The Theoretical Jehovist

PRESCIENT PROVERBIALS, PRONOUNCEMENTS & PERSPICACITIES FROM THE JEHOVAH 'EFFECTED' MINDSET CALL TO ME, AND I SHALL ANSWER YOU AND READILY TELL YOU GREAT AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN. -Jeremiah 33:3, NWT THE GLORY OF GOD IS THE KEEPING OF A MATTER SECRET, AND THE GLORY OF KINGS IS THE SEARCHING THROUGH A MATTER. THE HEAVENS FOR HEIGHT AND THE EARTH FOR DEPTH, AND THE HEART OF KINGS, THAT IS UNSEARCHABLE. -Proverbs 25:2-3, NWT FOR THERE IS NOTHING COVERED OVER THAT WILL NOT BECOME UNCOVERED, AND SECRET THAT WILL NOT BECOME KNOWN. -Matthew 10:26, NWT FOR IT IS WRITTEN: I WILL MAKE THE WISDOM OF THE WISE [MEN] PERISH, AND THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE INTELLECTUAL [MEN] I WILL SHOVE ASIDE. -1 Corinthians 1:18, NWT THERE IS NO WISDOM, NOR ANY DISCERNMENT, NOR ANY COUNSEL IN OPPOSITION TO JEHOVAH. -Proverbs 21:30, NWT SUPPLEMENTUM TO THE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 777

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

They are wrong about the judgment, because God has already judged the ruler of this world: Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment...

“I hear the evil calling of the spirits of the dark And see the beauty and the power of the devils mark The night always calls my name Gaze into my eyes and see the shadows of the flames Of hells fire Torture and pain I desire Let the flames reach higher And lick the realms of the Nazarene liar Dark reflections sweep the night a call from the depths of the earth Antichrist is rising the image of Him to which hell gave birth Necromantical chants are brought forth by the winds of the north The message of destruction from Satan and his court The toll of damnations bell Open the gates to hell I can feel the delightful smell Of rotten souls who in darkness dwell Thou - The archangel who fell from the heavenly empire Thou - The hand that wound with evil and unholy desire Thou - The black lord of the unlight to which we all belong From the deepest part of gehenna tormented souls sings damnations song Write my name with the slaughtered angels blood As I step in the face of the fallen soldiers of god All the children of Jehova will always be our prey Beyond the pearly gates we shall crush, rape destroy and slay Grant us the first power Up from hell we storm at the witching hour Where we ride the soil turns sour The evil eye behold from hells highest tower The power of christ doesn't compel me Lucifer I kneel before thee Join the forces of Satan for you will see Grim and dark the future is going to be Of hells fire”

MARDUK / OF HELLS FIRE

THIS IS NOT A GAME: I Hear The Evil Calling of The Spirits of The Dark and See The Beauty and The Power of The Devils Mark

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

"For I am more unreasoning than anyone else, and I do not have the understanding of mankind and I have not learned wisdom; and the knowledge of the Most Holy One I do not know. Who has ascended to heaven that he may descend? Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of both hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in a mantle? Who has made all the ends of the earth to rise? What is his name and what the name of his son, in case you know? Every saying of God is refined. He is a shield to those taking refuge in him. Add nothing to his words, that he may not reprove you, and that you may not have to be proved a liar. Two things I have asked of you. Do not withhold them from me before I die. Untruth and the lying word put far away from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Let me devour the food prescribed for me, that I may not become satisfied and I actually deny [you] and say: “Who is Jehovah?”

-Proverbs 30:2-9, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

The perversity of you men: Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way...

“Our father, who art in hell Unhallowed be thy name Thy legions come Thy enemies begone On earth as it is in the netherworld Embrace our souls untraveled Let us sail to the farthest sea Ignite our craving hearts Illuminate our ageless will

Dissolve! Coagulate!

Our father, who lies in wait Unhallowed be thy name Thy kingdom enshrines Thy phosphor blinds On earth as it is in hell Embrace my soul untraveled Let me sail to the farthest sea When I am thou, O lord And lord when thou art me

Dissolve! Coagulate!

By thou holy name Satan And his command Heaven shall burn!

By thou holy name Lucifer At his command Heaven shall blaze! By thou holy name Leviathan At his command Heaven shall burn! By thou holy name Belial At his command Heaven shall burn!”

