Do not  ¹upbraid an elderly man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,

Elderly women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

 ¹Honor widows who are really widows.

But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to  ¹show respect toward their own household and to render a  ²return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

Now she who is really a widow and is left alone has set her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.

But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while living.

These things also charge, that they may be without reproach.

But if anyone does not provide for  ¹his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the  ²faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Let a widow be enrolled, not under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

 ¹Well attested for good works, if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has assisted the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.

But younger widows refuse; for when they follow their passions in disregard of Christ, they desire to marry,

And thus have condemnation because they have set aside their first  ¹pledge.

And at the same time they also learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and they are not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

I will therefore that younger widows marry,  ²bear children, keep house, give no opportunity to the opposer for reproach;

For already some have turned aside after Satan.

If any believing woman has widows in her family, let her assist them, and let not the church be burdened, that it may assist those who are really widows.

Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double  ¹honor,  ²especially those who labor in  ³word and teaching.

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox that is treading out the grain,” and, “The workman is worthy of his pay.”

Against an elder do not  ¹receive an accusation, except based upon two or three witnesses.

The ones who sin  ¹reprove before  ²all that the rest also may have fear.

I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen  ¹angels that you keep these things without  ²prejudice, doing nothing by way of  ³partiality.

 ¹Lay hands  ²quickly on no man, nor participate in others' sins; keep yourself pure.

 ¹No longer drink water only, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent  ²illnesses.

The  ¹sins of some men are openly  ²manifest, going before to judgment; and for others,  ³they  ⁴also follow after.

Likewise also the  ¹good works are openly manifest, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.

The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Arise and go down to the  ¹potter's house, and there I will let you hear My words.

So I went down to the potter's house, and he was there doing work at his wheel.

But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand; so he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good for the potter to make.

And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter does? declares Jehovah. Indeed, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so you are in My hand, O house of Israel.

At the moment that I speak about a nation or about a kingdom, to pluck it up or to break it down or to destroy it,

And if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it.

And at the moment that I speak about a nation or a kingdom, to build it up or to plant it,

And if it does evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit it.

 ¹And now speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Look, I am forming evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one of you from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.

But they say, It is hopeless! For we will walk after our own devices and everyone will do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.

Therefore thus says Jehovah,
Ask now among the nations,
Who has heard such things?
The  ¹virgin of Israel
Has done a very horrible thing.

Does the snow of Lebanon
Leave the rock of the field?
Or will the cold flowing waters
Coming from afar be dried up?

But My people have forgotten Me;They burn incense to vanity,
And they have been stumbled in their ways
From the  ¹ancient paths
To walk on  ¹bypaths,
On a way which is not cast up,

To make their land an astonishment,
A thing to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who passes by will be astonished
And shake his head.

Like the east wind I will scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will show them My back and not My face
In the day of their calamity.

Then they said, Come, let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest or counsel from the wise man or a word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

Give heed to me, O Jehovah,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

Shall evil be recompensed with good?
For they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before You
To speak good for their sake,
To turn away Your wrath from them.

Therefore  ¹deliver up their children to famine,
And give them over to the power of the sword;
And let their wives become
Bereaved of child and be widows;
And let their men be slaughtered to death,
Their young men struck by the sword in battle.

Let a cry be heard from their houses
When You suddenly bring upon them a troop;
For they have dug a pit to capture me
And have hidden snares for my feet.

Yet You, O Jehovah, know
All their counsel against me for my death.
Do not be propitious to their iniquity,
And do not blot out their sin from before You;
But let them be overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the time of Your anger.

Thus says Jehovah, Go and buy a potter's earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests;

And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words which I will speak to you,

And say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I am about to bring evil upon this place, at which the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle;

Because they have forsaken Me and have estranged this place from Me and have burned incense in it to other gods, which neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent,

And they have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come up in My heart.

Therefore indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when this place will no longer be called  ¹Topheth, or the valley of the son of  ¹Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life, and I will give their corpses to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth for food.

And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss at all its wounds.

And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat his neighbor's flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life distress them.

And you shall break the jar in the sight of the men who go with you.

And you shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, So I will break this people and this city in the same way as one breaks the potter's vessel so that it cannot be repaired anymore, and they will bury in Topheth because there will be no other place to bury.

Thus I will deal with this place, declares Jehovah, and with its inhabitants, so as to make this city like Topheth.

And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be like the place Topheth, defiled because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.

Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the house of Jehovah and said to all the people,

Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I am about to bring to this city and upon all its cities all the evil that I have spoken against it because they have stiffened their neck so as not to hear My words.

Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Jehovah, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

And Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the upper gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of Jehovah.

And on the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, Jehovah no longer calls your name Pashhur, but  ¹Magor-missabib.

For thus says Jehovah, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes look on; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will exile them to Babylon and strike them with the sword.

I will also give all the wealth of this city and all its gains and all its precious things; indeed all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them and capture them and bring them to Babylon.

And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity and you will go to Babylon and die there and be buried there, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied falsely.

You have enticed me, O Jehovah, and I let myself be enticed;
You have laid hold of me and have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.

For whenever I speak, I cry out;
I proclaim violence and destruction;
For the word of Jehovah has become to me
A reproach and a derision all day long.

But if I say, I will not mention Him
Or speak anymore in His name,
Then it is in my heart like a burning fire,
Shut up in my bones,
And I am weary of holding it in,
Nor can I.

For I hear the slander of many,
Terror on every side:
Denounce; yes, let us denounce him.
Every familiar friend
Is watching for my stumbling:
Perhaps he will be deceived so we can prevail against him
And take our revenge on him.

But Jehovah is with me like a mighty one who terrifies;
Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail;
They will be greatly ashamed, for they have not prospered,
With an eternal humiliation that will not be forgotten.

But, O Jehovah of hosts, who tries the righteous,
Who sees the inward parts and the heart,
Let me see Your vengeance on them,
For I have revealed my cause to You.

Sing to Jehovah;
Praise Jehovah;
For He has delivered the soul of the poor
From the hand of the evildoers.

Cursed be the day
On which I was born;
Let not the day be blessed
On which my mother bore me.

Cursed be the man who brought good news
To my father, saying,
Causing him much joy.

And let that man be like the cities
Which Jehovah overthrew and did not repent,
And let him hear the cry in the morning
And the alarm in the noontime;

Because he did not put me to death at the womb,
That my mother might be my grave,
And her womb always pregnant.

Why is this? Did I come out from the womb / To see trouble and sorrow, / That my days may be spent in shame?