Jeremiah 15:15–18

³But thou, O Lord, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

⁷Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

⁸I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.

⁹For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

¹⁷And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.

¹⁶As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.

¹²But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.

²²And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

¹⁴If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

¹⁶Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

⁸For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

⁷And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

⁸I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

²²And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

¹⁹Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

⁴Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

⁸⁴How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?

¹¹Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

¹⁰¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

¹⁵¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

¹⁶He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

¹⁷He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

²²Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

²⁹And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

¹⁰Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

¹²Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

²⁰Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

¹⁰And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

¹⁹Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

³And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

¹⁸¶ And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.

¹⁹But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

²⁰But, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.

²¹Therefore thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand:

⁷Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

³¹And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

¹⁴My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

²⁴I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.

²⁶Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy:

²⁷That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Lord, hast done it.

²⁸Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.

²⁹Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

¹³²Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

¹³³Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

¹³⁴Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.

³Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

¹³O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

³O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;

⁴If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)

⁵Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

⁹And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

¹⁰And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

¹MOREOVER he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.

²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.

³And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

¹⁰¹I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

¹⁰²I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

¹⁰³How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

¹²Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

¹¹¹Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.

⁹⁷O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

⁷²The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

⁹Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

²⁸He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

¹BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

²⁴Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.

²⁵But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:

⁴I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.

⁵I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

¹⁷But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.

¹¹Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

⁷I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

²⁸Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

¹⁰See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

⁸Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

⁸For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

⁹Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

¹⁵Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

⁶Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression.

⁹For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

¹⁸For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

¹⁹And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.

¹⁹Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

³And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

⁷¶ O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

¹²For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

¹⁵My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;

¹⁶Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:

¹⁷What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.

¹⁹The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.

²⁰They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.

¹HOW long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

²How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

³Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

³My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?

¹I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

²He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

³Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

⁴My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

⁵He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

⁶He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

⁷He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.

⁸Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

⁹He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

¹¹He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.

¹²He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

¹³He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

¹⁴I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.

¹⁵He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.

¹⁶He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.

¹⁷And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

¹⁸And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: