WELS Through my Bible in Three Years

Matthew 22:15-46 (EHV)

15 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted together how to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in accord with the truth. You are not concerned about gaining anyone’s approval because you are not swayed by appearances. 17 So tell us, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus knew their evil purpose and said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.”

They brought him a denarius.

20 He asked them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied to him.

Then he said to them, “Therefore give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. Then they left him and went away.

23 That same day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him a question: 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother should marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ [1] 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one died after he married her, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 It was the same with the second brother, the third, and all the way to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman died. 28 So then, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since they all married her?”

29 “You are mistaken,” Jesus replied, “since you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 In fact, in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage. Instead they are like the angels of God in heaven. 31 And concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you never read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? [2] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

33 When the crowds heard his answer, they were amazed at his teaching.

34 When they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees met together. 35 One of them who was an expert in the law asked him a question, trying to trap him. 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ [3] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [4] 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend [5] on these two commandments.”

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: 42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said to him, “The Son of David.”

43 He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

44 The Lord said to my Lord,

45 “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

46 No one was able to answer him a word, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Matthew 22:1-14 (EHV)

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables. He said, 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent out his servants to summon those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but they did not want to come.

4 “Then he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet!’

5 “But those who were invited paid no attention and went off, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 The rest seized the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 As a result, the king was very angry. He sent his army and killed those murderers and burned their town.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 So go to the main crossroads and invite as many as you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 Those servants went out to the roads and gathered together everyone they found, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wearing wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. 13 Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Matthew 21:23-46 (EHV)

23 When Jesus went into the temple courts, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him while he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, since they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

He said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things.”

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30 He came to the second and said the same thing. The second son answered, ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Amen I tell you: The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him. Even when you saw this, you did not change your mind and believe him.

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it out to some tenant farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the time approached to harvest the fruit, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 The tenant farmers seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39 They took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”

41 They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end. Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? [1]

43 “That is why I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit. 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them. 46 Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds because the people regarded him as a prophet.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Matthew 20:29 – 21:22 (EHV)

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!”

32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?”

33 They told him, “Lord, open our eyes.”

34 Jesus was moved with compassion and touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight, and they followed him.

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Immediately you will find a donkey tied there along with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. [1]

6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their outer clothing on them, and he sat on it. 8 A very large crowd spread their outer clothing on the road. Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them out on the road. 9 The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed kept shouting,

Hosanna [2] to the Son of David!

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, asking, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

12 Jesus entered the temple courts [4] and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ [5] but you are making it a den of robbers!” [6]

14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonders he performed and heard the children calling out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. 16 They said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?”

“Yes,” Jesus told them, “Have you never read,

    From the lips of little children and nursing babies

18 As he returned to the city early in the morning, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “May there never be fruit from you again!”

Immediately the fig tree withered away. 20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

21 Jesus answered them, “Amen I tell you: If you have faith, and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it would be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer, as you believe, you will receive.”

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Matthew 19:23 – 20:28 (EHV)

23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen I tell you: It will be very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Then Peter answered, “Look, we have left everything and followed you! What then will we have?”

28 Jesus said to them, “Amen I tell you: In the renewal, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 Everyone who has left homes or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, because of my name, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

1 “Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 He also went out about the third hour [1] and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. 4 To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’

7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’

9 “When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10 When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. 11 After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: 12 ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. 15 Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 In the same way, the last will be first, and the first, last.”

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside; and on the way he said to them, 18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law, and they will condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, flog, and crucify him. On the third day he will be raised.”

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking something of him. 21 He said to her, “What do you want?”

She said to him, “Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You [2] do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”

They said to him, “We are.”

23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not for me to give; rather these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard this, they were angry with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It will not be that way among you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Matthew 19:1-22 (EHV)

1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Some Pharisees came in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

4 He answered, “Haven’t you read that from the beginning their Maker ‘made them male and female,’ [1] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? [2] 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.”

7 They asked him, “Then why did Moses command a man to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

8 Jesus said to them, “Because of your hard hearts, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but it was not that way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the grounds of her sexual immorality, and marries another woman is committing adultery.” [3]

10 His disciples said to him, “If this is the relationship of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For example, there are eunuchs who were born that way, and others who were castrated by people, and others who decided to remain unmarried because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this should accept it.”

13 Then some people brought little children to Jesus to have him place his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. 14 Then Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” [4] 15 After he placed his hands on them, he left that place.

