DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 14:
DAILY BIBLE READING
Jeremiah 10-12Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
The Lord and the Idols
10 Family of Israel, listen to the Lord! 2 This is what the Lord says:
"Don't live like people from other nations.
Don't be afraid of special signs in the sky.[a]
The other nations are afraid of what they see in the sky.
But you must not be afraid of them.
3
The customs of other people are worth nothing.
Their idols are nothing but wood from the forest.
Their idols are made by workers with their chisels.[b]
4
They make their idols beautiful with silver and gold.
They use hammers and nails to fasten their idols down
so that they will not fall over.
5
The idols of the other nations are like
a scarecrow in a cucumber field.
They cannot walk.
They cannot talk, and the people must carry them.
So don't be afraid of their idols.
They cannot hurt you.
And they cannot help you either."
6
Lord, there is no one like you.
You are great!
Your name is great and powerful!
7
Everyone should respect you, King of all the nations.
You deserve their respect.
There are many wise men among the nations,
but not one of them is as wise as you.
8
All the people of the other nations are stupid and foolish.
Their teachings come from worthless wooden statues.
9
They use silver from the city of Tarshish
and gold from the city of Uphaz and make their statues.
Carpenters and metalworkers make the idols.
They put blue and purple clothes on them.
"Wise men" make these "gods."
10
But the Lord is the only true God.
He is the only God who is alive.
He is the King who rules forever.
The earth shakes when he is angry.
The people of the nations cannot stop his anger.
11
The Lord says, "Tell them this message:
'These false gods did not make heaven and earth.
They will be destroyed and disappear from heaven and earth.'"[c]
12
God is the one who used his power and made the earth.
He used his wisdom and built the world.
With his understanding he stretched the sky over the earth.
13
God causes the loud thunder,
and he causes great floods of water to fall from the sky.
He makes clouds rise in the sky every place on earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14
People are so stupid!
Metalworkers are fooled by the idols that they themselves made.
These statues are nothing but lies.
They are stupid.[d]
15
These idols are worth nothing.
They are something to make fun of.
In the time of judgment they will be destroyed.
16
But Jacob's God[e] is not like the idols.
He made everything,
and Israel is the family that God chose to be his own people.
His name is Lord All-Powerful.
Destruction Is Coming
17
Get everything you own and prepare to leave.
People of Judah, you are trapped in the city,
and the enemy is all around it.
18
This is what the Lord says:
"This time, I will throw the people of Judah out of this country.
I will bring pain and trouble to them.
I will do this so that they will learn their lesson."[f]
19
I am hurt badly.
I am injured and I cannot be healed.
But I told myself, "This is my sickness;
I must suffer through it."
20
My tent is ruined.
All its ropes are broken.
My children left me.
They are gone.
No one is left to put up my tent.
No one is left to fix a shelter for me.
21
The shepherds are stupid.
They don't try to find the Lord.
They are not wise,
so their flocks are scattered and lost.
22
Listen! A loud noise!
The noise is coming from the north.[g]
It will destroy the cities of Judah.
Judah will become an empty desert.
It will be a home for jackals.
23
Lord, I know that our lives do not belong to us.
We have no control over what happens.
24
So correct us, Lord!
But please be fair.
Don't punish us in anger,
or you will destroy us!
25
If you are angry, then punish the other nations.
They don't know or respect you.
They don't worship you.
Those nations destroyed Jacob's family.
They destroyed Israel completely.
They destroyed Israel's homeland.
The Agreement Is Broken
11 This is the message from the Lord: 2 "Jeremiah, listen to the words of
this agreement and tell them to the people living in Jerusalem and the rest
of Judah. 3 Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
'Bad things will happen to anyone who does not obey this agreement. 4 I am
talking about the agreement I made with your ancestors when I brought them
out of that furnace[h] called Egypt.' At that time I told them, 'Listen to
me and obey all the commands I give you. Then you will be my people and I
will be your God.'
5 "I did this to keep the promise that I had made to your ancestors. I
promised to give them a very fertile land-a land flowing with milk and
honey. And you are living in that country today."
I answered, "Amen, Lord."
6 The Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, tell this message in the towns of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem: 'Listen to the words of this agreement, and
then obey these laws. 7 I gave a warning to your ancestors at the time I
brought them out of the land of Egypt. I have warned them again and again to
this day. I told them to obey me. 8 But your ancestors did not listen to me.
They were stubborn and did what their own evil hearts wanted. The agreement
says that bad things will happen to them if they don't obey. So I made all
the bad things happen to them. I commanded them to obey the agreement, but
they did not.'"
9 The Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, I know that the people of Judah and the
people living in Jerusalem have made secret plans. 10 They are committing
the same sins that their ancestors did. Their ancestors refused to listen to
my message. They followed and worshiped other gods. The family of Israel and
the family of Judah have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors."
11 So this is what the Lord says: "I will soon make something terrible
happen to the people of Judah. They will not be able to escape. They will be
sorry and cry to me for help, but I will not listen to them. 12 The people
in the towns of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem will go and pray to their
idols for help. They burn incense to those idols. But their idols will not
be able to help the people of Judah when that terrible disaster comes.
13 "People of Judah, you have many idols-there are as many idols as there
are towns in Judah. You have built many altars for worshiping that
disgusting god Baal-there are as many altars as there are streets in
Jerusalem.
14 "As for you, Jeremiah, don't pray for these people of Judah. Don't beg
for them. Don't say prayers for them. I will not listen. They will suffer
and then call to me for help, but I will not listen.
15
"Judah is the one I love, but why is she in my temple?
She has done too many evil things.
