“Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ¹  You delivered me ²  from the pit of oblivion. ³  For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁴ 

“As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ¹  when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ²  would never again cover the earth. In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. ¹  But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods ²  and want to pursue them!’

“Tell these people this, Jeremiah: ¹  ‘My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. ²  For my people, my dear children, ³  have suffered a crushing blow. They have suffered a serious wound. ⁴ 

“‘Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again. ¹ 

‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

‘We ¹  are ashamed because we have been insulted. ²  Our faces show our disgrace. ³  For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms ⁴  in the Lord’s temple.’

A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, ¹  my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully ²  on me.

You will be ¹  an object of scorn and taunting, ²  a prime example of destruction ³  among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. ⁴  I, the Lord, have spoken!

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ¹  to kill both people and animals!

“What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “‘The fathers eat sour grapes And the children’s teeth become numb?’ ¹ 

And there you will remember your conduct ¹  and all your deeds by which you defiled yourselves. You will despise yourselves ²  because of all the evil deeds you have done.

On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overly confident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom; ¹  for beware – it is coming!

Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate, they have been given to us for food.”

Then you will remember your evil behavior ¹  and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds.

“But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹  and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ²  ‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ³  (How long will this go on?) ⁴  – he who gets rich by extortion!’ ⁵ 

Jesus ¹  answered, “You don’t know what you are asking! ²  Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink?” ³  They said to him, “We are able.” ⁴ 

Isn’t this the carpenter, the son ¹  of Mary ²  and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” ¹ 

Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, ¹  put it on a stick, ²  and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down!”