Havohej Pantocrator / Behemoth

Dissolve Coagulate: Our Father Who Lies in Wait

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

“I have let myself be searched for by those who had not asked [for me]. I have let myself be found by those who had not looked for me. I have said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that was not calling upon my name. “I have spread out my hands all day long to a stubborn people, those who are walking in the way that is not good, after their thoughts; the people [made up of] those offending me right to my face constantly, sacrificing in the gardens and making sacrificial smoke upon the bricks, seating themselves among the burial places, who also pass the night even in the watch huts, eating the flesh of the pig, even the broth of foul things being in their vessels; those who are saying, ‘Keep close to yourself. Do not approach me, for I shall certainly convey holiness to you.’ These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day long. “Look! It is written before me. I shall not keep still, but I will render a reward; I will even render the reward into their own bosom, for their own errors and for the errors of their forefathers at the same time,” Jehovah has said. “Because they have made sacrificial smoke upon the mountains, and upon the hills they have reproached me, I will also measure out their wages first of all into their own bosom.”

-Isaiah 65:1-7, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

Death is the punishment for witchcraft to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever: They have shed the blood of the Prophets and of The Holy Ones, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve it…

“When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge itself becomes pleasant to your very soul, thinking ability itself will keep guard over you, discernment itself will safeguard you, to deliver you from the bad way, from the man speaking perverse things, from those leaving the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, from those who are rejoicing in doing bad, who are joyful in the perverse things of badness.”

-Proverbs 2:10-14, NWT

Those Leaving The Paths Of Uprightness To Walk In The Ways Of Darkness

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

"For this is what Jehovah has said: “It was for nothing that YOU people were sold, and it will be without money that YOU will be repurchased.” For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “It was to Egypt that my people went down in the first instance to reside there as aliens; and without cause As·syr'i·a, for its part, oppressed them.” “And now, what interest do I have here?” is the utterance of Jehovah. “For my people were taken for nothing. The very ones ruling over them kept howling,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and constantly, all day long, my name was being treated with disrespect. For that reason my people will know my name, even for that reason in that day, because I am the One that is speaking. Look! It is I.”

-Isaiah 52:3-6, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

Jehovah himself will laugh at him, for he certainly sees that his day will come: In every place are the eyes of Jehovah observing closely the evil and the good…

“O God of acts of vengeance, Jehovah, O God of acts of vengeance, beam forth!

Raise yourself up, O Judge of the earth. Bring back a retribution upon the haughty ones.

How long are the wicked, O Jehovah, How long are the wicked themselves going to exult?

They keep bubbling forth, they keep speaking unrestrained; All the practicers of what is hurtful keep bragging about themselves.

Your people, O Jehovah, they keep crushing, And your inheritance they keep afflicting.

The widow and the alien resident they kill, And the fatherless boys they murder.

And they keep saying: “Jah does not see; And the God of Jacob does not understand [it].”

Understand, YOU who are unreasoning among the people; And as for YOU stupid ones, when will YOU have any insight?

The One planting the ear, can he not hear? Or the One forming the eye, can he not look?

The One correcting the nations, can he not reprove, Even the One teaching men knowledge?

Jehovah is knowing the thoughts of men, that they are as an exhalation.”

-Psalms 94:1-11, NWT

The One Planting The Ear, Can He Not Hear? Or The One Forming The Eye, Can He Not Look?

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

“‘Therefore, look! days are coming,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘when it will no more be said: “As Jehovah is alive who brought the sons of Israel up out of the land of Egypt!” but: “As Jehovah is alive who brought the sons of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the lands to which he had dispersed them!” and I shall certainly bring them back to their soil, which I gave to their forefathers.’

“‘Here I am sending for many fishers,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and they will certainly fish for them; and afterward I shall send for many hunters, and they will certainly hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the crags. For my eyes are upon all their ways. They have not been concealed from before me, neither has their error been hid from in front of my eyes. And, first of all, I will repay the full amount of their error and of their sin, on account of their profaning my land. With the corpses of their disgusting things and their detestable things they had filled my inheritance.’”

O Jehovah my strength and my stronghold, and my place for flight in the day of distress, to you the nations themselves will come from the ends of the earth, and they will say: “Indeed our forefathers came to possess sheer falsehood, vanity and things in which there was nothing beneficial.” Can earthling man make for himself gods when they are no gods?

“Therefore here I am causing them to know; at this one time I shall cause them to know my hand and my mightiness, and they will have to know that my name is Jehovah.”

-Jeremiah 16:14-21, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

The foot will trample it down, the feet of the afflicted one: Your deal with death will be abolished, and your pact with Hell will not stand. When the inundating scourge passes through, you will be trampled down by it…  

“‘A son, for his part, honors a father; and a servant, his grand master. So if I am a father, where is the honor to me? And if I am a grand master, where is the fear of me?’ Jehovah of armies has said to YOU, O priests who are despising my name.

“‘And YOU have said: “In what way have we despised your name?”’

“‘[By] presenting upon my altar polluted bread.’

“‘And YOU have said: “In what way have we polluted you?”’

