Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2Verse 2. “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His name: 3Verse 3. Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know. 4Verse 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: 5Verse 5. The 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. 6Verse 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. 7Verse 7. I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity and will rebuild them as in former times. 8Verse 8. And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me. 9Verse 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. 10Verse 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 11Verse 11. the 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: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD. 12Verse 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. 13Verse 13. In 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.

2Verse 2. The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. 3Verse 3. In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God. 4Verse 4. Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor; he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there — 5Verse 5. the LORD God of Hosts, the LORD is His name of renown. 6Verse 6. But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and always wait on your God. 7Verse 7. A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands. 8Verse 8. And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.” 9Verse 9. But I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. 10Verse 10. I spoke through the prophets and multiplied their visions; I gave parables through the prophets. 11Verse 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field. 12Verse 12. Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife — for a wife he tended sheep. 13Verse 13. But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. 14Verse 14. Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay him for his contempt.