Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the  ¹faith of God's  ²chosen ones and the  ³full knowledge of the truth, which is  ⁴according to godliness,

In the  ¹hope of  ²eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,  ³promised  ⁴before the times of the ages

But in  ¹its own times manifested  ²His word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the  ³command of our Savior God;

To Titus, genuine child according to the  ¹common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

For this cause I left you in Crete, that you might set in order the things which I have begun that remain and appoint elders in  ¹every city, as I directed you:

If anyone is unreprovable, the  ¹husband of one wife, having believing children not accused of dissoluteness or unruly.

For the  ¹overseer must be unreprovable as a steward of God, not self-willed,  ²not quick tempered,  ³not an excessive drinker,  ⁴not a striker,  ⁵not greedy for base gain;

But  ¹hospitable, a lover of good,  ²of a sober mind, righteous,  ³holy, self-controlled;

 ¹Holding to the  ²faithful word, which is according to the  ³teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the  ⁴healthy teaching and to  ⁵convict  ⁶those who oppose.

For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially  ¹those of the circumcision,

Whose mouths must be  ¹stopped, who overthrow whole households, teaching things  ²for the sake of base gain, which they ought not to do.

One from among  ¹themselves, a  ²prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle  ³gluttons.

This testimony is true; for which cause  ¹reprove them  ²severely that they may be  ³healthy in the  ⁴faith,

Not paying attention to Jewish  ¹myths and the  ²commandments of men who  ³turn away from the  ⁴truth.

 ¹All things are pure to the pure; yet to those who are  ²defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their  ³mind and their conscience are  ²defiled.

They  ¹profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and, as to every good work,  ²disapproved.

The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Thus speaks Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Write in a book all the words which I have spoken to you.

Yes indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will turn the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah, and I will bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.

And these are the words which Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:

For thus says Jehovah,
We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of fear and not of peace.

Ask now and see
Whether a man can give birth.
Why do I see every man
With his hands on his loins like a woman about to give birth
And every face turned pale?

Alas! For that day is great,
And there is none like it;
And it is a time of  ¹distress for Jacob,
But he will be saved out of it.

And on that day, declares Jehovah of hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your bonds, and strangers will no longer make him serve them.
land in faithfulnes with all My heart and with all My soul.

But they will serve Jehovah their God and  ¹David their King, whom I will raise up for them.

Therefore do not fear, O Jacob My servant, declares Jehovah,
And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For indeed, I will save you from afar,
And your seed from the land of their captivity;
And Jacob will return and be undisturbed and at ease,
And no one will frighten him.

For I am with you, declares Jehovah, to save you;
For I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have scattered you;
But I will not make a full end of you,
But will correct you in measure
And will by no means leave you unpunished.

For thus says Jehovah,
Your hurt is incurable;
Your wound is grievous.

There is none to judge your judgment, to bind your wound;
There are no healing medicines for you.

All your lovers have forgotten you;
They do not search for you;
For I have struck you with the striking of an enemy,
With the chastisement of one who is cruel,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity;
Your sins are numerous.

Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because of the greatness of your iniquity,
Because your sins are numerous,
I have done these things to you.

Therefore all those who consume you will be consumed,
And all those who distress you, every one of them, will go into captivity;
And those who plunder you will become plunder,
And all those who prey on you I will make a prey.

For I will bring you recovery
And will heal you of your wounds, declares Jehovah;
Because they have called you an outcast, saying,
She is Zion, whom no one searches after.

Thus says Jehovah,
I will turn the captivity of the tents of Jacob
And have compassion on his dwelling places;
And the city will be rebuilt on its mound,
And the palace will be inhabited after its own manner.

And out from them will come thanksgiving
And the voice of those who make merry.
And I will multiply them, so that they will not be few;
And I will cause them to be honored, so that they will not be small.

And  ¹their children will be as they were of old,
And  ¹their assembly will be established before Me;
And I will punish all those who oppress  ²them,

And their leader will be one of them.
And their ruler will come out from their midst,
And I will bring him near, and he will approach Me.
For who else would be bold enough
To approach Me? declares Jehovah.

And you will be My people,
And I will be your God.

Look, the storm wind of Jehovah!
Wrath has gone forth,
A whirling tempest;
It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.

