1
Sing a new song to the LORD! Sing to the LORD, all the world!
2
Sing to the LORD, and praise him! Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us.
3
Proclaim his glory to the nations, his mighty deeds to all peoples.
4
The LORD is great and is to be highly praised; he is to be honored more than all the gods.
5
The gods of all other nations are only idols, but the LORD created the heavens.
6
Glory and majesty surround him; power and beauty fill his Temple.
7
Praise the LORD, all people on earth; praise his glory and might.
8
Praise the LORD's glorious name; bring an offering and come into his Temple.
9
Bow down before the Holy One when he appears; tremble before him, all the earth!
10
Say to all the nations, "The LORD is king! The earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with justice."
11
Be glad, earth and sky! Roar, sea, and every creature in you;
12
be glad, fields, and everything in you! The trees in the woods will shout for joy
13
when the LORD comes to rule the earth. He will rule the peoples of the world with justice and fairness.
1
Again the LORD spoke to me and said,
2
"Do not marry or have children in a place like this.
3
I will tell you what is going to happen to the children who are born here and to their parents.
4
They will die of terrible diseases, and no one will mourn for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie like piles of manure on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation, and their bodies will be food for the birds and the wild animals.
5
"You must not enter a house where there is mourning. Do not grieve for anyone. I will no longer bless my people with peace or show them love and mercy.
6
The rich and the poor will die in this land, but no one will bury them or mourn for them. Not one of you will gash yourself or shave your head to show your grief.
7
No one will eat or drink with anyone to offer comfort when a loved one dies. No one will show sympathy, not even for someone who has lost a father or mother.
8
"Do not enter a house where people are feasting. Do not sit down with them to eat and drink.
9
Listen to what I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I will silence the sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. The people here will live to see this happen.
10
"When you tell them all this, they will ask you why I have decided to punish them so harshly. They will ask what crime they are guilty of and what sin they have committed against the LORD their God.
11
Then tell them that the LORD has said, 'Your ancestors turned away from me and worshiped and served other gods. They abandoned me and did not obey my teachings.
12
But you have done even worse than your ancestors. All of you are stubborn and evil, and you do not obey me.
13
So then, I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. And there you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.' "
14
The LORD says, "The time is coming when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
15
Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. I will bring them back to their own country, to the land that I gave their ancestors. I, the LORD, have spoken."
16
The LORD says, "I am sending for many fishermen to come and catch these people. Then I will send for many hunters to hunt them down on every mountain and hill and in the caves among the rocks.
17
I see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from me; their sins do not escape my sight.
18
I will make them pay double for their sin and wickedness, because they have defiled my land with idols that are as lifeless as corpses, and have filled it with their false gods."
19
LORD, you are the one who protects me and gives me strength; you help me in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors had nothing but false gods, nothing but useless idols.
20
Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods."
21
"So then," says the LORD, "once and for all I will make the nations know my power and my might; they will know that I am the LORD."
1
The LORD says, "People of Judah, your sin is written with an iron pen; it is engraved on your hearts with a diamond point and carved on the corners of your altars.
2
Your people worship at the altars and the symbols that have been set up for the goddess Asherah by every green tree and on the hilltops
3
and on the mountains in the open country. I will have your enemies take away your wealth and your treasures because of all the sins you have committed throughout your land.
4
You will have to give up the land I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you know nothing about, because my anger is like a fire, and it will burn forever."
5
The LORD says, "I will condemn those who turn away from me and put their trust in human beings, in the strength of mortals.
6
He is like a bush in the desert, which grows in the dry wasteland, on salty ground where nothing else grows. Nothing good ever happens to him.
7
"But I will bless the person who puts his trust in me.
8
He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because its leaves stay green; it has no worries when there is no rain; it keeps on bearing fruit.
9
"Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.
10
I, the LORD, search the minds and test the hearts of people. I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do."
11
The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.
12
Our Temple is like a glorious throne, standing on a high mountain from the beginning.
13
LORD, you are Israel's hope; all who abandon you will be put to shame. They will disappear like names written in the dust, because they have abandoned you, the LORD, the spring of fresh water.
14
LORD, heal me and I will be completely well; rescue me and I will be perfectly safe. You are the one I praise!
