Daily Bread

²⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.^(A) Is anything too hard for me?^{(B) 28} Therefore this is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar^(C) king of Babylon, who will capture it.^{(D) 29} The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down,^(E) along with the houses^(F) where the people aroused my anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings^(G) to other gods.^(H)

³⁰ “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth;^(I) indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger^(J) with what their hands have made,^(K) declares the Lord. ³¹ From the day it was built until now, this city^(L) has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove^(M) it from my sight. ³² The people of Israel and Judah have provoked^(N) me by all the evil^(O) they have done—they, their kings and officials,^(P) their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. ³³ They turned their backs^(Q) to me and not their faces; though I taught^(R) them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.^{(S) 34} They set up their vile images^(T) in the house that bears my Name^(U) and defiled^(V) it. ³⁵ They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom^(W) to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek,^(X) though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind^(Y)—that they should do such a detestable^(Z) thing and so make Judah sin.^(AA)

³⁶ “You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague^(AB) it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ³⁷ I will surely gather^(AC) them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger^(AD) and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.^{(AE) 38} They will be my people,^(AF) and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them singleness^(AG) of heart and action, so that they will always fear^(AH) me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant^(AI) with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire^(AJ) them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.^{(AK) 41} I will rejoice^(AL) in doing them good^(AM) and will assuredly plant^(AN) them in this land with all my heart and soul.^(AO)

⁴² “This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity^(AP) on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised^(AQ) them. ⁴³ Once more fields will be bought^(AR) in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate^(AS) waste, without people or animals, for it has been given into the hands of the Babylonians.’ ⁴⁴ Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds^(AT) will be signed, sealed and witnessed^(AU) in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev,^(AV) because I will restore^(AW) their fortunes,^[a] declares the Lord.”