Thursday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2Verse 2. So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows: 3Verse 3. “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day— twenty-three years— the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. 4Verse 4. And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear. 5Verse 5. The prophets told you, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and deeds, and you can dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 6Verse 6. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7Verse 7. ‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’ 8Verse 8. Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9Verse 9. behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation. 10Verse 10. Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11Verse 11. And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. 12Verse 12. But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation. 13Verse 13. I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14Verse 14. For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”

33Verse 33. Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 34Verse 34. “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a contamination of mildew into a house in that land, 35Verse 35. the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘Something like mildew has appeared in my house.’ 36Verse 36. The priest must order that the house be cleared before he enters it to examine the mildew, so that nothing in the house will become unclean. After this, the priest shall go in to inspect the house. 37Verse 37. He is to examine the house, and if the mildew on the walls consists of green or red depressions that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall, 38Verse 38. the priest shall go outside the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. 39Verse 39. On the seventh day the priest is to return and inspect the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls, 40Verse 40. he must order that the contaminated stones be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city. 41Verse 41. And he shall have the inside of the house scraped completely and the plaster that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the city. 42Verse 42. So different stones must be obtained to replace the contaminated ones, as well as additional mortar to replaster the house. 43Verse 43. If the mildew reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house has been scraped and replastered, 44Verse 44. the priest must come and inspect it. If the mildew has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean. 45Verse 45. It must be torn down with its stones, its timbers, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place. 46Verse 46. Anyone who enters the house during any of the days that it is closed up will be unclean until evening. 47Verse 47. And anyone who sleeps in the house or eats in it must wash his clothes. 48Verse 48. If, however, the priest comes and inspects it, and the mildew has not spread after the house has been replastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the mildew is gone. 49Verse 49. He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house; 50Verse 50. and he shall slaughter one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. 51Verse 51. Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52Verse 52. And he shall cleanse the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn. 53Verse 53. Finally, he is to release the live bird into the open fields outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.