosen nation. I have given the loved one of My soul into the hand of those who hate her. ⁸ My chosen nation has become to Me like a lion among the trees. She has raised her voice against Me, so I hate her. ⁹ Is My chosen nation like a spot-covered, flesh-eating bird to Me? Are the flesh-eating birds against her on every side? Go, gather all the wild animals of the field, and bring them to eat. ¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed My grape-field. They have crushed My field under foot. They have turned My good field to an empty desert. ¹¹ It has been laid waste. Destroyed and empty, it cries with sorrow before Me. The whole land has been laid waste, because no one cares. ¹² On all the open hill-tops in the desert, destroyers have come. For the sword of the Lord destroys from one end of the land to the other. There is no peace for anyone. ¹³ They have planted grain and have gathered thorns. They have worked hard, but have nothing. Be ashamed of what you gather because of the burning anger of the Lord.”

Israel’s Neighbors

¹⁴ This is what the Lord says about all My sinful neighbors who take the gift I have given to My people Israel: “See, I am about to pull them up by the roots from their land. And I will pull up the people of Judah by the roots from among them. ¹⁵ But after I have pulled them up by the roots, I will have loving-pity on them again, and will bring them back. I will return each one to what he has been given and to his land. ¹⁶ Then if they will for sure learn the ways of My people, and promise by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught My people to promise by Baal, then they will be built up among My people. ¹⁷ But if they will not listen, then I will pull that nation up by the roots and destroy it,” says the Lord.

The Linen Belt

13 The Lord said to me, “Go and buy a linen belt, and put it around yourself. But do not put it in water.” ² So I bought the belt as the Lord had said and put it around me. ³ Then the Word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the belt that you have bought and are wearing, get up, and go to the Euphrates. Hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had told me. ⁶ After many days the Lord said to me, “Get up and go to the Euphrates and get the belt which I told you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the belt from the place where I had hidden it. And I saw that the belt was worth nothing.

⁸ Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘In this way I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These sinful people would not listen to My words. They walk in the strong-will of their own hearts and have gone to serve and worship other gods. So let them be just like this linen belt, which is good for nothing. ¹¹ For as the belt holds on to a man’s body, so I made the whole family of Israel and the whole family of Judah hold on to Me,’ says the Lord. ‘This was so that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and an honor. But they would not listen.’

The Wine Bottles

¹² “So you are to tell this to them: ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every jar is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not know very well that every jar is to be filled with wine?’ ¹³ then tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I am about to fill all the people of this land, the kings who sit on David’s throne, the religious leaders, the men of God, and all the people of Jerusalem with too much drink. ¹⁴ And I will throw them against each other, both the fathers and sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not let pity or sorrow or loving-kindness keep Me from destroying them.”’”

Pride Comes before Punishment

¹⁵ Listen and hear. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken. ¹⁶ Give honor to the Lord your God before He brings darkness and before you slip and fall on the dark mountains. You hope for light, but He will turn it into darkness and it will be very dark. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen, my soul will cry in secret because of your pride. My eyes will cry with a bitter cry and tears will flow down, because the Lord’s people have been taken away in chains. ¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother, “Come down from your throne. Your beautiful crown has been taken from your head.” ¹⁹ The cities of the Negev have been locked up, and there is no one to open them. All Judah has been taken away. All the people of Judah have been taken to another land.

²⁰ “Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep? ²¹ What will you say when He sets over you those whom you have taught and who were your friends? Will not pain take hold of you, like a woman giving birth? ²² And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ It is because of your many sins that your clothing has been torn off and you suffer punishment. ²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are used to doing wrong. ²⁴ I will cause you to go everywhere like straw blown by the desert wind. ²⁵ This is what you get, the share given to you from Me,” says the Lord, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in lies. ²⁶ So I will pull your clothing up over your face, that your shame may be seen. ²⁷ As for your sex sins and cries of desire, your sinful sex acts on the hills in the field, I have seen your hated sins. It is bad for you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”

No Water—No Food

14 The Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah when there was no water: ² “Judah is full of sorrow and her gates are weak. Her people sit on the ground in sorrow, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. ³ Their men of honor have sent their servants for water. They have come to the wells and found no water, and returned with their jars empty. They have been put to shame and troubled, and covered their heads. ⁴ The ground is dried up because there has been no rain on the land. The farmers have been put to shame and have covered their heads. ⁵ Even the deer in the field leaves her young one which has just been born, because there is no grass. ⁶ The wild donkeys stand on the open hill-tops. They breathe hard for air like wild dogs. Their eyes become weak because there is nothing to eat.