“‘By YOUR saying: “The table of Jehovah is something to be despised.” And when YOU present a blind [animal] for sacrificing: “It is nothing bad.” And when YOU present a lame [animal] or a sick one: “It is nothing bad.”’

“Bring it near, please, to your governor. Will he find pleasure in you, or will he receive you kindly?” Jehovah of armies has said.

“And now, please, soften the face of God, that he may show us favor. From YOUR hand this has occurred. Will he receive any of YOU men kindly?” Jehovah of armies has said.

“Who also is there among YOU that will shut the doors? And YOU men will not light my altar—for nothing. No delight do I have in YOU,” Jehovah of armies has said, “and in the gift offering from YOUR hand I take no pleasure.”

“For from the sun’s rising even to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place sacrificial smoke will be made, a presentation will be made to my name, even a clean gift; because my name will be great among the nations,” Jehovah of armies has said.

“But YOU men are profaning me by YOUR saying, ‘The table of Jehovah is something polluted, and its fruit is something to be despised, its food.’ And YOU have said, ‘Look! What a weariness!’ and YOU have caused a sniffing at it,” Jehovah of armies has said. “And YOU have brought something torn away, and the lame one, and the sick one; yes, YOU have brought [it] as a gift. Can I take pleasure in it at YOUR hand?” Jehovah has said.

“And cursed is the one acting cunningly when there exists in his drove a male animal, and he is making a vow and sacrificing a ruined one to Jehovah. For I am a great King,” Jehovah of armies has said, “and my name will be fear-inspiring among the nations.”

-Micah 1:6-14, NWT

NO DELIGHT: You Men Will Not Light My Altar

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

"In no way is there anyone like you, O Jehovah. You are great, and your name is great in mightiness. Who should not fear you, O King of the nations, for to you it is fitting; because among all the wise ones of the nations and among all their kingships there is in no way anyone like you. And at one and the same time they prove to be unreasoning and stupid. A tree is a mere exhortation of vanities. Silver beaten into plates is what is brought in even from Tar'shish, and gold from U'phaz, the workmanship of a craftsman and of the hands of a metalworker; their clothing is blue thread and wool dyed reddish purple. They are all the workmanship of skilled people.

But Jehovah is in truth God. He is the living God and the King to time indefinite. Because of his indignation the earth will rock, and no nations will hold up under his denunciation. This is what YOU men will say to them: “The gods that did not make the very heavens and the earth are the ones who will perish from the earth and from under these heavens." He is the Maker of the earth by his power, the One firmly establishing the productive land by his wisdom, and the One who by his understanding stretched out the heavens. At [his] voice there is a giving by him of a turmoil of waters in the heavens, and he causes vapors to ascend from the extremity of the earth. He has made even sluices for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Every man has behaved so unreasoningly as not to know. Every metalworker will certainly feel shame because of the carved image; for his molten image is a falsehood, and there is no spirit in them. They are vanity, a work of mockery. In the time of their being given attention they will perish."

-Jeremiah 10:6-15, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

As I am alive: He is not the God of the dead, but of the living…

To Lord Byron in the Wilderness

What doest thou here, Elijah? Can a Poet doubt the Visions of Jehovah? Nature has no Outline, But Imagination has. Nature has no Tune, but Imagination has. Nature has no Supernatural, and dissolves: Imagination is eternity.

SCENE – A rocky Country. EVE, fainted, over the dead body of ABEL, which lays near a Grave. ADAM kneels by her. JEHOVAH stands above.

Jehovah. Adam!

Adam. I will not hear Thee more, Thou Spiritual Voice Is this Death?

Jehovah. Adam!

Adam. It is in vain: I will not hear Thee Henceforth. Is this Thy Promise, that the Woman’s seed Should bruise the Serpent’s head? Is this the Serpent? Ah! Seven times, O Eve! thou hast fainted over the Dead. Ah! Ah!

EVE revives.

Eve. Is this the Promise of Jehovah? O! it is all a vain delusion, This Death, and this Life, and this Jehovah!

Jehovah. Woman, lift thine eyes!

A Voice is heard coming on.

Voice. O Earth, cover not thou my blood! cover not thou my blood!

Enter the Ghost of ABEL.

Eve. Thou visionary Phantasm, thou art not the real Abel.

Abel. Among the Elohim, a Human Victim I wander: I am their House.

Prince of the Air, and our dimensions compass Zenith and Nadir.

Vain is Thy Covenant, O Jehovah! I am the Accuser and Avenger

Of Blood. O Earth! cover not thou the blood of Abel.

Jehovah. What Vengeance dost thou require?

Abel. Life for Life! Life for Life!

Jehovah. He who shall take Cain’s life must also die, O Abel! And who is he? Adam, wilt thou, or Eve, thou do this?

