Who can know it?

I, the Lord, search the mind, I try the heart, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

JEREMIAH XXIII

Thus saith the Lord:

Hearken not unto the words of the prophets
That speak a vision of their own heart,
And not out of the mouth of the Lord.

For who hath stood in the council of the Lord,
That he should perceive and hear his word?
Who hath marked my word, and heard it?
I sent not these prophets, yet they ran:

I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied!
But if they had stood in my council,

Then had they caused my people to hear my words.

Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord,

And not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places,

That I shall not see him?

Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said, That prophesy in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets,

Even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

What is the straw to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like fire?

And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in

pieces?

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream;

And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

JEREMIAH XXXI

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
That I will make a new covenant with you,
And with your children:

Not according to the covenant that I made with your fathers;

But this is the covenant that I will make with

you,

And with your children, in those days, saith the Lord:

I will put my law in your mind,

And in your heart will I write it;

And I will be your God,

And ye shall be my people.

And ye shall teach no more every man his neighbour,

And every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord:

For ye shall all know me,

From the greatest of you unto the least of you, saith the Lord.

THE LAMENTATIONS

OF JEREMIAH

LAMENTATIONS

Psalms, Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah

Our holy and beautiful house,
Where our fathers praised thee,
Is burned with fire;

And all our pleasant places
Are laid waste.

The ways of Zion do mourn,

Because none come to the solemn feasts.
Her gates are sunk into the ground;

Her bars are sunken and destroyed.

Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?

And how do ye see it now?

Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

All that pass by clap their hands;

They wag their head, and say,

Is this the house that men called The perfection

of beauty,

The joy of the whole earth?

How is the gold become dim!

How is the most pure gold changed!

For these things weep I;

Yea, mine eye runneth down with water.

Wherefore I said, Surely I will not come into

my house,

Nor go up into my bed;

I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep,
Nor mine eyelids to slumber,

Until I find out a place for the Lord,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked,

And, behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

Then said I, Whither goest thou?

And he said unto me, To measure the house,
To see what is the breadth thereof,

And what is the length thereof.
For my house shall be builded,

And a line shall be stretched forth upon it.
Who art thou, O great mountain?

Before the builders thou shalt become a plain: And they shall bring forth the cornerstone therefrom with joy,

Crying, Grace, grace unto it!

And thou shalt rejoice to see the plummet in the hands of the builders.

Wherefore be strong, all ye people, saith the
Lord, and work:

For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.
This house shall be builded,

And this place will I fill with my glory.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine:

The glory of this latter house shall be greater

than of the former,

And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

LAMENTATIONS III

It is of the Lord's lovingkindnesses that we are

not cast down,

Because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;

Great is thy faithfulness.

The Lord is my portion, saith my

Therefore will I hope in him.

soul;

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, To the soul that seeketh him.

It is good that a man should both hope

And quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. For the Lord will not cast off,

No, not for ever.

But though he cause grief,

Yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

For he doth not afflict willingly,

Nor grieve the children of men.

To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,

To subvert a man in his cause:
These the Lord approveth not.
Let us search and try our ways,
And turn again to the Lord.

Let us lift up our heart with our hands
Unto God in the heavens.