The Daily Audio Bible

Yahweh Will Pardon the People’s Iniquity

33 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still ^[a](A)confined in the court of the guard, saying, ² “Thus says ^(B)Yahweh who made ^[b]the earth, Yahweh who formed it to establish it; ^(C)Yahweh is His name, ³ ‘^(D)Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you ^(E)great and mighty things, ^(F)which you do not know.’ ⁴ For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the ^(G)houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the ^(H)siege ramps and against the sword, ⁵ ‘While they are coming to ^(I)fight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have struck down in My anger and in My wrath, and I have ^(J)hidden My face from this city because of all their evil: ⁶ Behold, I will bring to it ^(K)health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an ^(L)abundance of peace and truth. ⁷ I will ^[c](M)return the ^[d]fortunes of Judah and the ^[e]fortunes of Israel and will ^(N)rebuild them as they were at first. ⁸ And I will ^(O)cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. ⁹ And ^[f]it will be to Me a ^(P)name of joy, praise, and beauty before ^(Q)all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the ^(R)good that I do for them, and they will ^(S)be in dread and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

¹⁰ “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a ^(T)waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are ^(U)desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, ¹¹ the voice of ^(V)joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,

and of those who bring a ^(X)thank offering into the house of Yahweh. For I will ^[g]return the ^[h]fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says Yahweh.

¹² “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, ^(Y)without man or beast, and in all its cities, ^[i]an abode of shepherds who cause their ^(Z)flocks to lie down. ¹³ In the ^(AA)cities of the hill country, in the cities of the ^[j]Shephelah, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again ^(AB)pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says Yahweh.

The Righteous Branch of David

¹⁴ ‘Behold, ^(AC)days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will ^(AD)establish the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a ^(AE)righteous Branch of David to branch forth; and He shall do ^(AF)justice and righteousness on the earth. ¹⁶ In those days ^(AG)Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell in security; and this is the name by which she will be called: ^(AH)Yahweh is our righteousness.’ ¹⁷ For thus says Yahweh, ‘^[k]David shall ^(AI)not have a man cut off from sitting on the throne of the house of Israel; ^18 [l]and the ^(AJ)Levitical priests shall not have a man cut off from before Me who is to offer burnt offerings, to offer up grain offerings in smoke, and to ^(AK)perform sacrifices ^[m]continually.’”

¹⁹ Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “Thus says Yahweh, ‘If you can ^(AL)break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, ²¹ then ^(AM)My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. ²² As the ^(AN)host of heaven cannot be counted and the ^(AO)sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will ^(AP)multiply the seed of David My servant and the ^(AQ)Levites who minister to Me.’”

²³ And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Have you not seen what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The ^(AR)two families which Yahweh chose, He has ^(AS)rejected them’? Thus they have ^(AT)spurned My people from being a nation any longer ^[n]in their sight. ²⁵ Thus says Yahweh, ‘If My ^(AU)covenant for day and night stand not, and the statutes for heaven and earth I have ^(AV)not established, ²⁶ then I would ^(AW)reject the seed of Jacob and David My servant, ^[o]not taking from his seed ^(AX)rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I will ^[p](AY)return their ^[q]fortunes and will have ^(AZ)compassion on them.’”

A Prophecy Against Zedekiah

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when ^(BA)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his military force, with ^(BB)all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his ^[r]dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, ² “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^(BC)Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, ^(BD)I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^(BE)he will burn it with fire. ^3 (BF)And you will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be seized and given into his hand; and you will ^(BG)see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you ^[s]face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’”’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says Yahweh concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. ⁵ You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will ^(BH)burn spices for you; and ^(BI)they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word,” declares Yahweh.

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke ^(BJ)all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem ⁷ when the military force of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, that is, ^(BK)Lachish and ^(BL)Azekah, for they alone remained as ^(BM)fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

⁸ The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had ^(BN)cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to ^(BO)proclaim ^[t]release to them: ⁹ that each man should let his male slave go free and each man his female slave, a ^(BP)Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that ^(BQ)no one should enslave them, each being a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ And all the ^(BR)officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should let his male slave go free and each man his female slave, so that no one should enslave them any longer; they obeyed and let them go free. ¹¹ But afterwards they turned around and returned to themselves the male slaves and the female slaves, whom they had let go as free, and subdued them to be male slaves and female slaves.

¹² Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, ¹³ “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I ^(BS)cut a covenant with your fathers in the day that I ^(BT)brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, saying, ¹⁴ “^(BU)At the end of seven years each of you shall let his Hebrew brother go who ^[u]has been sold to you and has served you six years, and you shall let him go to be free from you; but your fathers ^(BV)did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me. ¹⁵ Although recently you had turned and ^(BW)done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming ^[v]release to his neighbor, and you had ^(BX)cut a covenant before Me ^(BY)in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Yet you ^(BZ)turned and ^(CA)profaned My name, and each man ^[w]returned to themselves his male slave and each man his female slave whom you had let go as free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be your male slaves and female slaves.”’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming ^[x]release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am ^(CB)proclaiming a ^[y]release to you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to the ^(CC)sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a ^(CD)terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And I will give the men who have ^(CE)trespassed against My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they cut before Me, when they ^(CF)cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the ^(CG)officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who ^(CH)seek their life. And their ^(CI)dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ^21 (CJ)And as for Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and into the hand of the military force of the king of Babylon which has ^(CK)gone away from you. ²² Behold, I am going to command,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will cause them to return to this city; and they will fight against it and ^(CL)capture it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ^(CM)desolation ^(CN)without inhabitant.’”

Some Will Fall Away

4 But ^(A)the Spirit explicitly says that ^(B)in later times some will ^[a]fall away from the faith, paying attention to ^(C)deceitful spirits and ^(D)doctrines of demons, ² by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been ^(E)seared in their own conscience, ³ who ^(F)forbid marriage and advocate ^(G)abstaining from foods which ^(H)God created to be shared in ^(I)with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For ^(J)everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is ^(K)received with thanksgiving, ⁵ for it is sanctified by ^(L)the word of God and prayer.

A Good Minister’s Discipline

⁶ In pointing out these things to ^(M)the brothers, you will be a good ^(N)servant of Christ Jesus, being nourished on the words of the faith and of the ^[b](O)sound doctrine which you ^(P)have been following. ⁷ But refuse ^(Q)godless ^(R)myths fit only for old women. On the other hand, train yourself for the purpose of ^(S)godliness, ⁸ for ^(T)bodily training is only of little profit, but ^(U)godliness is profitable for all things, since it ^(V)holds promise for the ^(W)present life and also for the life to come. ^9 (X)It is a trustworthy saying and deserving full acceptance. ¹⁰ For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed ^(Y)our hope on ^(Z)the living God, who is ^(AA)the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

^11 (AB)Command and teach these things. ^12 (AC)Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but show yourself as ^(AD)a model to those who believe in word, conduct, ^(AE)love, faith, and purity. ^13 (AF)Until I come, give attention to the public ^(AG)reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift within you, which was given to you through ^(AH)prophetic utterance with ^(AI)the laying on of hands by the ^(AJ)council of elders. ¹⁵ Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. ^16 (AK)Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ^(AL)save both yourself and those who hear you.

Sing of the Lovingkindness of Yahweh Forever

A ^[a]Maskil of ^[b]Ethan ^[c]the Ezrahite.