Adam. It is all a vain delusion of the all-creative Imagination. Eve, come away, and let us not believe these vain delusions. Abel is dead, and Cain slew him. We shall also die a death, And then – what then? Be, as poor Abel, a Thought; or as This? O! what shall I call Thee, Form Divine, Father of Mercies,

That appearest to my Spiritual Vision? Eve, seest thou also?

Eve. I see Him plainly with my Mind’s Eye. I see also Abel living, Tho’ terribly afflicted, as we also are; yet Jehovah sees him Alive and not dead. Were it not better to believe Vision With all our might and strength, tho’ we are fallen and lost?

Adam. Eve, thou hast spoken truly; let us kneel before His feet.

They kneel before JEHOVAH.

Abel. Are these the sacrifices of Eternity, O Jehovah – a broken spirit

And a contrite heart? O! I cannot forgive: the Accuser hath Enter’d into me as into his house, and I loathe Thy Tabernacles.

As Thou hast said, so is it come to pass. My desire is unto Cain,

And he doth rule over me; therefore my soul in fumes of blood

Cries for Vengeance, Sacrifice on Sacrifice, Blood on Blood!

Jehovah. Lo! I have given you a Lamb for an Atonement, instead Of the transgressor, or no Flesh or Spirit could ever live.

Abel. Compellèd I cry, O Earth! cover not the blood of Abel.

ABEL. Sinks down into the Grave, from which arises SATAN, armed in glittering scales, with a Crown and a Spear.

Satan. I will have Human blood, and not the blood of bulls or goats,

And no Atonement, O Jehovah! The Elohim live on Sacrifice Of Men: hence I am God of Men! Thou human, O Jehovah!

By the rock and oak of the Druid, creeping mistletoe, and thorn,

Cain’s city built with human blood, not blood of bulls and goats,

Thou shalt Thyself be sacrificed to Me, thy God! on Calvary.

Jehovah. Such is My Will – (Thunders) – that thou thyself go to Eternal Death.

In Self-Annihilation, even till Satan, self-subdu’d, put off Satan

Into the Bottomless Abyss, whose torment arises for ever and ever.

On each side a chorus of Angels, entering, sing the following:-

The Elohim of the Heathen swore Vengeance for Sin! Then Thou stood'st

Forth, O Elohim Jehovah! in the midst of the darkness of the Oath, all clothèd

In Thy Covenant of the Forgiveness of Sins. Death, O Holy! Is this Brotherhood?

The Elohim saw their Oath Eternal Fire: they rollèd apart, trembling, over the

Mercy-seat, each in his station fixt in the firmament by Peace Brotherhood, and Love.

The Curtain falls.

-A REVELATION IN THE VISIONS OF JEHOVAH SEEN BY WILLIAM BLAKE

ABEL: Jehovah Sees Him Alive And Not Dead

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

"This is what Jehovah has said: “The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where, then, is the house that YOU people can build for me, and where, then, is the place as a resting-place for me?”

“Now all these things my own hand has made, so that all these came to be,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “To this one, then, I shall look, to the one afflicted and contrite in spirit and trembling at my word.“

The one slaughtering the bull is as one striking down a man. The one sacrificing the sheep is as one breaking the neck of a dog. The one offering up a gift—the blood of a pig! The one presenting a memorial of frankincense is as one saying a blessing with uncanny words. They are also the ones that have chosen their own ways, and in their disgusting things their very soul has taken a delight. I myself, in turn, shall choose ways of ill-treating them; and the things frightful to them I shall bring upon them; for the reason that I called, but there was no one answering; I spoke, but there were none that listened; and they kept on doing what was bad in my eyes, and the thing in which I took no delight they chose.”

Hear the word of Jehovah, YOU men who are trembling at his word: “YOUR brothers that are hating YOU, that are excluding YOU by reason of my name, said, ‘May Jehovah be glorified!’ He must also appear with rejoicing on YOUR part, and they are the ones that will be put to shame.”

There is a sound of uproar out of the city, a sound out of the temple! It is the sound of Jehovah repaying what is deserved to his enemies."

-Isaiah 6:1-6, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

The devil has sinned from the beginning: Too bad for them, because they have gone in the path of Cain... 

In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God’s active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. And God proceeded to say: “Let light come to be.” Then there came to be light. After that God saw that the light was good, and God brought about a division between the light and the darkness. And God began calling the light Day, but the darkness he called Night. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a first day.

And God went on to say: “Let an expanse come to be in between the waters and let a dividing occur between the waters and the waters.” Then God proceeded to make the expanse and to make a division between the waters that should be beneath the expanse and the waters that should be above the expanse. And it came to be so. And God began to call the expanse Heaven. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a second day.

