The Message (MSG)

Can Mortals Manufacture Gods?

1 God’s Message to me:

2-4 “Jeremiah, don’t get married. Don’t raise a family here. I have signed the death warrant on all the children born in this country, the mothers who bear them and the fathers who beget them—an epidemic of death. Death unlamented, the dead unburied, dead bodies decomposing and stinking like dung, all the killed and starved corpses served up as meals for carrion crows and mongrel dogs!”

5-7 Godcontinued: “Don’t enter a house where there’s mourning. Don’t go to the funeral. Don’t sympathize. I’ve quit caring about what happens to this people.”God’s Decree. “No more loyal love on my part, no more compassion. The famous and obscure will die alike here, unlamented and unburied. No funerals will be conducted, no one will give them a second thought, no one will care, no one will say, ‘I’m sorry,’ no one will so much as offer a cup of tea, not even for the mother or father.

8 “And if there happens to be a feast celebrated, don’t go there either to enjoy the festivities.”

9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch this! I’m about to banish smiles and laughter from this place. No more brides and bridegrooms celebrating. And I’m doing it in your lifetime, before your very eyes.

10-13 “When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why isGodtalking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to ourGodto be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. Andyou’reevenworse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’

14-15 “On the other hand, don’t miss this: The time is coming when no one will say any longer, ‘As sure asGodlives, the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.’ What they’ll say is, ‘As sure asGodlives, the God who brought Israel back from the land of the north, brought them back from all the places where he’d scattered them.’ That’s right, I’m going to bring them back to the land I first gave to their ancestors.

16-17 “Now, watch for what comes next: I’m going to assemble a bunch of fishermen.”God’s Decree! “They’ll go fishing for my people and pull them in for judgment. Then I’ll send out a party of hunters, and they’ll hunt them out in all the mountains, hills, and caves. I’m watching their every move. I haven’t lost track of a single one of them, neither them nor their sins.

18 “They won’t get by with a thing. They’ll pay double for everything they did wrong. They’ve made a complete mess of things, littering their lives with their obscene no-gods, leaving piles of stinking god-junk all over the place.”

19-20 God, my strength, my stronghold,

my safe retreat when trouble descends:

The godless nations will come

from earth’s four corners, saying,

“Our ancestors lived on lies,

useless illusions, all smoke.”

Can mortals manufacture gods?

Their factories turn out no-gods!

21 “Watch closely now. I’m going to teach these wrongheaded people.

Starting right now, I’m going to teach them

Who I am and what I do,

teach them the meaning of my name,God—‘IAm.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/16-70e5621c63aee2f7887ddcc1f9731048.mp3?version_id=97—

The Heart Is Hopelessly Dark and Deceitful

1-2 “Judah’s sin is engraved

with a steel chisel,

A steel chisel with a diamond point—

engraved on their granite hearts,

engraved on the stone corners of their altars.

The evidence against them is plain to see:

sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines

Anywhere there’s a grove of trees,

anywhere there’s an available hill.

3-4 “I’ll use your mountains as roadside stands

for giving away everything you have.

All your ‘things’ will serve as reparations

for your sins all over the country.

You’ll lose your gift of land,

The inheritance I gave you.

I’ll make you slaves of your enemies

in a far-off and strange land.

My anger is hot and blazing and fierce,

and no one will put it out.”

5-6 God’s Message:

“Cursed is the strong one

who depends on mere humans,

Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone

and setsGodaside as dead weight.

He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,

out of touch with the good earth.

He lives rootless and aimless

in a land where nothing grows.

7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me,God,

the woman who sticks withGod.

They’re like trees replanted in Eden,

putting down roots near the rivers—

Never a worry through the hottest of summers,

never dropping a leaf,

Serene and calm through droughts,

bearing fresh fruit every season.

9-10 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,

a puzzle that no one can figure out.

But I,God, search the heart

and examine the mind.

I get to the heart of the human.

I get to the root of things.

I treat them as they really are,

not as they pretend to be.”

11 Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs

in another bird’s nest

Is the person who gets rich by cheating.

When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed.

What a fool he’ll look like then!

12-13 From early on your Sanctuary was set high,

a throne of glory, exalted!

OGod, you’re the hope of Israel.

All who leave you end up as fools,

Deserters with nothing to show for their lives,

who walk off fromGod, fountain of living waters—

and wind up dead!

14-18 God, pick up the pieces.

