Stubborn Hearts and Steadfast Faith

1. When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him to them, even all these words, 2. then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘You shall not go into Egypt to live there;’ 3. but Baruch the son of Neriah has turned you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.” 4. So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice, to dwell in the land of Judah. 5. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Judah; 6. the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah; 7. and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice: and they came to Tahpanhes. 8. Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9. “Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick work, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; 10. and tell them, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his royal pavilion over them. 11. He will come, and will strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death will be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12. I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them, and carry them away captive. He will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he will go out from there in peace. 13. He will also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.’” 1. The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2. “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. Behold, today they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them, 3. because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didn’t know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4. However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.” 5. But they didn’t listen and didn’t incline their ear. They didn’t turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods. 6. Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is today.’ 7. “Therefore now Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the middle of Judah, to leave yourselves no one remaining; 8. in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9. Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10. They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.’ 11. “Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah. 12. I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. 13. For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; 14. so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for no one will return except those who will escape.’” 15. Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16. “As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you. 17. But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. 18. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 19. “When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?” 20. Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, 21. “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t Yahweh remember them, and didn’t it come into his mind? 22. Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. 23. Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.” 24. Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! 25. Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.” “‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’ 26. “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name,’ says Yahweh, ‘that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord Yahweh lives.” 27. Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone. 28. Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. 29. “‘This will be the sign to you,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.’ 30. Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.’” 1. The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2. “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: 3. ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain! I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.”’ 4. “You shall tell him, Yahweh says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land. 5. Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh,’ says Yahweh; ‘but I will let you escape with your life wherever you go.’”

1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings. 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, 3. knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him. 6. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7. For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9. But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; 10. and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. 11. For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits. 12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. 15. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16. Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. 18. Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 19. So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; 20. for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. 21. Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22. But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. 23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; 24. for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25. But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does. 26. If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27. Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 1. My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. 2. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in; 3. and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”; 4. haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5. Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6. But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? 7. Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? 8. However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10. For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12. So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. 13. For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14. What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? 15. And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 16. and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? 17. Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. 18. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. 20. But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? 21. Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22. You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; 23. and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. 24. You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? 26. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. 1. Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. 2. For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. 3. Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body. 4. Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires. 5. So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! 6. And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. 7. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; 8. but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God. 10. Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11. Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water? 12. Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water. 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom. 14. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. 15. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. 16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 1. Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members? 2. You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. 3. You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4. You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”? 6. But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7. Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9. Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11. Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12. Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another? 13. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” 14. Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. 15. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” 16. But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil. 17. To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin. 1. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. 2. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. 4. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. 5. You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6. You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you. 7. Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain. 8. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9. Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. 10. Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11. Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 12. But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear— not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy. 13. Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 14. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, 15. and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16. Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. 17. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18. He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. 19. Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, 20. let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

1. Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me. 2. Many there are who say of my soul, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah. 3. But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. 4. I cry to Yahweh with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill. Selah. 5. I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me. 6. I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side. 7. Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked. 8. Salvation belongs to Yahweh. Your blessing be on your people. Selah.