16 There was a man who came to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing should I do that I may have eternal life?”

17 Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only one is good. But if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” the man asked him.

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. 19 Honor your father and mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” [5]

20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these. What am I still lacking?”

21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had many possessions.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Jeremiah 24 – 25 (EHV)

1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting in front of the Lord’s temple. This took place after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled Jeconiah [1] son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem, along with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon.

2 One basket had very good figs, like early figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten. 3 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“Figs,” I said. “The good figs are very good, and the bad ones are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

4 The word of the Lord came to me.

5 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I will treat the exiles from Judah like these good figs, those exiles that I sent out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will keep my eye on them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God. They will return to me with their whole heart.

8 But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten—this is what the Lord says—this is how I will deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and with those who live in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them an object of horror and disaster among all the nations of the earth. They will be a disgrace, a proverb, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I banish them. 10 I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the soil that I have given to them and to their fathers.

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. This was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to everyone who lived in Jerusalem.

3 For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, to this very day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again. But you have not listened. 4 The Lord sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or paid attention.

5 The Lord said: Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from the evil things you do. Live on the land the Lord gave to you and to your forefathers long ago to be yours forever. 6 Do not follow after other gods or serve them or worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.

7 But you would not obey me, declares the Lord. So you kept provoking me to anger with the work of your hands, and you have hurt yourselves.

8 Therefore this is what the Lord of Armies says. Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 watch out! I will send for all the clans of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and derision. The land will be ruins forever. 10 I will take the sound of joy away from them and the sound of gladness. I will take away the voice of the bride and groom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land will become a desolation and a ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the Lord. I will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring on that land all my words which I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this book, in which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, but I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath, and make all the nations, to whom I send you, drink it. 16 They will drink, stagger, and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he had sent me drink from it— 18 to destroy them and to make them an object of horror and derision, and to make them a curse, as they are today. They are:

Jerusalem, all the cities of Judah, its kings and officials,

Then after them, the king of Sheshak [3] will drink.

27 You are to tell them that this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Drink and get drunk. Vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword I will send among you.” 28 But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, then tell them, “This is what the Lord of Armies says. You must drink it. 29 See, I am beginning to bring disaster to the city called by my name. Will you somehow go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord of Armies.”

30 Prophesy all these words against them. Say to them:

34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Jeremiah 23 (EHV)

23 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord.

2 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd my people.

You have scattered my flock.

5 Listen, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

7 So, mark my words, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no longer be said, “As surely as the Lord lives who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,” 8 but, “as surely as the Lord lives who brought up the descendants of the house of Israel and led them out of a land in the north and from all the countries where I had driven them.” Then they will dwell in their own land.

9 Concerning the prophets:

15 So this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets.

16 This is what the Lord of Armies says.

20 The Lord’s anger will not turn back until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart. In later days you will understand it fully.

21 I did not send these prophets, yet they ran.

25 I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said. They say, “I have had a dream! I have had a dream!” 26 How long will this be in the hearts of these lying prophets? These prophets proclaim the fantasies of their own hearts. 27 They think they can make my people forget my name with the dreams each one tells his neighbor, the way their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream. But let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully.

What has chaff to do with grain? declares the Lord. 29 Is not my word like a fire? declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30 Therefore listen to this, declares the Lord. I am against the prophets who steal my words from each other. 31 Indeed, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their own tongues to say, “This is what the Lord declares!” 32 Yes, I am against those who prophesy about lying dreams, declares the Lord. I am against those who tell lying dreams to lead my people astray with their extravagant lies. But I did not send them or command them. They provide no benefit for this people, declares the Lord.

33 When these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, “What is the message [2] from the Lord?” say to them, “What is the message? This is the Lord’s message: I will abandon you.”

34 As for the prophet, the priest, or anyone who says “the message from the Lord,” I will punish that man and his household. 35 Each man will ask his neighbor, “What has the Lord answered?” or “What has the Lord said?” 36 But do not refer to “the message of the Lord” anymore, because each man’s word has become his own message, because you have perverted the words of the Living God, the Lord of Armies, our God.