Put me back together again.

You are my praise!

Listen to how they talk about me:

“So where’s this ‘Word ofGod’?

We’d like to see something happen!”

But it wasn’t my idea to call for Doomsday.

I never wanted trouble.

You know what I’ve said.

It’s all out in the open before you.

Don’t add to my troubles.

Give me some relief!

Let those who harass me be harassed, not me.

Letthembe disgraced, not me.

Bring down upon them the day of doom.

Lower the boom.Boom!

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

19-20 God’s Message to me: “Go stand in the People’s Gate, the one used by Judah’s kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘Listen, you kings of Judah, listen toGod’s Message—and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!

21-23 “‘This isGod’s Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there. Don’t use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.

24-26 “‘But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual. Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people. People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They’ll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings—animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks—into the Sanctuary ofGod.

27 “‘But if you won’t listen to me, won’t keep the Sabbath holy, won’t quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I’ll burn the gates down. In fact, I’ll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/17-8cf3394bc9476e2dd1b71c83bcc6772b.mp3?version_id=97—

To Worship the Big Lie

1-2 Godtold Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.”

3-4 So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.

5-10 ThenGod’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?”God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.

11 “So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: ‘Danger! I’m shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’

12 “But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’”

13-17 God’s Message:

“Ask around.

Survey the godless nations.

Has anyone heard the likes of this?

Virgin Israel has become a slut!

Does snow disappear from the Lebanon peaks?

Do alpine streams run dry?

But my people have left me

to worship the Big Lie.

They’ve gotten off the track,

the old, well-worn trail,

And now bushwhack through underbrush

in a tangle of roots and vines.

Their land’s going to end up a mess—

a fool’s memorial to be spit on.

Travelers passing through

will shake their heads in disbelief.

I’ll scatter my people before their enemies,

like autumn leaves in a high wind.

On their day of doom, they’ll stare at my back as I walk away,

catching not so much as a glimpse of my face.”

18 Some of the people said, “Come on, let’s cook up a plot against Jeremiah. We’ll still have the priests to teach us the law, wise counselors to give us advice, and prophets to tell us what God has to say. Come on, let’s discredit him so we don’t have to put up with him any longer.”

19-23 And I said toGod:

“God, listen to me!

Just listen to what my enemies are saying.

Should I get paid evil for good?

That’s what they’re doing. They’ve made plans to kill me!

Remember all the times I stood up for them before you,

speaking up for them,

trying to soften your anger?

But enough! Let their children starve!

Let them be massacred in battle!

Let their wives be childless and widowed,

their friends die and their proud young men be killed.

Let cries of panic sound from their homes

as you surprise them with war parties!

They’re all set to lynch me.

The noose is practically around my neck!

But you know all this,God.

You know they’re determined to kill me.

Don’t whitewash their crimes,

don’t overlook a single sin!

Round the bunch of them up before you.

Strike while the iron of your anger is hot!”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/18-ae399921a82b7075d4be1c0b5ac10e14.mp3?version_id=97—

Smashing the Clay Pot

1-2 Godsaid to me, “Go, buy a clay pot. Then get a few leaders from the people and a few of the leading priests and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, just outside the Potsherd Gate, and preach there what I tell you.

3-5 “Say, ‘Listen toGod’s Word, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem! This is the Message fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. I’m about to bring doom crashing down on this place. Oh, and will ears ever ring! Doom—because they’ve walked off and left me, and made this place strange by worshiping strange gods, gods never heard of by them, their parents, or the old kings of Judah. Doom—because they have massacred innocent people. Doom—because they’ve built altars to that no-god Baal, and burned their own children alive in the fire as offerings to Baal, an atrocity I never ordered, never so much as hinted at!

6-9 “‘And so it’s payday, and soon’—God’s Decree!—‘this place will no longer be known as Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Massacre Meadows. I’m canceling all the plans Judah and Jerusalem had for this place, and I’ll have them killed by their enemies. I’ll stack their dead bodies to be eaten by carrion crows and wild dogs. I’ll turn this city into such a museum of atrocities that anyone coming near will be shocked speechless by the savage brutality. The people will turn into cannibals. Dehumanized by the pressure of the enemy siege, they’ll eat their own children! Yes, they’ll eat one another, family and friends alike.’