And God went on to say: “Let the waters under the heavens be brought together into one place and let the dry land appear.” And it came to be so. And God began calling the dry land Earth, but the bringing together of the waters he called Seas. Further, God saw that [it was] good. And God went on to say: “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds, the seed of which is in it, upon the earth.” And it came to be so. And the earth began to put forth grass, vegetation bearing seed according to its kind and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in it according to its kind. Then God saw that [it was] good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a third day.

And God went on to say: “Let luminaries come to be in the expanse of the heavens to make a division between the day and the night; and they must serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years. And they must serve as luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth.” And it came to be so. And God proceeded to make the two great luminaries, the greater luminary for dominating the day and the lesser luminary for dominating the night, and also the stars. Thus God put them in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth, and to dominate by day and by night and to make a division between the light and the darkness. Then God saw that [it was] good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fourth day.

And God went on to say: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.” And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good. With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters in the sea basins, and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fifth day.

And God went on to say: “Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.” And it came to be so. And God proceeded to make the wild beast of the earth according to its kind and the domestic animal according to its kind and every moving animal of the ground according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good.

And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.” And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. Further, God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.”

And God went on to say: “Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so.

After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth and all their army came to their completion. And by the seventh day God came to the completion of his work that he had made, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had made. And God proceeded to bless the seventh day and make it sacred, because on it he has been resting from all his work that God has created for the purpose of making.

This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.

Now there was as yet no bush of the field found in the earth and no vegetation of the field was as yet sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain upon the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground.

And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul. Further, Jehovah God planted a garden in E’den, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Thus Jehovah God made to grow out of the ground every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food and also the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

Now there was a river issuing out of E’den to water the garden, and from there it began to be parted and it became, as it were, four heads. The first one’s name is Pi’shon; it is the one encircling the entire land of Hav’i·lah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. There also are the bdellium gum and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gi’hon; it is the one encircling the entire land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hid’de·kel; it is the one going to the east of As·syr’i·a. And the fourth river is the Eu·phra’tes.

And Jehovah God proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of E’den to cultivate it and to take care of it. And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: “From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

And Jehovah God went on to say: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” Now Jehovah God was forming from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call it, each living soul, that was its name. So the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper as a complement of him. Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and to bring her to the man.

Then the man said:

“This is at last bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh.

This one will be called Woman,

Because from man this one was taken.”

That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh. And both of them continued to be naked, the man and his wife, and yet they did not become ashamed.

Now the serpent proved to be the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made. So it began to say to the woman: “Is it really so that God said YOU must not eat from every tree of the garden?” At this the woman said to the serpent: “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But as for [eating] of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘YOU must not eat from it, no, YOU must not touch it that YOU do not die.’” At this the serpent said to the woman: “YOU positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of YOUR eating from it YOUR eyes are bound to be opened and YOU are bound to be like God, KNOWING good and bad.”

Consequently the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was something to be longed for to the eyes, yes, the tree was desirable to look upon. So she began taking of its fruit and eating it. Afterward she gave some also to her husband when with her and he began eating it. Then the eyes of both of them became opened and they began to realize that they were naked. Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves.

Later they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden about the breezy part of the day, and the man and his wife went into hiding from the face of Jehovah God in between the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God kept calling to the man and saying to him: “Where are you?” Finally he said: “Your voice I heard in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked and so I hid myself.” At that he said: “Who told you that you were naked? From the tree from which I commanded you not to eat have you eaten?” And the man went on to say: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me [fruit] from the tree and so I ate.” With that Jehovah God said to the woman: “What is this you have done?” To this the woman replied: “The serpent—it deceived me and so I ate.”

And Jehovah God proceeded to say to the serpent: “Because you have done this thing, you are the cursed one out of all the domestic animals and out of all the wild beasts of the field. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.”

To the woman he said: “I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.”

And to Adam he said: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and took to eating from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

After this Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she had to become the mother of everyone living. And Jehovah God proceeded to make long garments of skin for Adam and for his wife and to clothe them. And Jehovah God went on to say: “Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take [fruit] also from the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite,—” With that Jehovah God put him out of the garden of E’den to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. And so he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of E’den the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life. 

Now Adam had intercourse with Eve his wife and she became pregnant. In time she gave birth to Cain and said: “I have produced a man with the aid of Jehovah.” Later she again gave birth, to his brother Abel.

And Abel came to be a herder of sheep, but Cain became a cultivator of the ground. And it came about at the expiration of some time that Cain proceeded to bring some fruits of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. But as for Abel, he too brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces. Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favor upon Cain and upon his offering. And Cain grew hot with great anger, and his countenance began to fall. At this Jehovah said to Cain: “Why are you hot with anger and why has your countenance fallen? If you turn to doing good, will there not be an exaltation? But if you do not turn to doing good, there is sin crouching at the entrance, and for you is its craving; and will you, for your part, get the mastery over it?”