37 You say this to the prophet: “What has the Lord answered you?” or “What has the Lord said?” 38 But if you say that you have the message [3] of the Lord, this is what the Lord says to you: Since you say “the message of the Lord,” although I have sent a message telling you not to say “the message of the Lord,” 39 watch out, because I will completely forget you and throw you out of my presence. I will abandon you and this city, which I gave to your fathers. 40 I will bring everlasting scorn and everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Jeremiah 21 – 22 (EHV)

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah along with Zephaniah the priest, the son of Ma’aseiah, [1] to speak to Jeremiah. They said, 2 “Inquire of the Lord for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform some of his wonders on our behalf as he did in the past, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

3 But Jeremiah answered them:

Tell Zedekiah that 4 the Lord, the God of Israel, says this.

I will certainly turn the weapons of war in your hands against you, the ones you are using to fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, [2] who are outside your wall besieging you. And I will bring them inside this city.

5 I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with furious anger and great wrath. 6 I will strike those who live in this city, both man and animal. They will die of a terrible plague. 7 Afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, those who serve him, and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword, and famine. I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their lives. He will strike them with the sword. He will show them no compassion, no pity, and no mercy.

8 Tell this people this is what the Lord says. I will certainly set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but all those who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will escape with their lives. 10 For I have set my face against this city to bring harm and not good, says the Lord. The city will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it up with fire.

11 Concerning the house of the king of Judah, this is the word of the Lord. 12 The Lord says that you, House of David, are to administer justice in the morning and deliver the victim of robbery from the hand of the oppressor, or my wrath will flare up like fire and burn so that no one can put it out, because of the evil you have done.

13 Look, I am against you, you who live in this valley in the rocky highlands, declares the Lord. I am against you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our homes?” 14 I will punish you according to what you have done, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in the forest, and it will consume everything around you.

1 This is what the Lord says.

Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and speak this message there.

2 Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates.

3 This is what the Lord says. Do what is just and right. Rescue the person who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, to the fatherless, or to the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 If you diligently carry this out, then kings who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, then I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house will become a ruin.

6 Yes, this is what the Lord says about the house of the king of Judah.

You are like Gilead to me,

8 Many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, “Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?” 9 And the answer will be, “It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God. They worshipped other gods and served them.”

10 Do not weep for the dead.

11 For this is what the Lord says about Shallum [3] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah. He has gone out from this place, but he will never return again. 12 He will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will never see this land again.

13 Woe to him who builds his house through unrighteousness

15 Does it make you a king when you are extravagant with cedar?

18 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning

20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out.

24 As I live, declares the Lord, even if you, Coniah [4] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 25 I will deliver you into the hand of those who want to take your life, those you fear. I will deliver you into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will throw you and the mother who bore you into another country, where neither of you were born, and there you will die. 27 They will never return to the land to which they long to return.

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken pot?

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Jeremiah 19 – 20 (EHV)

1 This is what the Lord says.

Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and some of the priests. 2 Go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I will tell you.

3 Say this to them:

Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and you who live in Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.

Watch out! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it ring, 4 because they have forsaken me and have defiled this place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 They have built high places to Baal and burned their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, and which did not enter my mind. 6 So listen to this. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 I will ruin [1] the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who seek their lives. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the land. 8 I will make this city desolate, and I will make it a target of contempt. Everyone who passes by will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds. 9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat one another’s flesh during the pressure from the siege that their enemies, those who want to kill them, will bring upon them.

10 Then break the jar in the sight of the men who are with you. 11 Tell them this is what the Lord of Armies says.

This is how I will break this people and this city, like a potter’s jar that is so smashed that it cannot be made whole again. They will bury people in Topheth until there is no place left to bury. 12 This is what I will do to this place, says the Lord, and to those who live here: I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become defiled—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the army of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to other gods. They will all be defiled like that place Topheth.

14 Then Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the House of the Lord and said to all the people: 15 “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. I will certainly bring on this city and on all its towns every disaster that I have proclaimed against it, because they have become stiff-necked, refusing to hear my words.”

1 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who served as the chief officer in the House of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying about these things, 2 Pashhur ordered them to beat Jeremiah the prophet, and he put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the House of the Lord.

3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor Missabib, [2] 4 for this is what the Lord says: I will certainly make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry the people captive to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword. 5 Also, the riches of this city, all its property, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah—I will give it all away into the hands of their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. 6 As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon! You will die there, and you will be buried there, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

7 You persuaded me, Lord, and I agreed to it. [3]

12 Lord of Armies, you test the righteous.

14 May the day I was born be cursed.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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