10-13 “Say all this, and then smash the pot in front of the men who have come with you. Then say, ‘This is whatGod-of-the-Angel-Armies says: I’ll smash this people and this city like a man who smashes a clay pot into so many pieces it can never be put together again. They’ll bury bodies here in Topheth until there’s no more room. And the whole city will become a Topheth. The city will be turned by people and kings alike into a center for worshiping the star gods and goddesses, turned into an open grave, the whole city an open grave, stinking like a sewer, like Topheth.’”

14-15 Then Jeremiah left Topheth, whereGodhad sent him to preach the sermon, and took his stand in the court ofGod’s Temple and said to the people, “This is the Message fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies to you: ‘Warning! Danger! I’m bringing down on this city and all the surrounding towns the doom that I have pronounced. They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/19-f8561cb6b1d181f30fd4c596ad907ca4.mp3?version_id=97—

Life’s Been Nothing but Trouble and Tears

1-5 The priest Pashur son of Immer was the senior priest inGod’s Temple. He heard Jeremiah preach this sermon. He whipped Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate ofGod’s Temple. The next day Pashur came and let him go. Jeremiah told him, “Godhas a new name for you: not Pashur but Danger-Everywhere, becauseGodsays, ‘You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you. All your friends are going to get killed in battle while you stand there and watch. What’s more, I’m turning all of Judah over to the king of Babylon to do whatever he likes with them—haul them off into exile, kill them at whim. Everything worth anything in this city, property and possessions along with everything in the royal treasury—I’m handing it all over to the enemy. They’ll rummage through it and take what they want back to Babylon.

6 “‘And you, Pashur, you and everyone in your family will be taken prisoner into exile—that’s right, exile in Babylon. You’ll die and be buried there, you and all your cronies to whom you preached your lies.’”

7-10 You pushed me into this,God, and I let you do it.

You were too much for me.

And now I’m a public joke.

They all poke fun at me.

Every time I open my mouth

I’m shouting, “Murder!” or “Rape!”

And all I get for myGod-warnings

are insults and contempt.

But if I say, “Forget it!

No moreGod-Messages from me!”

The words are fire in my belly,

a burning in my bones.

I’m worn out trying to hold it in.

I can’t do it any longer!

Then I hear whispering behind my back:

“There goes old ‘Danger-Everywhere.’ Shut him up! Report him!”

Old friends watch, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face:

“One misstep and we’ll have him. We’ll get rid of him for good!”

11 ButGod, a most fierce warrior, is at my side.

Those who are after me will be sent sprawling—

Slapstick buffoons falling all over themselves,

a spectacle of humiliation no one will ever forget.

12 Oh,God-of-the-Angel-Armies, no one fools you.

You see through everyone, everything.

I want to see you pay them back for what they’ve done.

I rest my case with you.

13 Sing toGod! All praise toGod!

He saves the weak from the grip of the wicked.

14-18 Curse the day

I was born!

The day my mother bore me—

a curse on it, I say!

And curse the man who delivered

the news to my father:

“You’ve got a new baby—a boy baby!”

(How happy it made him.)

Let that birth notice be blacked out,

deleted from the records,

And the man who brought it haunted to his death

with the bad news he brought.

He should have killed me before I was born,

with that womb as my tomb,

My mother pregnant for the rest of her life

with a baby dead in her womb.

Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?

Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears,

and what’s coming is more of the same.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/20-09bb07eb6853aebf15bc1b8eacb9230c.mp3?version_id=97—

Start Each Day with a Sense of Justice

1-2 God’s Message to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to him with this request: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has waged war against us. Pray toGodfor us. Ask him for help. MaybeGodwill intervene with one of his famous miracles and make him leave.”

3-7 But Jeremiah said, “Tell Zedekiah: ‘This is theGodof Israel’s Message to you: You can say good-bye to your army, watch morale and weapons flushed down the drain. I’m going to personally lead the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, against whom you’re fighting so hard, right into the city itself. I’m joiningtheirside and fighting againstyou, fighting all-out, holding nothing back. And in fierce anger. I’m prepared to wipe out the population of this city, people and animals alike, in a raging epidemic. And then I will personally deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his princes, and any survivors left in the city who haven’t died from disease, been killed, or starved. I’ll deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—yes, hand them over to their enemies, who have come to kill them. He’ll kill them ruthlessly, showing no mercy.’