Judah, do you think vows and sacrifices will keep you from being destroyed?
Will I then allow you to enjoy your evil ways?"
16
The Lord gave you a name.
He called you, "A green olive tree, beautiful to look at."
But with a powerful storm, he will set that tree on fire,
and its branches will be burned up.[i]
17 The Lord All-Powerful planted you, and he said that disaster will come to
you. That is because the family of Israel and the family of Judah have done
evil things. They offered sacrifices to Baal, and that made him angry!
Evil Plans Against Jeremiah
18 The Lord showed me that the men of Anathoth[j] were making plans against
me. He showed me what they were doing, so I knew they were against me. 19
Before he showed me this, I was like a gentle lamb waiting to be butchered.
I did not understand that they were against me. They were saying this about
me: "Let us destroy the tree and its fruit! Let us kill him! Then people
will forget him." 20 So I prayed, "Lord All-Powerful, you are a fair judge.
You know how to test people's hearts and minds. I will tell you my
arguments, and I will let you give them the punishment they deserve."
21 The Lord said to me, "Those people from Anathoth are planning to take
your life. They are telling you not to prophesy in the name of the Lord or
they will kill you. This is what I have to say about them: 22 I, the Lord
All-Powerful, promise that I will soon punish those people. Their young men
will die in war. Their sons and daughters will die from hunger. 23 No one
from the city of Anathoth will be left. No one will survive. I will punish
them and cause something bad to happen to them."
Jeremiah Complains to God
12 Lord, if I argue with you,
you are always right.
But I want to ask you about some things that don't seem right.
Why are wicked people successful?
Why do people you cannot trust have such easy lives?
2
You have put these wicked people here like plants with strong roots.
They grow and produce fruit.
With their mouths they say that you are near and dear to them,
but in their hearts they are really far away from you.
3
But you know my heart, Lord.
You see me and test my mind.
Drag the evil people away like sheep to be killed.
Choose them for the day of slaughter.
4
How much longer will the land be dry?
How long will the grass be dry and dead?
The birds and the animals of this land have all died,
and it is the fault of the wicked.
But they are saying,
"Jeremiah will not live long enough to see what happens to us."
God's Answer to Jeremiah
5
"Jeremiah, if running in a race against men makes you tired,
how will you race against horses?
If you trip and fall in a safe place,
what will you do in a dangerous place?
What will you do in the thornbushes
that grow along the Jordan River?
6
These men are your own brothers.
Members of your own family are making plans against you.
People from your own family are shouting at you.
Don't trust them,
even when they speak to you like friends.
The Lord Rejects Judah
7
"I have abandoned my house.
I have left my own property.[k]
I have given Judah, the one I love,
to her enemies.
8
My own people turned against me like a wild lion.
They roared at me, so I turned away from them.
9
My own people have become like
a dying animal surrounded by vultures.
These birds are circling around her.
Come on, wild animals.
Come get something to eat.
10
Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard.
They have trampled the plants in my field.
They have made my beautiful field a desert.
11
They have turned it into an empty desert.
It is dry and dead.
The whole land has been ruined,
and no one is left to care for it.
12
The empty hills are covered with soldiers
who have come to destroy everything.
The Lord is using them to punish that land from one end to the other.
No one is safe.
13
The people will plant wheat,
but they will harvest only thorns.
They will work hard until they are very tired,
but they will get nothing for all their work.
They will be ashamed of their crop.
The Lord's anger caused this."
The Lord's Promise to Israel's Neighbors
14 This is what the Lord says: "I will tell you what I will do for all those
who live around the land of Israel. They are very wicked. They have
destroyed the land I gave to the people of Israel. I will pull the evil
people up and throw them out of their land, and I will pull the people of
Judah up with them. 15 But after I pull them up out of their land, I will
feel sorry for them. I will bring each family back to its own property and
to its own land. 16 I want these people to learn their lessons well. In the
past they taught my people to use Baal's name to make promises. Now, I want
them to learn to use my name. I want them to say, 'As the Lord lives ..' If
they do that, I will allow them to be successful, and I will let them live
among my people. 17 But if a nation does not listen to my message, I will
completely destroy it. I will pull it up like a dead plant." This message is
from the Lord.
Footnotes:
a.Jeremiah 10:2 special signs in the sky People believed that such things as
comets, meteors, or eclipses of the sun and moon could be used to learn what
was going to happen in the future.
b.Jeremiah 10:3 chisels Sharp tools used to carve wood or stone.
c.Jeremiah 10:11 Tell them this message . earth This part was written in
Aramaic, not Hebrew. This was the language people used often when writing to
people in other countries. It was also the language spoken in Babylon.
d.Jeremiah 10:14 They are stupid Literally, "They have no spirit." This
might also mean "They are not alive."
e.Jeremiah 10:16 Jacob's God Literally, "Jacob's share." This means that God
and Jacob (the people of Israel) had a special relationship-God belonged to
Israel, and Israel belonged to God."
f.Jeremiah 10:18 they will learn their lesson The Hebrew text here is hard
to understand.
g.Jeremiah 10:22 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to
attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this
way to attack Judah and Israel.
h.Jeremiah 11:4 furnace Literally, "iron furnace." That is, an oven hot
enough to soften iron so that it can be hammered into something useful.
i.Jeremiah 11:16 The meaning of these verses is uncertain.
j.Jeremiah 11:18 men of Anathoth Anathoth was Jeremiah's hometown. The
people who were plotting against him there included his own relatives. See
Jer. 12:6.
k.Jeremiah 12:7 house . my own property That is, the people of Judah.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright C 2006 by Bible League International