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The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

Page 354

by John MacArthur


  Like cuttings after the harvester,

  And no one shall gather them.’ ”

  23Thus says the LORD:

  e“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

  Let not the mighty man glory in his fmight,

  Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

  24But glet him who glories glory in this,

  That he understands and knows Me,

  That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, 10judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

  h For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

  25“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that iI will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised—

  26“Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the jfarthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are kuncircumcised in the heart.”

  Jeremiah 10

  Idols and the True God

  1Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.

  2Thus says the LORD:

  a“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;

  Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,

  For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.

  3For the customs of the peoples are 1futile;

  For bone cuts a tree from the forest,

  The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

  4They decorate it with silver and gold;

  They cfasten it with nails and hammers

  So that it will not topple.

  5They are upright, like a palm tree,

  And dthey cannot speak;

  They must be ecarried,

  Because they cannot go by themselves.

  Do not be afraid of them,

  For fthey cannot do evil,

  Nor can they do any good.”

  6Inasmuch as there is none glike You, O LORD

  (You are great, and Your name is great in might),

  7h Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?

  For this is Your rightful due.

  For iamong all the wise men of the nations,

  And in all their kingdoms,

  There is none like You.

  8But they are altogether jdull-hearted and foolish;

  A wooden idol is a 2worthless doctrine.

  9Silver is beaten into plates;

  It is brought from Tarshish,

  And kgold from Uphaz,

  The work of the craftsman

  And of the hands of the metalsmith;

  Blue and purple are their clothing;

  They are all lthe work of skillful men.

  10But the LORD is the true God;

  He is mthe living God and the neverlasting King.

  At His wrath the earth will tremble,

  And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

  11Thus you shall say to them: o“The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth pshall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

  12He qhas made the earth by His power,

  He has restablished the world by His wisdom,

  And shas stretched out the heavens at His discretion.

  13t When He utters His voice,

  There is a 3multitude of waters in the heavens:

  u“And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.

  He makes lightning for the rain,

  He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

  14v Everyone is wdull-hearted, without knowledge;

  x Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;

  y For his molded image is falsehood,

  And there is no breath in them.

  15They are futile, a work of errors;

  In the time of their punishment they shall perish.

  16z The Portion of Jacob is not like them,

  For He is the Maker of all things,

  And aIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

  b The LORD of hosts is His name. Object Lessons

  The Coming Captivity of Judah

  17c Gather up your wares from the land,

  O 4inhabitant of the fortress!

  18For thus says the LORD:

  “Behold, I will dthrow out at this time

  The inhabitants of the land,

  And will distress them,

  e That they may find it so.”

  19f Woe is me for my hurt!

  My wound is severe.

  But I say, g“Truly this is an infirmity,

  And hI must bear it.”

  20i My tent is plundered,

  And all my cords are broken;

  My children have gone from me,

  And they are jno more.

  There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,

  Or set up my curtains.

  21For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,

  And have not sought the LORD;

  Therefore they shall not prosper,

  And all their flocks shall be kscattered.

  22Behold, the noise of the report has come,

  And a great commotion out of the lnorth country,

  To make the cities of Judah desolate, a mden of jackals.

  23O LORD, I know the nway of man is not in himself;

  It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

  24O LORD, ocorrect me, but with justice;

  Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

  25p Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, qwho do not know You,

  And on the families who do not call on Your name;

  For they have eaten up Jacob,

  r Devoured him and consumed him,

  And made his dwelling place desolate.

  Jeremiah 11

  The Broken Covenant

  1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

  2“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

  3“and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: a“Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant

  4“which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, bfrom the iron furnace, saying, c‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’

  5“that I may establish the doath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them e‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ” And I answered and said, 1“So be it, LORD.”

  6Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant fand do them.

  7‘For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, grising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.”

  8h‘Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ieveryone 2followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”

  9And the LORD said to me, j“A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

  10“They have turned back to kthe iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

  11Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to 3escape; and lthough they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.

  12“Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and mcry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

  13“For according to the number of your ncities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.


  14“So odo not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

  15“Whatp has My beloved to do in My house,

  Having qdone lewd deeds with many?

  And rthe holy flesh has passed from you.

  When you do evil, then you srejoice.

  16The LORD called your name,

  t Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.

  With the noise of a great tumult

  He has kindled fire on it,

  And its branches are broken.

  17“For the LORD of hosts, uwho planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”

  Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

  18Now the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings.

  19But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, vand let us cut him off from wthe land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

  20But, O LORD of hosts,

  You who judge righteously,

  x Testing the 4mind and the heart,

  Let me see Your yvengeance on them,

  For to You I have revealed my cause.