8-10 “And then tell the people at large, ‘God’s Message to you is this: Listen carefully. I’m giving you a choice: life or death. Whoever stays in this city will die—either in battle or by starvation or disease. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who have surrounded the city will live. You’ll lose everything—but not your life. I’m determined to see this city destroyed. I’m that angry with this place!God’s Decree. I’m going to give it to the king of Babylon, and he’s going to burn it to the ground.’

11-14 “To the royal house of Judah, listen toGod’s Message!

House of David, listen—God’s Message to you:

‘Start each day by dealing with justice.

Rescue victims from their exploiters.

Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—

for once it starts, it can’t be put out.

Your evil regime

is fuel for my anger.

Don’t you realize that I’m against you,

yes,againstyou.

You think you’ve got it made,

all snug and secure.

You say, “Who can possibly get to us?

Who can crash our party?”

Well, I can—and will!

I’ll punish your evil regime.

I’ll start a fire that will rage unchecked,

burn everything in sight to cinders.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/21-0d8208331a751c7e318334319bfe96c8.mp3?version_id=97—

Walking Out on the Covenant of God

1-3 God’s orders: “Go to the royal palace and deliver this Message. Say, ‘Listen to whatGodsays, O King of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your officials and all the people who go in and out of these palace gates. This isGod’s Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don’t take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!

4-5 “‘If you obey these commands, then kings who follow in the line of David will continue to go in and out of these palace gates mounted on horses and riding in chariots—they and their officials and the citizens of Judah. But if you don’t obey these commands, then I swear—God’s Decree!—this palace will end up a heap of rubble.’”

6-7 This isGod’s verdict on Judah’s royal palace:

“I number you among my favorite places—

like the lovely hills of Gilead,

like the soaring peaks of Lebanon.

Yet I swear I’ll turn you into a wasteland,

as empty as a ghost town.

I’ll hire a demolition crew,

well-equipped with sledgehammers and wrecking bars,

Pound the country to a pulp

and burn it all up.

8-9 “Travelers from all over will come through here and say to one another, ‘Why wouldGoddo such a thing to this wonderful city?’ They’ll be told, ‘Because they walked out on the covenant of theirGod, took up with other gods and worshiped them.’”

Building a Fine House but Destroying Lives

10 Don’t weep over dead King Josiah.

Don’t waste your tears.

Weep for his exiled son:

He’s gone for good.

He’ll never see home again.

11-12 For this isGod’s Word on Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah: “He’s gone from here, gone for good. He’ll die in the place they’ve taken him to. He’ll never see home again.”

13-17 “Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people,

who makes a fine house but destroys lives,

Who cheats his workers

and won’t pay them for their work,

Who says, ‘I’ll build me an elaborate mansion

with spacious rooms and fancy windows.

I’ll bring in rare and expensive woods

and the latest in interior decor.’

So, that makes you a king—

living in a fancy palace?

Your father got along just fine, didn’t he?

He did what was right and treated people fairly,

And things went well with him.

He stuck up for the down-and-out,

And things went well for Judah.

Isn’t this what it means to know me?”

God’s Decree!

“But you’re blind and brainless.

All you think about is yourself,

Taking advantage of the weak,

bulldozing your way, bullying victims.”

18-19 This is God’s epitaph on Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

“Doom to this man!

Nobody will shed tears over him,

‘Poor, poor brother!’

Nobody will shed tears over him,

‘Poor, poor master!’

They’ll give him a donkey’s funeral,

drag him out of the city and dump him.

You’ve Made a Total Mess of Your Life

20-23 “People of Jerusalem, climb a Lebanon peak and weep,

climb a Bashan mountain and wail,

Climb the Abarim ridge and cry—

you’ve made a total mess of your life.

I spoke to you when everything was going your way.

You said, ‘I’m not interested.’

You’ve been that way as long as I’ve known you,

never listened to a thing I said.

All your leaders will be blown away,

all your friends end up in exile,

And you’ll find yourself in the gutter,

disgraced by your evil life.

You big-city people thought you were so important,

thought you were ‘king of the mountain’!

You’re soon going to be doubled up in pain,

pain worse than the pangs of childbirth.

24-26 “As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—“even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, I’d pull you off and give you to those who are out to kill you, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, and then throw you, both you and your mother, into a foreign country, far from your place of birth. There you’ll both die.

27 “You’ll be homesick, desperately homesick, but you’ll never get home again.”

28-30 Is Jehoiachin a leaky bucket,

a rusted-out pail good for nothing?