The burning anger of Jehovah will not turn back,
Until He has executed and until He has accomplished
The purposes of His heart;
In the last days You will understand it.

At that time, declares Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.

Thus says Jehovah,
The people who survived the sword
Found favor in the wilderness —
Even Israel, when I went to give him rest.

Jehovah appeared to me from afar, saying,
Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love,
Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

I will build you again, and you will be built,
O virgin of Israel.
Again you will adorn yourself with your tambourines
And will go forth in the dance of those who make merry.

Again you will plant vineyards
On the mountains of Samaria;
The planters will plant
And will partake of the fruit.

For there will be a day when watchmen call out
In the hill country of Ephraim,
Saying, Arise and let us go up to Zion,
To Jehovah our God.

For thus says Jehovah,
Give a ringing shout with joy for Jacob,
And cry out at the head of the nations;
Announce, praise, and say,
O Jehovah, save Your people,
The remnant of Israel.

I will bring them
From the land of the north,
And I will gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,
The blind and the lame among them,
The pregnant woman and she who is travailing together,
A great assembly; they will return here.

They will come with weeping,
And with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by the waterbrooks
In a straight way, in which they will not stumble;
For I am a Father to Israel,
And Ephraim is My firstborn.

Hear the word of Jehovah, O nations,
And declare in the coastlands from afar,
And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him
And keep him, as a shepherd his flock.

For Jehovah has ransomed Jacob
And redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.

And they will come and sing in the height of Zion,
And they will flow forth to the goodness of Jehovah —
To the grain and to the new wine and to the fresh oil
And to the young of the flock and of the herd;
And their soul will be like a watered garden,
And they will not languish anymore.

Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance,
And the young men and the old men together,
And I will turn their mourning to gladness
And comfort them and cause them to rejoice after their sorrow.

And I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance,
And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,
Declares Jehovah.

Thus says Jehovah,
A voice is heard in Ramah,
A wailing, a very bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.

Thus says Jehovah,
Hold back your voice from weeping
And your eyes from tears;
For there is a reward for your work, declares Jehovah;
And they will return from the land of the enemy.

And there is hope for your latter end, declares Jehovah,
That your children will return to their own border.

Indeed I have heard Ephraim lamenting,
You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained calf;
Bring me back that I may be restored,
For You are Jehovah my God.

For after I turned back, I repented;
And after I was instructed,
I struck myself on the thigh.
I was ashamed and even confounded,
For I bear the reproach of my youth.

Is Ephraim a precious son to Me?
Or a child of My good pleasure?
For as often as I speak against him,
I surely remember him more;
Therefore My bowels moan for him;
I will surely have mercy on him, declares Jehovah.

Set up road markers for yourself;
Make signposts for yourself;
Pay attention to the highway,
The way you went;
Return, O virgin of Israel;
Return to these cities of yours.

How long will you wander here and there,
O apostate daughter?
For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth:
A female will encompass a mighty man.

Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Once more they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn again their captivity,
Jehovah bless you,  ¹O habitation of righteousness,
O  ¹mountain of holiness.

And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmers and they who wander with the flocks.

For I have satisfied the weary soul and filled every languishing soul.

At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

And as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares Jehovah.

In those days they will no longer say,
The fathers eat sour grapes,
And the children's teeth are set on edge.

For everyone will die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.

Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a  ¹new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

Not like the  ¹covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah.

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My  ¹law in their inward parts and  ²write it upon their hearts; and I will be their  ³God, and they will be My people.

And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will  ¹know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will  ²forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more  ³.

Thus says Jehovah,
Who gives the sun for light by day
And the order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar —
Jehovah of hosts is His name —

If this order departs
From before Me, declares Jehovah,
Then the seed of Israel will also cease
From being a nation before Me  ¹forever.

Thus says Jehovah,
If the heavens above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth below can be examined carefully,
Then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel
For all they have done, declares Jehovah.

Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when the city will be built unto Jehovah from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

And the measuring line will go out even further beyond it to the hill of Gareb and will turn toward Goah.

And the whole valley of corpses and of fatty ashes and all the fields as far as the brook of Kidron unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east will be holy to Jehovah; it will not be uprooted or torn down anymore forever.