⁷ “Even when our sins speak against us, O Lord, do something for the good of Your name. For we have fallen away from You many times. We have sinned against You. ⁸ You are the Hope of Israel, the One Who saves it in time of trouble. Why are You like a stranger in the land? Why are You like a traveler who has set up his tent for the night? ⁹ Why are You like a man surprised, like a strong man who cannot save? Yet You are among us, O Lord, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us!”

¹⁰ The Lord says this about these people, “They have loved to go their own way. They have not held their feet back. So the Lord is not pleased with them. Now He will remember their wrong-doing and punish their sins.”

Paul Gives Thanks for Their Faith

1 This letter is from Paul and Silas and Timothy. It is to you, the church, in the city of Thessalonica. You belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May you have His loving-favor and His peace.

² We thank God for you all the time and pray for you. ³ While praying to God our Father, we always remember your work of faith and your acts of love and your hope that never gives up in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ Christian brothers, we know God loves you and that He has chosen you. ⁵ The Good News did not come to you by word only, but with power and through the Holy Spirit. You knew it was true. You also knew how we lived among you. It was for your good. ⁶ You followed our way of life and the life of the Lord. You suffered from others because of listening to us. But you had the joy that came from the Holy Spirit. ⁷ Because of your good lives, you are showing all the Christians in the countries of Macedonia and Greece how to live. ⁸ The Word of the Lord has been spoken by you in the countries of Macedonia and Greece. People everywhere know of your faith in God without our telling them. ⁹ The people themselves tell us how you received us when we came to you. They talk of how you turned to God from worshiping false gods. Now you worship the true and living God. ¹⁰ They tell us how you are waiting for His Son Jesus to come down from heaven. God raised Him from the dead. It is Jesus Who will save us from the anger of God that is coming.

2 Christian brothers, you know that my visit with you was not wasted. ² Just before we came to you, we had been in the city of Philippi. You know how they worked against us and made us suffer. But God helped us preach the Good News to you without fear, even while many people hated us and made it hard for us. ³ You remember what we said to you was true. We had no wrong desire in teaching you. We did not try to fool you. ⁴ God has allowed us to be trusted with the Good News. Because of this, we preach it to please God, not man. God tests and proves our hearts. ⁵ You know we never used smooth-sounding words. God knows we never tried to get money from you by preaching. ⁶ We never looked for thanks from men, not from you or from anyone else. But because we were missionaries of Christ, we could have asked you to do much for us. ⁷ Instead, we were gentle when we came to you. We were like a mother caring for her children. ⁸ We had such a strong desire to help you that we were happy to give you the Good News. Because we loved you so much, we were ready to give you our own lives also.

A Prayer for Jerusalem

79 O God, the nations have come into the land of Your people. They have made Your holy house dirty. They have crushed the walls and buildings of Jerusalem. ² They have given the dead bodies of Your servants to the birds of the heavens for food. The flesh of those who belong to You has been given to the wild animals of the earth. ³ They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem. And there was no one to bury them. ⁴ We have become a shame to our neighbors. Those around us laugh at and make fun of us. ⁵ How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire? ⁶ Pour out Your anger on the nations that do not know You, and on the nations that do not call on Your name. ⁷ For they have destroyed Jacob. They have laid waste the place where he lived.

⁸ Do not hold the sins of our fathers against us. Let Your loving-pity come fast to meet us. For we are in much need. ⁹ O God Who saves us, help us for the honor of Your name. Take us out of trouble and forgive our sins, for the honor of Your name. ¹⁰ Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Make it known among the nations, in front of our eyes, that You punish for the blood that has poured from Your servants. ¹¹ Hear the cries of those in prison. By the greatness of Your power, save those who are being sent to death. ¹² And return to our neighbors seven times the shame that they have brought You, O Lord. ¹³ Then we Your people, the sheep of Your field, will give thanks to You forever. We will tell of Your praise to all the people of all times.

³⁰ I passed by the field of the lazy man, by the grape-vines of the man without understanding. ³¹ And see, it was all grown over with thorns. The ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down. ³² When I saw it, I thought about it. I looked and received teaching. ³³ “A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands to rest,” ³⁴ and your being poor will come as a robber, and your need like a man ready to fight.