Why else would he be thrown away, he and his children,

thrown away to a foreign place?

O land, land, land,

listen toGod’s Message!

This isGod’s verdict:

“Write this man off as if he were childless,

a man who will never amount to anything.

Nothing will ever come of his life.

He’s the end of the line, the last of the kings.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/22-c6260ee3a4c785d06f7dc135209b42ff.mp3?version_id=97—

An Authentic David-Branch

1-4 “Doom to the shepherd-leaders who butcher and scatter my sheep!”God’s Decree. “So here is what I,God, Israel’s God, say to the shepherd-leaders who misled my people: ‘You’ve scattered my sheep. You’ve driven them off. You haven’t kept your eye on them. Well, let me tell you, I’m keeping my eye onyou, keeping track of your criminal behavior. I’ll take over and gather what’s left of my sheep, gather them in from all the lands where I’ve driven them. I’ll bring them back where they belong, and they’ll recover and flourish. I’ll set shepherd-leaders over them who will take good care of them. They won’t live in fear or panic anymore. All the lost sheep rounded up!’God’s Decree.

5-6 “Time’s coming”—God’s Decree—

“when I’ll establish a truly righteous David-Branch,

A ruler who knows how to rule justly.

He’ll make sure of justice and keep people united.

In his time Judah will be secure again

and Israel will live in safety.

This is the name they’ll give him:

‘God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.’

7-8 “So watch for this. The time’s coming”—God’s Decree—“when no one will say, ‘As sure asGodlives, the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt,’ but, ‘As sure asGodlives, the God who brought the descendants of Israel back from the north country and from the other countries where he’d driven them, so that they can live on their own good earth.’”

The “Everything Will Turn Out Fine” Sermon

9 My head is reeling,

my limbs are limp,

I’m staggering like a drunk,

seeing double from too much wine—

And all because ofGod,

because of his holy words.

10-12 Now for whatGodsays regarding the lying prophets:

“Can you believe it? A country teeming with adulterers!

faithless, promiscuous idolater-adulterers!

They’re a curse on the land.

The land’s a wasteland.

Their unfaithfulness

is turning the country into a cesspool,

Prophets and priests devoted to desecration.

They have nothing to do with me as their God.

My very own Temple, mind you—

mud-spattered with their crimes.”God’s Decree.

“But they won’t get by with it.

They’ll find themselves on a slippery slope,

Careening into the darkness,

somersaulting into the pitch-black dark.

I’ll make them pay for their crimes.

It will be the Year of Doom.”God’s Decree.

13-14 “Over in Samaria I saw prophets

acting like silly fools—shocking!

They preached using that no-god Baal for a text,

messing with the minds of my people.

And the Jerusalem prophets are even worse—horrible!—

sex-driven, living a lie,

Subsidizing a culture of wickedness,

and never giving it a second thought.

They’re as bad as those wretches in old Sodom,

the degenerates of old Gomorrah.”

15 So here’s the Message to the prophets fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I’ll cook them a supper of maggoty meat

with after-dinner drinks of strychnine.

The Jerusalem prophets are behind all this.

They’re the cause of the godlessness polluting this country.”

16-17 A Message fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Don’t listen to the sermons of the prophets.

It’s all hot air. Lies, lies, and more lies.

They make it all up.

Not a word they speak comes from me.

They preach their ‘Everything Will Turn Out Fine’ sermon

to congregations with no taste for God,

Their ‘Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen to You’ sermon

to people who are set in their own ways.

18-20 “Have any of these prophets bothered to meet with me, the trueGod?

bothered to take in whatIhave to say?

listened to and thenlived outmy Word?

Look out!God’s hurricane will be let loose—

my hurricane blast,

Spinning the heads of the wicked like tops!

God’s raging anger won’t let up

Until I’ve made a clean sweep,

completing the job I began.

When the job’s done,

you’ll see that it’s been well done.

Quit the “God Told Me This” Kind of Talk

21-22 “I never sent these prophets,

but they ran anyway.

I never spoke to them,

but they preached away.

If they’d have bothered to sit down and meet with me,

they’d have preached my Message to my people.

They’d have gotten them back on the right track,

gotten them out of their evil ruts.

23-24 “Am I not a God near at hand”—God’s Decree—

“and not a God far off?

Can anyone hide out in a corner

where I can’t see him?”

God’s Decree.

“Am I not present everywhere,

whether seen or unseen?”