After that Cain said to Abel his brother: [“Let us go over into the field.”] So it came about that while they were in the field Cain proceeded to assault Abel his brother and kill him. Later on Jehovah said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” and he said: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s guardian?” At this he said: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. And now you are cursed in banishment from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will not give you back its power. A wanderer and a fugitive you will become in the earth.” At this Cain said to Jehovah: “My punishment for error is too great to carry. Here you are actually driving me this day from off the surface of the ground, and from your face I shall be concealed; and I must become a wanderer and fugitive on the earth, and it is certain that anyone finding me will kill me.” At this Jehovah said to him: “For that reason anyone killing Cain must suffer vengeance seven times.”

And so Jehovah set up a sign for Cain in order that no one finding him should strike him. With that Cain went away from the face of Jehovah and took up residence in the land of Fugitiveness to the east of E’den.

Afterward Cain had intercourse with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to E’noch. Then he engaged in building a city and called the city’s name by the name of his son E’noch. Later there was born to E’noch I’rad. And I’rad became father to Me·hu’ja·el, and Me·hu’ja·el became father to Me·thu’sha·el, and Me·thu’sha·el became father to La’mech.

And La’mech proceeded to take two wives for himself. The name of the first was A’dah and the name of the second was Zil’lah. In time A’dah gave birth to Ja’bal. He proved to be the founder of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. And the name of his brother was Ju’bal. He proved to be the founder of all those who handle the harp and the pipe. As for Zil’lah, she too gave birth to Tu’bal-cain, the forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron. And the sister of Tu’bal-cain was Na’a·mah. Consequently La’mech composed these words for his wives A’dah and Zil’lah:

“Hear my voice, you wives of La’mech;

Give ear to my saying:

A man I have killed for wounding me,

Yes, a young man for giving me a blow.

If seven times Cain is to be avenged,

Then La’mech seventy times and seven.”

And Adam proceeded to have intercourse again with his wife and so she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, because, as she said: “God has appointed another seed in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” And to Seth also there was born a son and he proceeded to call his name E’nosh. At that time a start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah.”

-Genesis 1-4, NWT 

A Start Was Made Of Calling On The Name Of Jehovah

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

ל [Laʹmedh] Why, O Jehovah, do you keep standing afar off? [Why] do you keep yourself hid in times of distress? In his haughtiness the wicked one hotly pursues the afflicted one; They get caught by the ideas that they have thought up. For the wicked has praised himself over the selfish longing of his soul, And the one making undue profit has blessed himself;

נ [Nun] He has disrespected Jehovah. The wicked one according to his superciliousness makes no search; All his ideas are: “There is no God.” His ways keep prospering all the time. Your judicial decisions are high up out of his range; As for all those showing hostility to him, he puffs at them. He has said in his heart: “I shall not be made to totter; For generation after generation [I shall be] one who is in no calamity.” פ [Pe'] His mouth is full of oaths and of deceptions and of oppression. Under his tongue are trouble and what is hurtful. He sits in an ambush of settlements; From concealed places he will kill someone innocent. ע ['A'yin] His eyes are on the lookout for someone unfortunate. He keeps lying in wait in the concealed place like a lion in his covert. He keeps lying in wait to carry off some afflicted one by force. He carries off the afflicted one by force when he draws his net shut. He is crushed, he bows down, And the army of dejected ones has to fall into his strong [claws]. He has said in his heart: “God has forgotten. He has concealed his face. He will certainly never see [it].”

ק [Quoph] Do arise, O Jehovah. O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted ones. Why is it that the wicked one has disrespected God? He has said in his heart: “You will not require an accounting.”

ר [Rehsh] For you yourself have seen trouble and vexation. You keep looking on, to get [them] into your hand. To you the unfortunate one, the fatherless boy, commits [himself]. You yourself have become [his] helper. ש [Shin] Break the arm of the wicked and bad one. May you search after his wickedness [until] you find no more. Jehovah is King to time indefinite, even forever. The nations have perished out of his earth.

ת [Taw] The desire of the meek ones you will certainly hear, O Jehovah. You will prepare their heart. You will pay attention with your ear, To judge the fatherless boy and the crushed one, That mortal man who is of the earth may no more cause trembling."

-Psalms 10, NWT

They Get Caught By The Ideas That They Have Thought Up

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

If anyone has no affection for the Lord, let him be accursed. O our Lord, come: Kiss The Son, lest LORD JEHOVAH be angry, and you be destroyed from his way because his wrath burns even a little; blessed are all who trust upon him... 