15
The people say to me, "Where are those threats the LORD made against us? Let him carry them out now!"
16
But, LORD, I never urged you to bring disaster on them; I did not wish a time of trouble for them. LORD, you know this; you know what I have said.
17
Do not be a terror to me; you are my place of safety when trouble comes.
18
Bring disgrace on those who persecute me, but spare me, LORD. Fill them with terror, but do not terrify me. Bring disaster on them and break them to pieces.
19
The LORD said to me, "Jeremiah, go and announce my message at the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city; then go to all the other gates of Jerusalem.
20
Tell the kings and all the people of Judah and everyone who lives in Jerusalem and enters these gates, to listen to what I say.
21
Tell them that if they love their lives, they must not carry any load on the Sabbath; they must not carry anything in through the gates of Jerusalem
22
or carry anything out of their houses on the Sabbath. They must not work on the Sabbath; they must observe it as a sacred day, as I commanded their ancestors.
23
Their ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention. Instead, they became stubborn; they would not obey me or learn from me.
24
"Tell these people that they must obey all my commands. They must not carry any load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath. They must observe the Sabbath as a sacred day and must not do any work at all.
25
Then their kings and princes will enter the gates of Jerusalem and have the same royal power that David had. Together with the people of Judah and of Jerusalem, they will ride in chariots and on horses, and the city of Jerusalem will always be filled with people.
26
People will come from the towns of Judah and from the villages around Jerusalem; they will come from the territory of Benjamin, from the foothills, from the mountains, and from southern Judah. They will bring to my Temple burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, as well as thank offerings.
27
But they must obey me and observe the Sabbath as a sacred day. They must not carry any load through the gates of Jerusalem on that day, for if they do, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. Fire will burn down the palaces of Jerusalem, and no one will be able to put it out."
1
"I have told you this, so that you will not give up your faith.
2
You will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time will come when those who kill you will think that by doing this they are serving God.
3
People will do these things to you because they have not known either the Father or me.
4
But I have told you this, so that when the time comes for them to do these things, you will remember what I told you. "I did not tell you these things at the beginning, for I was with you.
5
But now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me where I am going.
6
And now that I have told you, your hearts are full of sadness.
7
But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you.
8
And when he comes, he will prove to the people of the world that they are wrong about sin and about what is right and about God's judgment.
9
They are wrong about sin, because they do not believe in me;
10
they are wrong about what is right, because I am going to the Father and you will not see me any more;
11
and they are wrong about judgment, because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
12
"I have much more to tell you, but now it would be too much for you to bear.
13
When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what he hears and will tell you of things to come.
14
He will give me glory, because he will take what I say and tell it to you.
15
All that my Father has is mine; that is why I said that the Spirit will take what I give him and tell it to you.
16
"In a little while you will not see me any more, and then a little while later you will see me."
17
Some of his disciples asked among themselves, "What does this mean? He tells us that in a little while we will not see him, and then a little while later we will see him; and he also says, 'It is because I am going to the Father.'
18
What does this 'a little while' mean? We don't know what he is talking about!"
19
Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said to them, "I said, 'In a little while you will not see me, and then a little while later you will see me.' Is this what you are asking about among yourselves?
20
I am telling you the truth: you will cry and weep, but the world will be glad; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into gladness.
21
When a woman is about to give birth, she is sad because her hour of suffering has come; but when the baby is born, she forgets her suffering, because she is happy that a baby has been born into the world.
22
That is how it is with you: now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you.
23
"When that day comes, you will not ask me for anything. I am telling you the truth: the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name.
24
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete.
25
"I have used figures of speech to tell you these things. But the time will come when I will not use figures of speech, but will speak to you plainly about the Father.
26
When that day comes, you will ask him in my name; and I do not say that I will ask him on your behalf,
27
for the Father himself loves you. He loves you because you love me and have believed that I came from God.
28
I did come from the Father, and I came into the world; and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father."
29
Then his disciples said to him, "Now you are speaking plainly, without using figures of speech.
30
We know now that you know everything; you do not need to have someone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God."
31
Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now?
32
The time is coming, and is already here, when all of you will be scattered, each of you to your own home, and I will be left all alone. But I am not really alone, because the Father is with me.
33
I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!"