God’s Decree.

25-27 “I know what they’re saying, all these prophets who preach lies using me as their text, saying ‘I had this dream! I had this dream!’ How long do I have to put up with this? Do these prophets give two cents about me as they preach their lies and spew out their grandiose delusions? They swap dreams with one another, feed on each other’s delusive dreams, trying to distract my people from me just as their ancestors were distracted by the no-god Baal.

28-29 “You prophets who do nothing but dream—

go ahead and tell your silly dreams.

But you prophets who have a message from me—

tell it truly and faithfully.

What does straw have in common with wheat?

Nothing else is likeGod’s Decree.

Isn’t my Message like fire?”God’s Decree.

“Isn’t it like a sledgehammer busting a rock?

30-31 “I’ve had it with the ‘prophets’ who get all their sermons secondhand from each other. Yes, I’ve had it with them. They make up stuff and then pretend it’s a real sermon.

32 “Oh yes, I’ve had it with the prophets who preach the lies they dream up, spreading them all over the country, ruining the lives of my people with their cheap and reckless lies.

“I never sent these prophets, never authorized a single one of them. They do nothing for this people—nothing!”God’s Decree.

33 “And anyone, including prophets and priests, who asks, ‘What’sGodgot to say about all this, what’s troubling him?’ tell him, ‘You, you’re the trouble, and I’m getting rid of you.’”God’s Decree.

34 “And if anyone, including prophets and priests, goes around saying glibly ‘God’s Message!God’s Message!’ I’ll punish him and his family.

35-36 “Instead of claiming to know whatGodsays, ask questions of one another, such as ‘How do we understandGodin this?’ But don’t go around pretending to know it all, saying ‘God told me this . . . God told me that. . . . ’ I don’t want to hear it anymore. Only the person I authorize speaks for me. Otherwise, my Message gets twisted, the Message of the livingGod-of-the-Angel-Armies.

37-38 “You can ask the prophets, ‘How didGodanswer you? What did he tell you?’ But don’t pretend that you know all the answers yourselves and talk like you know it all. I’m telling you: Quit the ‘God told me this . . . God told me that . . . ’ kind of talk.

39-40 “Are you paying attention? You’d better, because I’m about to take you in hand and throw you to the ground, you and this entire city that I gave to your ancestors. I’ve had it with the lot of you. You’re never going to live this down. You’re going down in history as a disgrace.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/23-3e7328b84d5c4f2f78b6904c4a04ff15.mp3?version_id=97—

Two Baskets of Figs

1-2 Godshowed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the Temple ofGod. This was after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon, along with the leaders of Judah, the craftsmen, and the skilled laborers. In one basket the figs were of the finest quality, ripe and ready to eat. In the other basket the figs were rotten, so rotten they couldn’t be eaten.

3 Godsaid to me, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

“Figs,” I said. “Excellent figs of the finest quality, and also rotten figs, so rotten they can’t be eaten.”

4-6 ThenGodtold me, “This is the Message from theGodof Israel: The exiles from here that I’ve sent off to the land of the Babylonians are like the good figs, and I’ll make sure they get good treatment. I’ll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and I’ll bring them back to this land. I’ll build them up, not tear them down; I’ll plant them, not uproot them.

7 “And I’ll give them a heart to know me,God. They’ll be my people and I’ll be their God, for they’ll have returned to me with all their hearts.

8-10 “But like the rotten figs, so rotten they can’t be eaten, is Zedekiah king of Judah. Rotten figs—that’s how I’ll treat him and his leaders, along with the survivors here and those down in Egypt. I’ll make them something that the whole world will look on as disgusting—repugnant outcasts, their names used as curse words wherever in the world I drive them. And I’ll make sure they die like flies—from war, starvation, disease, whatever—until the land I once gave to them and their ancestors is completely rid of them.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/24-16a37cd31f48dcdb7eaf12a918326e9e.mp3?version_id=97—

Don’t Follow the God-Fads of the Day

1 This is the Message given to Jeremiah for all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

2 Jeremiah the prophet delivered the Message to all the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem:

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah right up to the present day—twenty-three years it’s been!—God’s Word has come to me, and from early each morning to late every night I’ve passed it on to you. And you haven’t listened to a word of it!

