(A)“If[a] a man divorces his wife
    and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
    will he return to her?
(B)Would not that land be greatly polluted?
(C)You have played the whore with many lovers;
    and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
Lift up your eyes to (D)the bare heights, and see!
    Where have you not been ravished?
(E)By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
    like an Arab in the wilderness.
(F)You have polluted the land
    with your vile whoredom.
(G)Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have (H)the forehead of a whore;
    you refuse to be ashamed.
Have you not just now (I)called to me,
    ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
(J)will he be angry forever,
    will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
    but you have done all the evil that you could.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

The Lord said to me in the days of (K)King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, (L)how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there (M)played the whore? And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous (N)sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, (O)I had sent her away with (P)a decree of divorce. (Q)Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went (R)and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with (S)stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me (T)with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

11 And the Lord said to me, (U)“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward (V)the north, and say,

(W)“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
    for (X)I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
(Y)I will not be angry forever.
13 (Z)Only acknowledge your guilt,
    that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under (AA)every green tree,
    and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
14 (AB)Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
    (AC)for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
    and I will bring you to Zion.

15 “‘And (AD)I will give you shepherds after my own heart, (AE)who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, (AF)and all nations shall gather to it, (AG)to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 (AH)In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land (AI)of the north to (AJ)the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 “‘I said,
    How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
    a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would (AK)call me, My Father,
    and would not turn from following me.
20 (AL)Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
    so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’”

21 A voice on the (AM)bare heights is heard,
    (AN)the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons
because they have perverted their way;
    they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 (AO)“Return, O faithless sons;
    (AP)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly (AQ)the hills are a delusion,
    the orgies[b] on the mountains.
(AR)Truly in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.

24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 (AS)Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For (AT)we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

“If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
    (AU)to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
    (AV)and do not waver,
(AW)and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
    in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then (AX)nations shall bless themselves in him,
    (AY)and in him shall they glory.”

For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

(AZ)“Break up your fallow ground,
    and (BA)sow not among thorns.
(BB)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
(BC)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
    and burn with none to quench it,
    (BD)because of the evil of your deeds.”

Disaster from the North

Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

(BE)“Blow the trumpet through the land;
    cry aloud and say,
(BF)‘Assemble, and let us go
    into the fortified cities!’
(BG)Raise a standard toward Zion,
    flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from (BH)the north,
    (BI)and great destruction.
(BJ)A lion has gone up from his thicket,
    a destroyer of nations has set out;
    he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
    your cities will be ruins
    (BK)without inhabitant.
For this (BL)put on sackcloth,
    lament and wail,
for (BM)the fierce anger of the Lord
    has not turned back from us.”

“In that day, declares the Lord, (BN)courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, (BO)surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from (BP)the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, 12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who (BQ)speak in judgment upon them.”

13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
    (BR)his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are (BS)swifter than eagles—
    woe to us, (BT)for we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, (BU)wash your heart from evil,
    that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
    lodge within you?
15 For a voice (BV)declares from Dan
    and proclaims trouble from (BW)Mount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations that he is coming;
    announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come (BX)from a distant land;
    they shout against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field (BY)are they against her all around,
    because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
18 Your ways and your deeds
    have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and (BZ)it is bitter;
    it has reached your very heart.”

Anguish over Judah's Desolation

19 (CA)My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
    Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
    I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
    the alarm of war.
20 (CB)Crash follows hard on crash;
    the whole land is laid waste.
(CC)Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
    my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 “For (CD)my people are foolish;
    they know me not;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
(CE)They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
    But how to do good they know not.”

23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was (CF)without form and void;
    (CG)and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on (CH)the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 (CI)I looked, and behold, there was no man,
    and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the (CJ)fruitful land was a desert,
    and all its cities were laid in ruins
    before the Lord, before (CK)his fierce anger.

27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; (CL)yet I will not make a full end.

28 (CM)“For this the earth shall mourn,
    (CN)and the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
    (CO)I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

29 At the noise of horseman and archer
    every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
    all the cities are forsaken,
    and (CP)no man dwells in them.
30 And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
    (CQ)that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
    (CR)that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
    (CS)Your lovers despise you;
    they seek your life.
31 For I heard (CT)a cry as of a woman in labor,
    anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
    (CU)stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

(CV)Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
    look and take note!
Search her squares to see
    (CW)if you can find a man,
one who does justice
    and seeks truth,
(CX)that I may pardon her.
(CY)Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
    (CZ)yet they swear falsely.
O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
(DA)You have struck them down,
    but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
    but they refused to take correction.
(DB)They have made their faces harder than rock;
    they have refused to repent.

Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
(DC)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.
I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”
(DD)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

Therefore (DE)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a (DF)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
(DG)A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their (DH)apostasies are great.

(DI)“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    (DJ)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
(DK)When I fed them to the full,
    (DL)they committed adultery
    (DM)and trooped to the houses of whores.
They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    (DN)each neighing (DO)for his neighbor's wife.
(DP)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

10 (DQ)“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    (DR)but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord's.
11 (DS)For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
(DT)no disaster will come upon us,
    (DU)nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

The Lord Proclaims Judgment

14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, (DV)I am making my words in your mouth (DW)a fire,
    and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 (DX)Behold, I am bringing against you
    a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
    it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
    (DY)nor can you understand what they say.
16 (DZ)Their quiver is like (EA)an open tomb;
    they are all mighty warriors.
17 (EB)They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
    they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
    they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your (EC)fortified cities in which you trust
    they shall beat down with the sword.”

18 “But even in those days, declares the Lord, (ED)I will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, (EE)‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, (EF)so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, (EG)O foolish and senseless people,
    (EH)who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.
22 (EI)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand (EJ)as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though (EK)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 (EL)But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
(EM)who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    (EN)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 (EO)Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
    (EP)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.[c]
(EQ)They set a trap;
    they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28     (ER)they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    (ES)they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
    and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 (ET)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?”

30 An appalling and (EU)horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
31 (EV)the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
(EW)my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:1 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Saying, “If
  2. Jeremiah 3:23 Hebrew commotion
  3. Jeremiah 5:26 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Paul Sails for Rome

27 And when it was decided (A)that (B)we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan (C)Cohort named Julius. And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by (D)Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon. And (E)Julius (F)treated Paul kindly and (G)gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found (H)a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even (I)the Fast[a] was already over, Paul advised them, 10 saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with (J)injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion paid more attention to (K)the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12 And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

The Storm at Sea

13 Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, (L)struck down from the land. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,[b] we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would (M)run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,[c] and thus they were driven along. 18 Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day (N)to jettison the cargo. 19 And on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, (O)you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this (P)injury and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to (Q)take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night (R)there (S)stood before me (T)an angel of the God (U)to whom I belong and (V)whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; (W)you must stand before Caesar. And behold, (X)God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But (Y)we must (Z)run aground on some island.”

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 27:9 That is, the Day of Atonement
  2. Acts 27:16 Some manuscripts Clauda
  3. Acts 27:17 That is, the sea-anchor (or possibly the mainsail)

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