[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 21

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 21

DAILY BIBLE READING

Jeremiah 31-33 NKJV

Chapter 31
 31:1  "At the same time," says the LORD, "I will be the God of all the
families of Israel, and they shall be My people."
 31:2  Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword Found grace in
the wilderness Israel, when I went to give him rest."
 31:3  The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you
with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
 31:4  Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!
You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the
dances of those who rejoice.
 31:5  You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; The planters
shall plant and eat them as ordinary food.
 31:6  For there shall be a day When the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim,
'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.' "
 31:7  For thus says the LORD: "Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout
among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O LORD,
save Your people, The remnant of Israel!'
 31:8  Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them
from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman
with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall
return there.
 31:9  They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead
them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way
in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is
My firstborn.
 31:10  "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare it in the isles
afar off, and say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as
a shepherd does his flock.'
 31:11  For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him from the hand of
one stronger than he.
 31:12  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming
to the goodness of the LORD For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of
the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, And
they shall sorrow no more at all.
 31:13  "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and
the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them,
And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.
 31:14  I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people
shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD."
 31:15  Thus says the LORD: "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and
bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted
for her children, Because they are no more."
 31:16  Thus says the LORD: "Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes
from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, And they shall
come back from the land of the enemy.
 31:17  There is hope in your future, says the LORD, That your children
shall come back to their own border.
 31:18  "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'You have chastised
me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will
return, For You are the LORD my God.
 31:19  Surely, after my turning, I repented; And after I was instructed, I
struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, Because I
bore the reproach of my youth.'
 31:20  Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke
against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for
him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.
 31:21  "Set up signposts, Make landmarks; Set your heart toward the
highway, The way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back
to these your cities.
 31:22  How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the
LORD has created a new thing in the earth- A woman shall encompass a man."
 31:23  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "They shall again
use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back
their captivity: 'The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of
holiness!'
 31:24  And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities
together, farmers and those going out with flocks.
 31:25  For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every
sorrowful soul."
 31:26  After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.
 31:27  "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the
house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of
beast.
 31:28  And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck
up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will
watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.
 31:29  In those days they shall say no more: 'The fathers have eaten sour
grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.'
 31:30  But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the
sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
 31:31  "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-
 31:32  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the
day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My
covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
 31:33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write
it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
 31:34  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least
of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
 31:35  Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The
ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the
sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name):
 31:36  "If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the
seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever."
 31:37  Thus says the LORD: "If heaven above can be measured, And the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the
seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.
 31:38  "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be
built for the LORD-from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
 31:39  The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the
hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath.
 31:40  And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all
the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate
toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or
thrown down anymore forever."

Chapter 32
 32:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD-in the tenth year of
Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
 32:2  For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah
the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of
Judah's house.
 32:3  For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, "Why do you
prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will give this city into
the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
 32:4  and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the
Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye;
 32:5  then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I
visit him," says the LORD; "though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall
not succeed" '?"
 32:6  And Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
 32:7  'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you,
saying, "Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is
yours to buy it." '
 32:8  Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison
according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that
is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of
inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I
knew that this was the word of the LORD.
 32:9  So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in
Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money-seventeen shekels of silver.
 32:10  And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the
money on the scales.
 32:11  So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to
the law and custom, and that which was open;
 32:12  and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of
Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of
the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in
the court of the prison.
 32:13  "Then I charged Baruch before them, saying,
 32:14  'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take these deeds,
both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put
them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days."
 32:15  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and
fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land." '
 32:16  "Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of
Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying:
 32:17  'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by
Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
 32:18  You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the
fathers into the bosom of their children after them-the Great, the Mighty
God, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
 32:19  You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open
to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways
and according to the fruit of his doings.
 32:20  You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day,
and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself a name, as it
is this day.
 32:21  You have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with
signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with
great terror;
 32:22  You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers
to give them- "a land flowing with milk and honey."
 32:23  And they came in and took possession of it, but they have not obeyed
Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You
commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come
upon them.
 32:24  'Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and
the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it,
because of the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has
happened; there You see it!
 32:25  And You have said to me, O Lord GOD, "Buy the field for money, and
take witnesses"!-yet the city has been given into the hand of the
Chaldeans.' "
 32:26  Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
 32:27  "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too
hard for Me?
 32:28  Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give this city into
the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
and he shall take it.
 32:29  And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set
fire to this city and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have
offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to
provoke Me to anger;
 32:30  because the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done
only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have
provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,' says the LORD.
 32:31  'For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury
from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from
before My face
 32:32  because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children
of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger-they, their kings,
their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem.
 32:33  And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I
taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened
to receive instruction.
 32:34  But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My
name, to defile it.
 32:35  And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of
the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through
the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My
mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.'
 32:36  "Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning
this city of which you say, 'It shall be delivered into the hand of the king
of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
 32:37  Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven
them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
 32:38  They shall be My people, and I will be their God;
 32:39  then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me
forever, for the good of them and their children after them.
 32:40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not
turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so
that they will not depart from Me.
 32:41  Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly
plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.'
 32:42  "For thus says the LORD: 'Just as I have brought all this great
calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have
promised them.
 32:43  And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, "It is
desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the
Chaldeans."
 32:44  Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take
witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the
cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the
lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to
return,' says the LORD."

Chapter 33
 33:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while
he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
 33:2  "Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish
it (the LORD is His name):
 33:3  'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty
things, which you do not know.'
 33:4  "For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of
this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have beEN Pulled down
to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword:
 33:5  'They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places
with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all
for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.
 33:6  Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and
reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
 33:7  And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to
return, and will rebuild those places as at the first.
 33:8  I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned
against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned
and by which they have transgressed against Me.
 33:9  Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before
all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them;
they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that
I provide for it.'
 33:10  "Thus says the LORD: 'Again there shall be heard in this place-of
which you say, "It is desolate, without man and without beast"-in the cities
of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and
without inhabitant and without beast,
 33:11  the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:
"Praise the LORD of hosts, For the LORD is good, For His mercy endures
forever"- and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house
of the LORD. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the
first,' says the LORD.
 33:12  "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In this place which is desolate,
without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a
dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
 33:13  In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the
cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around
Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the
hands of him who counts them,' says the LORD.
 33:14  'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will perform
that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the
house of Judah:
 33:15  'In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A
Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the
earth.
 33:16  In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely.
And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS.'
 33:17  "For thus says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the
throne of the house of Israel;
 33:18  nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt
offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice
continually.' "
 33:19  And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
 33:20  "Thus says the LORD: 'If you can break My covenant with the day and
My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their
season,
 33:21  then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that
he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the
priests, My ministers.
 33:22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea
measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the
Levites who minister to Me.' "
 33:23  Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
 33:24  "Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, 'The
two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off'? Thus
they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before
them.
 33:25  "Thus says the LORD: 'If My covenant is not with day and night, and
if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,
 33:26  then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant,
so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to
return, and will have mercy on them.' "