4-6 Not only that butGodalso sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened. They told you, “Turn back—right now, each one of you!—from your evil way of life and bad behavior, and live in the landGodgave you and your ancestors, the land he intended to give you forever. Don’t follow the god-fads of the day, taking up and worshiping these no-gods. Don’t make me angry with your god-businesses, making and selling gods—a dangerous business!

7 “You refused to listen to any of this, and now I am really angry. These god-making businesses of yours are your doom.”

8-11 The verdict ofGod-of-the-Angel-Armies on all this: “Because you have refused to listen to what I’ve said, I’m stepping in. I’m sending for the armies out of the north headed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant in this, and I’m setting them on this land and people and even the surrounding countries. I’m devoting the whole works to total destruction—a horror to top all the horrors in history. And I’ll banish every sound of joy—singing, laughter, marriage festivities, genial workmen, candlelit suppers. The whole landscape will be one vast wasteland. These countries will be in subjection to the king of Babylon for seventy years.

12-14 “Once the seventy years is up, I’ll punish the king of Babylon and the whole nation of Babylon for their sin. Thenthey’llbe the wasteland. Everything that I said I’d do to that country, I’ll do—everything that’s written in this book, everything Jeremiah preached against all the godless nations. Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the Babylonians, paying them back for everything they’ve done to others. They won’t get by with anything.”God’s Decree.

God Puts the Human Race on Trial

15-16 This is a Message that theGodof Israel gave me: “Take this cup filled with the wine of my wrath that I’m handing to you. Make all the nations where I send you drink it down. They’ll drink it and get drunk, staggering in delirium because of the killing that I’m going to unleash among them.”

17-26 I took the cup fromGod’s hand and made them drink it, all the nations to which he sent me:

Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, along with their kings and leaders, turning them into a vast wasteland, a horror to look at, a cussword—which, in fact, they now are;

Pharaoh king of Egypt with his attendants and leaders, plus all his people and the melting pot of foreigners collected there;

All the kings of Uz;

All the kings of the Philistines from Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what’s left of Ashdod;

Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

All the kings of Tyre, Sidon, and the coastlands across the sea;

Dedan, Tema, Buz, and the nomads on the fringe of the desert;

All the kings of Arabia and the various Bedouin sheiks and chieftains wandering about in the desert;

All the kings of Zimri, Elam, and the Medes;

All the kings from the north countries near and far, one by one;

All the kingdoms on planet Earth . . .

And the king of Sheshak (that is, Babylon) will be the last to drink.

27 “Tell them, ‘These are orders fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: Drink and get drunk and vomit. Fall on your faces and don’t get up again. You’re slated for a massacre.’

28 “If any of them refuse to take the cup from you and drink it, say to them, ‘God-of-the-Angel-Armies has ordered you to drink. So drink!

29 “‘Prepare for the worst! I’m starting off the catastrophe in the city that I claim as my own, so don’t think you are going to get out of it. No, you’re not getting out of anything. It’s the sword and nothing but the sword against everyone everywhere!’” TheGod-of-the-Angel-Armies’ Decree.

30-31 “Preach it all, Jeremiah. Preach the entire Message to them. Say:

“‘Godroars like a lion from high heaven;

thunder rolls out from his holy dwelling—

Ear-splitting bellows against his people,

shouting hurrahs like workers in harvest.

The noise reverberates all over the earth;

everyone everywhere hears it.

Godmakes his case against the godless nations.

He’s about to put the human race on trial.

For the wicked the verdict is clear-cut:

death by the sword.’”God’s Decree.

32 A Message fromGod-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Prepare for the worst! Doomsday!

Disaster is spreading from nation to nation.

A huge storm is about to rage

all across planet Earth.”

33 Laid end to end, those killed inGod’s judgment that day will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. No tears will be shed and no burials conducted. The bodies will be left where they fall, like so much horse dung fertilizing the fields.

34-38 Wail, shepherds! Cry out for help!

Grovel in the dirt, you masters of flocks!

Time’s up—you’re slated for the slaughterhouse,

like a choice ram with its throat cut.

There’s no way out for the rulers,

no escape for those shepherds.

Hear that? Rulers crying for help,

shepherds of the flock wailing!

Godis about to ravage their fine pastures.

The peaceful sheepfolds will be silent with death,

silenced byGod’s deadly anger.

God will come out into the open

like a lion leaping from its cover,

And the country will be torn to pieces,

ripped and ravaged by his anger.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JER/25-3773bf2669f7f0adb416f38b0f6bab2c.mp3?version_id=97—