Elijah was a prophet from the town of Tishbe in Gilead. Elijah said to King Ahab, “I serve the Lord God of Israel. By his power, I promise that no dew or rain will fall during the next few years. The rain will fall only if I command it to fall.”
Jeremiah 15:19 - Easy To Read Version Then, the Lord said,\par “Jeremiah, if you change\par and come back to me,\par then I will not punish you.\par If you change and come back to me,\par then you can serve me.\par If you speak important things,\par and not those worthless words,\par then you can speak for me.\par The people of Judah should change\par and come back to you \{Jeremiah\}.\par But don’t you change\par and be like them.\par Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you–not you to [the people]. American Standard Version (1901) Therefore thus saith Jehovah, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, that thou mayest stand before me; and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them. Common English Bible Therefore, the LORD proclaims: If you return to me, I will take you back and let you stand before me. If you utter what is worthwhile, not what is worthless, you will be my spokesman. They will turn to you, not you to them! Catholic Public Domain Version Because of this, thus says the Lord: "If you will be converted, I will convert you. And you will stand before my face. And you will separate what is precious from what is vile. You will be my mouthpiece. They will be converted to you, but you will not be converted to them. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face: and if thou wilt separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. They shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them. |
Elijah was a prophet from the town of Tishbe in Gilead. Elijah said to King Ahab, “I serve the Lord God of Israel. By his power, I promise that no dew or rain will fall during the next few years. The rain will fall only if I command it to fall.”
So go. I will be with you when you speak. I will give you the words to say.”
If a person is skilled in his work, then he is good enough to serve kings. He will not have to work for people who are not important.
Then the Lord reached out with his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said to me,
The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel were here to pray for the people of Judah, I would not feel sorry for these people. Send the people of Judah away from me. Tell them to go.
Sometimes I say to myself,\par “I will forget about the Lord.\par I will not speak any more\par in the name of the Lord!”\par But when I say that,\par then the Lord’s message is like a fire\par burning inside of me!\par It feels like it is burning\par deep in my bones!\par I get tired of trying to hold\par the Lord’s message inside of me.\par And finally, I am not able to hold it in.\par
So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: There will always be a descendant {\cf2\super [299]} of Jonadab son of Recab to serve me.’”
This message is from the Lord.\par “Israel, if you want to come back,\par then come back to me.\par Throw away your idols.\par Don’t wander away from me.\par
\{They are like a worker\par that tried to make silver pure.\}\par The bellows {\cf2\super [49]} blew strongly\par \{and the fire became hotter\}.\par But only lead came from the fire! {\cf2\super [50]} \par The worker wasted his time\par trying to make that silver pure.\par In the same way, the evil was not removed\par \{from my people\}.\par
All the people of Jerusalem are groaning.\par All of her people are looking for food.\par They are giving away all their nice things for food.\par They are doing this to keep alive.\par Jerusalem says,\par “Look, Lord. Look at me!\par See how people hate me.\par
You must tell them the things I say. I know they won’t listen to you. And they won’t stop sinning against me! Why? Because they are a rebellious people.
“The priests have really hurt my teachings. They don’t treat my holy things right—they don’t show they are important. They treat holy things just like things that are not holy. They treat clean {\cf2\super [177]} things just like things that are unclean. They don’t teach the people about these things. They refuse to respect my special days of rest. They treat me like I am not important.
“Also, the priests must teach my people the difference between the holy things and the things that are not holy. They must help my people know what is clean and what is unclean.
You must make a clear distinction (difference) between things that are holy and things that are not holy. You must make a clear distinction between things that are clean [118] and things that are unclean. [119]
Those rules teach when things are clean [232] and when things are unclean. [233] Those are the rules about those kinds of disease.
“Go to that big city Nineveh, and preach the things that I tell you.”
The Lord All-Powerful said these things.\par “Live the way I tell you,\par and do all the things I say.\par And you will be in charge of my temple.\par You will take care of its courtyard.\par You will be free to go\par anywhere in my temple\par just like these angels standing here.\par
The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I always stand ready before God. God sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news.
“When a person listens to you, that person is really listening to me. But when a person refuses to accept you, that person is really refusing to accept me. And when a person refuses to accept me, he is refusing to accept the One (God) that sent me.”
At that time the Holy Spirit {\cf2\super [228]} will teach you what you must say.”
I will give you the wisdom to say things that none of your enemies can answer.
So be ready all the time. Pray that you will be strong enough to continue safely through all these things that will happen. And pray that you will be able to stand before the Son of Man. {\cf2\super [336]} ”
I can say this because I know that I told you everything that God wants you to know.
That is why we never become weak. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day.
Now do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No! God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Jesus Christ.
But we did not agree with anything those false brothers wanted! We wanted the truth of the Good News to continue for you.
We have a great high priest {\cf2\super [35]} who has gone to live with God in heaven. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us continue strongly in the faith we have.