Can a Leopard Change its Spots?

Psalm 118

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his love endures forever.

² Let Israel say:
   “His love endures forever.”
³ Let the house of Aaron say:
   “His love endures forever.”
⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say:
   “His love endures forever.”

⁵ When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
   he brought me into a spacious place.
⁶ The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
   What can mere mortals do to me?
⁷ The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
   I look in triumph on my enemies.

⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to trust in humans.
⁹ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to trust in princes.
¹⁰ All the nations surrounded me,
   but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
¹¹ They surrounded me on every side,
   but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
¹² They swarmed around me like bees,
   but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
¹³ I was pushed back and about to fall,
   but the Lord helped me.
¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my defense;
   he has become my salvation.

¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory
   resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
   ¹⁶ The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
   the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Freedom From Human Rules

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²² These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Plot Against Jeremiah

¹⁸ Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. ¹⁹ I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;
   let us cut him off from the land of the living,
   that his name be remembered no more.”
²⁰ But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously
   and test the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
   for to you I have committed my cause.

²¹ Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth who are threatening to kill you, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord or you will die by our hands”— ²² therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³ Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment. ”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous, Lord,
   when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
   Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
   Why do all the faithless live at ease?
² You have planted them, and they have taken root;
   they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
   but far from their hearts.
³ Yet you know me, Lord;
   you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
   Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
⁴ How long will the land lie parched
   and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
   the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
   “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot
   and they have worn you out,
   how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
   how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
⁶ Your relatives, members of your own family—
   even they have betrayed you;
   they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
   though they speak well of you.

⁷ “I will forsake my house,
   abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
   into the hands of her enemies.
⁸ My inheritance has become to me
   like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
   therefore I hate her.
⁹ Has not my inheritance become to me
   like a speckled bird of prey
   that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
   bring them to devour.
¹⁰ Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
   and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
   into a desolate wasteland.
¹¹ It will be made a wasteland,
   parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
   because there is no one who cares.
¹² Over all the barren heights in the desert
   destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
   from one end of the land to the other;
   no one will be safe.
¹³ They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
   they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
   because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

¹⁴ This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbours who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. ¹⁶ And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ —even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal —then they will be established among my people. ¹⁷ But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

A Linen Belt

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” ² So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

³ Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: ⁴ “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” ⁵ So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

⁶ Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” ⁷ So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! ¹¹ For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.’

Wineskins

¹² “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ ¹³ then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

Threat of Captivity

¹⁵ Hear and pay attention,
   do not be arrogant,
   for the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶ Give glory to the Lord your God
   before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble
   on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
   but he will turn it to utter darkness
   and change it to deep gloom.
¹⁷ If you do not listen,
   I will weep in secret
   because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
   overflowing with tears,
   because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen mother,
   “Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns
   will fall from your heads.”
¹⁹ The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
   and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile,
   carried completely away.

²⁰ Look up and see
   those who are coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,
   the sheep of which you boasted?
²¹ What will you say when the Lord sets over you
   those you cultivated as your special allies?
Will not pain grip you
   like that of a woman in labour?
²² And if you ask yourself,
   “Why has this happened to me?” —
it is because of your many sins
   that your skirts have been torn off
   and your body mistreated.
²³ Can an Ethiopian change his skin
   or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
   who are accustomed to doing evil.

²⁴ “I will scatter you like chaff
   driven by the desert wind.
²⁵ This is your lot,
   the portion I have decreed for you,”
   declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten me
   and trusted in false gods.
²⁶ I will pull up your skirts over your face
   that your shame may be seen —
²⁷ your adulteries and lustful neighings,
   your shameless prostitution!
I have seen your detestable acts
   on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
   How long will you be unclean?”