  21“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of zAnathoth who seek your life, saying, a‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, lest you die by our hand’—

  22“therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall bdie by famine;

  23‘and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even cthe year of their punishment.’ ”

  Jeremiah 12

  Jeremiah’s Question

  1Righteous aare You, O LORD, when I plead with You;

  Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.

  b Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

  Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?

  2You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;

  They grow, yes, they bear fruit.

  c You are near in their mouth

  But far from their 1mind.

  3But You, O LORD, dknow me;

  You have seen me,

  And You have etested my heart toward You.

  Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,

  And prepare them for fthe day of slaughter.

  4How long will gthe land mourn,

  And the herbs of every field wither?

  h The beasts and birds are consumed,

  i For the wickedness of those who dwell there,

  Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”

  The LORD Answers Jeremiah

  5“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,

  Then how can you contend with horses?

  And if in the land of peace,

  In which you trusted, they wearied you,

  Then how will you do in jthe 2floodplain of the Jordan?

  6For even kyour brothers, the house of your father,

  Even they have dealt treacherously with you;

  Yes, they have called 3a multitude after you.

  l Do not believe them,

  Even though they speak 4smooth words to you.

  7“I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;

  I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.

  8My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;

  It cries out against Me;

  Therefore I have mhated it.

  9My 5heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;

  The vultures all around are against her.

  Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,

  n Bring them to devour!

  10“Many orulers6 have destroyed pMy vineyard,

  They have qtrodden My portion underfoot;

  They have made My 7pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

  11They have made it rdesolate;

  Desolate, it mourns to Me;

  The whole land is made desolate,

  Because sno one takes it to heart.

  12The plunderers have come

  On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,

  For the sword of the LORD shall devour

  From one end of the land to the other end of the land;

  No flesh shall have peace.

  13t They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;

  They have 8put themselves to pain but do not profit.

  But be ashamed of your harvest

  Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

  14Thus says the LORD: “Against all My evil neighbors who utouch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will vpluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

  15w“Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them xand bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land.

  16“And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, yto swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be zestablished in the midst of My people.

  17“But if they do not aobey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the LORD.

  Jeremiah 13

  Symbol of the Linen Sash

  1Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it 1around your waist, but do not put it in water.”

  2So I got a 2sash according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.

  3And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying,

  4“Take the 3sash that you acquired, which is 4around your waist, and arise, go to the 5Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.”

  5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

  6Now it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.”

  7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the 6sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

  8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

  9“Thus says the LORD: ‘In this manner aI will ruin the pride of Judah and the great bpride of Jerusalem.

  10‘This evil people, who crefuse to hear My words, who dfollow7 the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.

  11‘For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that ethey may become My people, ffor renown, for praise, and for gglory; but they would hnot hear.’

  Symbol of the Wine Bottles

  12“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’

  13“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—iwith drunkenness!

  14“And jI will dash them 8one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”

  Pride Precedes Captivity

  15Hear and give ear:

  Do not be proud,

  For the LORD has spoken.

  16k Give glory to the LORD your God

  Before He causes ldark
ness,

  And before your feet stumble

  On the dark mountains,

  And while you are mlooking for light,

  He turns it into nthe shadow of death

  And makes it dense darkness.

  17But if you will not hear it,

  My soul will oweep in secret for your pride;

  My eyes will weep bitterly

  And run down with tears,

  Because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

  18Say to pthe king and to the queen mother,

  “Humble yourselves;

  Sit down,

  For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”

  19The cities of the South shall be shut up,

  And no one shall open them;

  Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;

  It shall be wholly carried away captive.

  20Lift up your eyes and see

  Those who come from the qnorth.

  Where is the flock that was given to you,

  Your beautiful sheep?

  21What will you say when He punishes you?

  For you have taught them

  To be chieftains, to be head over you.

  Will not rpangs seize you,

  Like a woman in 9labor?

  22And if you say in your heart,

  s“Why have these things come upon me?”

  For the greatness of your iniquity

  t Your skirts have been uncovered,

  Your heels 10made bare.

  23Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?

  Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

  24“Therefore I will uscatter them vlike stubble

  That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.

  25w This is your lot,

  The portion of your measures from Me,” says the LORD,

  “Because you have forgotten Me

  And trusted in xfalsehood.

  26Therefore yI will uncover your skirts over your face,

  That your shame may appear.

  27I have seen your adulteries

  And your lustful zneighings,

  The lewdness of your harlotry,

  Your abominations aon the hills in the fields.

  Woe to you, O Jerusalem!

  Will you still not be made clean?”

  Jeremiah 14

  Sword, Famine, and Pestilence

  1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

 

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