¹But the  ²Spirit says expressly that in  ³later times some will depart from the  ⁴faith, giving heed to  ⁵deceiving spirits and teachings of  ⁶demons

 ¹By means of the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, of men who are  ²branded in their own conscience as with a  ³hot iron,

Who forbid  ¹marriage and command abstaining from  ¹foods, which  ²God has created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who  ³believe and have  ⁴full knowledge of the truth.

For  ¹every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if received with thanksgiving;

For it is  ¹sanctified through the  ²word of God and  ³intercession.

If you lay these things before the brothers, you will be a good  ¹minister of Christ Jesus,  ²being nourished with the words of the  ³faith and of the  ⁴good teaching which you  ⁵have closely followed.

But the  ¹profane and old-womanish  ²myths  ³refuse, and  ⁴exercise yourself unto godliness.

For bodily exercise is profitable for  ¹a little, but godliness is profitable for  ²all things, having  ³promise of the present life and of that which is to come.

Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance.

For to this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the  ¹living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Charge and teach these things.

Let no one despise your  ¹youth, but be a pattern to the believers in  ²word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in  ³purity.

Until I come, attend to the public  ¹reading, to the exhortation, to the teaching.

Do not neglect the  ¹gift which is  ²in you, which was given to you by means of  ³prophecy with the  ⁴laying on of the hands of the  ⁵presbytery.

Practice these things;  ¹be in them, that your  ²progress may be manifest to all.

 ¹Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things; for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

 ¹Woe is me, my mother, because you bore me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land.
I have not lent with interest,
Nor have they lent to me;
Yet everyone curses me.

Jehovah said, Surely I will set you free for your good;
Indeed I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you
In a time of trouble and in a time of distress.

Can one break  ¹iron,
Iron from the north, or bronze?

 ¹Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as plunder without price,
And that for all your sins,
And within all your borders.

I will cause your enemies to bring it
Into a land you do not know;
For a fire is kindled in My anger,
Which will burn against you.

O Jehovah, You know;
Remember me and visit me,
And  ¹avenge me of my persecutors.
Do not let Your long-suffering for them prevail and have me taken away;
Know that for Your sake I bear reproach.

Your words were found and I  ¹ate them,
And Your word became to me
The gladness and joy of my heart,
For I am called by Your name,
O Jehovah, God of hosts.

I did not sit in the assembly of mockers, nor did I exult.
Because of Your hand I sat alone,
For You have filled me with indignation.

Why is my pain unceasing,
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceitful brook?
Like waters that fail?

Therefore thus says Jehovah,
If  ¹you return, I will restore you;
You will stand before Me;
And if you  ²bring out the precious from the worthless,
You will be as My mouth;
They will turn to you,
But you will not turn to them.

And I will make you to this people
A  ¹fortified wall of bronze;
And they will fight against you,
But they will not prevail against you;
For I am with you
To save you and deliver you,
Declares Jehovah.

And I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked
And redeem you from the hand of those who terrorize.

The word of Jehovah also came to me, saying,

 ¹You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.

For thus says Jehovah concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning their mothers who bear them and concerning their fathers who beget them in this land:

They will die grievous deaths and will not be mourned or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and will be consumed by sword and by famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

For thus says Jehovah, Do not enter the house of mourning, and do not go to mourn, and do not lament for them, for I have taken away My peace from this people, declares Jehovah, My lovingkindness and compassions.

Both the great and the small will die in this land; they will not be buried, nor will they be mourned; and no one will cut himself or make himself bald for them.

Nor will they break bread for them in mourning to comfort anyone for the dead or give them a cup of consolation to drink for his father or for his mother.

And you shall not enter the house of feasting to sit with them and eat and drink.

For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

And when you tell this people all these words and they say to you, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? And what is our iniquity? And what is our sin which we have sinned against Jehovah our God?

Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares Jehovah, and they have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them; but Me they have forsaken, and My law they have not kept.

And you have done more evil than your fathers; for indeed, you go about, each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to Me.

And I will cast you far away from this land into a land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show favor to you.

Therefore indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when it will no longer be said, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,

But, As Jehovah lives, who  ¹brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where He had driven them; for I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their fathers.

I am soon sending many fishermen, declares Jehovah, and they will catch them; and afterward I will send many hunters, and they will hunt for them from every mountain and from every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not concealed from My face, neither is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.

But first I will recompense double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have profaned My land with the corpses of their detestable things, and their abominations have filled My inheritance.

O Jehovah, my strength and my stronghold,
My refuge in the day of distress;
To You the nations come
From the ends of the earth and say,
Surely our fathers inherited falsehood
And vanity, in which there is no profit.

Shall a man make gods for himself,
Though they are no gods?

Therefore now, I am causing them to know;
At this time I will cause them to know
My hand and My might,
And they will know that My name is Jehovah.

The sin of Judah is written
With an iron pen;
With the point of an adamant it is engraved
On the tablet of their heart
And on the horns of your altars,

While their children remember
Their altars and their  ¹Asherahs
Beside flourishing trees
Upon high hills.

O My mountain in the field,
Your wealth and all your treasures
I will give as plunder,
Your high places, because of sin,
Within all your borders.

And you  ¹yourself will let go of your inheritance,
Which I gave to you;
And I will cause you to serve your enemies
In a land which you do not know;
For you have kindled a fire in My anger,
Which will burn forever.

Thus says Jehovah,
Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his arm
And whose heart turns away from Jehovah.

And he will be like a shrub in the desert
And will not see when good comes;
But he will dwell in the parched places in the wilderness,
A land of salt and uninhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah
And whose trust Jehovah is.

And he will be like a  ¹tree transplanted beside water,
Which sends out its roots by a stream,
And will not be afraid when heat comes;
For its leaves remain flourishing,
And it will not be anxious in the year of drought
And will not cease to bear fruit.

The  ¹heart is deceitful above all things,
And it is incurable;
Who can know it?

I, Jehovah,  ¹search the heart
And test the inward parts,
Even to give to each one according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his deeds.

As a partridge broods over what she has not laid,
A man makes riches but not rightly;
In the midst of his days they will leave him,
And at his end he will be a fool.

A throne of glory set on high from the beginning
Is the place of our sanctuary.

You are the hope of Israel, O Jehovah;
All who forsake You will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from Me will be written in the earth
Because they  ¹forsook Jehovah,
The fountain of living waters.

Heal me, O Jehovah, and I will be healed;
Save me and I will be saved,
For You are my praise.

Indeed, they say to me,
Where is the word of Jehovah?
Let it come now!

But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,
And I have not desired a day of disaster.
You know that what came out of my lips
Was before Your face.

Do not become a terror to me;
You are my refuge in an evil day.

Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, do not let me be put to shame;
Let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed.
Bring upon them an evil day,
And break them with a double destruction.

Thus said Jehovah to me, Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in and through which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,

And say to them, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates:

Thus says Jehovah, Take heed to your souls and bear no burden on the  ¹Sabbath day, nor bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem.

And do not bring out any burden from your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work; but sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

But they did not listen or incline their ear; rather they stiffened their neck that they might not hear or receive correction.

But if indeed you listen to Me, declares Jehovah, and bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but sanctify the Sabbath day and do not do any work on it,

Then kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding on chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will come through the gates of this city; and this city will be inhabited forever.

And they will come from the cities of Judah and the places surrounding Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland and from the hill country and from the  ¹Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and meal offerings and frankincense and bringing thanksgiving to the house of Jehovah.

But if you do not listen to Me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden when coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and will not be extinguished.