“That which was from [the] beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have viewed attentively and our hands felt, concerning the word of life, (yes, the life was made manifest, and we have seen and are bearing witness and reporting to YOU the everlasting life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us,) that which we have seen and heard we are reporting also to YOU, that YOU too may be having a sharing with us. Furthermore, this sharing of ours is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And so we are writing these things that our joy may be in full measure.

And this is the message which we have heard from him and are announcing to YOU, that God is light and there is no darkness at all in union with him. If we make the statement: “We are having a sharing with him,” and yet we go on walking in the darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. However, if we are walking in the light as he himself is in the light, we do have a sharing with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we make the statement: “We have no sin,” we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we make the statement: “We have not sinned,” we are making him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing YOU these things that YOU may not commit a sin. And yet, if anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one. And he is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, yet not for ours only but also for the whole world’s. And by this we have the knowledge that we have come to know him, namely, if we continue observing his commandments. He that says: “I have come to know him,” and yet is not observing his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this [person]. But whoever does observe his word, truthfully in this [person] the love of God has been made perfect. By this we have the knowledge that we are in union with him. He that says he remains in union with him is under obligation himself also to go on walking just as that one walked.

Beloved ones, I am writing YOU, not a new commandment, but an old commandment which YOU have had from [the] beginning. This old commandment is the word which YOU heard. Again, I am writing YOU a new commandment, a fact that is true in his case and in YOURS, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He that says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness up to right now. He that loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in his case. But he that hates his brother is in the darkness and is walking in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing YOU, little children, because YOUR sins have been forgiven YOU for the sake of his name. I am writing YOU, fathers, because YOU have come to know him who is from [the] beginning. I am writing YOU, young men, because YOU have conquered the wicked one. I write YOU, young children, because YOU have come to know the Father. I write YOU, fathers, because YOU have come to know him who is from [the] beginning. I write YOU, young men, because YOU are strong and the word of God remains in YOU and YOU have conquered the wicked one.

Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.

Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as YOU have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But [they went out] that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort. And YOU have an anointing from the holy one; all of YOU have knowledge. I write YOU, not because YOU do not know the truth, but because YOU know it, and because no lie originates with the truth.

Who is the liar if it is not the one that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one that denies the Father and the Son. Everyone that denies the Son does not have the Father either. He that confesses the Son has the Father also. As for YOU, let that which YOU have heard from [the] beginning remain in YOU. If that which YOU have heard from [the] beginning remains in YOU, YOU will also abide in union with the Son and in union with the Father. Furthermore, this is the promised thing that he himself promised us, the life everlasting.

These things I write YOU about those who are trying to mislead YOU. And as for YOU, the anointing that YOU received from him remains in YOU, and YOU do not need anyone to be teaching YOU; but, as the anointing from him is teaching YOU about all things, and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught YOU, remain in union with him. So now, little children, remain in union with him, that when he is made manifest we may have freeness of speech and not be shamed away from him at his presence. If YOU know that he is righteous, YOU gain the knowledge that everyone who practices righteousness has been born from him.

See what sort of love the Father has given us, so that we should be called children of God; and such we are. That is why the world does not have a knowledge of us, because it has not come to know him. Beloved ones, now we are children of God, but as yet it has not been made manifest what we shall be. We do know that whenever he is made manifest we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope set upon him purifies himself just as that one is pure.

Everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, and so sin is lawlessness. YOU know too that that one was made manifest to take away [our] sins, and there is no sin in him. Everyone remaining in union with him does not practice sin; no one that practices sin has either seen him or come to know him. Little children, let no one mislead YOU; he who carries on righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous. He who carries on sin originates with the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from [the] beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was made manifest, namely, to break up the works of the Devil.

Everyone who has been born from God does not carry on sin, because His [reproductive] seed remains in such one, and he cannot practice sin, because he has been born from God. The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which YOU have heard from [the] beginning, that we should have love for one another; not like Cain, who originated with the wicked one and slaughtered his brother. And for the sake of what did he slaughter him? Because his own works were wicked, but those of his brother [were] righteous.

Do not marvel, brothers, that the world hates YOU. We know we have passed over from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a manslayer, and YOU know that no manslayer has everlasting life remaining in him. By this we have come to know love, because that one surrendered his soul for us; and we are under obligation to surrender [our] souls for [our] brothers. But whoever has this world’s means for supporting life and beholds his brother having need and yet shuts the door of his tender compassions upon him, in what way does the love of God remain in him? Little children, let us love, neither in word nor with the tongue, but in deed and truth.

By this we shall know that we originate with the truth, and we shall assure our hearts before him as regards whatever our hearts may condemn us in, because God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Beloved ones, if [our] hearts do not condemn [us], we have freeness of speech toward God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we are observing his commandments and are doing the things that are pleasing in his eyes. Indeed, this is his commandment, that we have faith in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and be loving one another, just as he gave us commandment. Moreover, he who observes his commandments remains in union with him, and he in union with such one; and by this we gain the knowledge that he is remaining in union with us, owing to the spirit which he gave us.

Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.

YOU gain the knowledge of the inspired expression from God by this: Every inspired expression that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh originates with God, but every inspired expression that does not confess Jesus does not originate with God. Furthermore, this is the antichrist’s [inspired expression] which YOU have heard was coming, and now it is already in the world.

YOU originate with God, little children, and YOU have conquered those [persons], because he that is in union with YOU is greater than he that is in union with the world. They originate with the world; that is why they speak [what proceeds] from the world and the world listens to them. We originate with God. He that gains the knowledge of God listens to us; he that does not originate with God does not listen to us. This is how we take note of the inspired expression of truth and the inspired expression of error.

Beloved ones, let us continue loving one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born from God and gains the knowledge of God. He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love. By this the love of God was made manifest in our case, because God sent forth his only-begotten Son into the world that we might gain life through him. The love is in this respect, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent forth his Son as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins.

Beloved ones, if this is how God loved us, then we are ourselves under obligation to love one another. At no time has anyone beheld God. If we continue loving one another, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. By this we gain the knowledge that we are remaining in union with him and he in union with us, because he has imparted his spirit to us. In addition, we ourselves have beheld and are bearing witness that the Father has sent forth his Son as Savior of the world. Whoever makes the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God remains in union with such one and he in union with God. And we ourselves have come to know and have believed the love that God has in our case.

God is love, and he that remains in love remains in union with God and God remains in union with him. This is how love has been made perfect with us, that we may have freeness of speech in the day of judgment, because, just as that one is, so are we ourselves in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint. Indeed, he that is under fear has not been made perfect in love. As for us, we love, because he first loved us.

If anyone makes the statement: “I love God,” and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot be loving God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should be loving his brother also.

Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God, and everyone who loves the one that caused to be born loves him who has been born from that one. By this we gain the knowledge that we are loving the children of God, when we are loving God and doing his commandments. For this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome, because everything that has been born from God conquers the world. And this is the conquest that has conquered the world, our faith.

Who is the one that conquers the world but he who has faith that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by means of water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. And the spirit is that which is bearing witness, because the spirit is the truth. For there are three witness bearers,  the spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.

If we receive the witness men give, the witness God gives is greater, because this is the witness God gives, the fact that he has borne witness concerning his Son. The [person] putting his faith in the Son of God has the witness given in his own case. The [person] not having faith in God has made him a liar, because he has not put his faith in the witness given, which God as witness has given concerning his Son. And this is the witness given, that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has this life; he that does not have the Son of God does not have this life.

I write YOU these things that YOU may know that YOU have life everlasting, YOU who put YOUR faith in the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that, no matter what it is that we ask according to his will, he hears us. Further, if we know he hears us respecting whatever we are asking, we know we are to have the things asked since we have asked them of him.

If anyone catches sight of his brother sinning a sin that does not incur death, he will ask, and he will give life to him, yes, to those not sinning so as to incur death. There is a sin that does incur death. It is concerning that sin that I do not tell him to make request. All unrighteousness is sin; and yet there is a sin that does not incur death.

We know that every [person] that has been born from God does not practice sin, but the One born from God watches him, and the wicked one does not fasten his hold on him. We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one. But we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us intellectual capacity that we may gain the knowledge of the true one. And we are in union with the true one, by means of his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and life everlasting. Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

-1 John 1-5, NWT

Little Children, Watch Yourselves From Idols. Amen.  

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

The word of Jehovah that occurred to Zeph·a·niʹah the son of Cushʹi the son of Ged·a·liʹah the son of Am·a·riʹah the son of Hez·e·kiʹah in the days of Jo·siʹah the son of Aʹmon the king of Judah:

Zephaniah 1:1, NWT

[thetheoreticaljehovist]

To obey is better than a sacrifice, to pay attention than the fat of rams: But the people living in Israel ignored that command and kept on following their old customs...

“The word that occurred to Jeremiah from Jehovah after Neb·u’zar·ad’an the chief of the bodyguard sent him from Ra’mah, when he took him while he was bound with handcuffs in the midst of all the exiles of Jerusalem and of Judah, who were being taken into exile in Babylon. Then the chief of the bodyguard took Jeremiah and said to him: “Jehovah your God himself spoke this calamity against this place, that Jehovah might bring [it] true and do just as he has spoken, because YOU people have sinned against Jehovah and have not obeyed his voice. And this thing has happened to YOU. And now, look! I have let you loose today from the handcuffs that were upon your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come, and I shall keep my eye upon you. But if it is bad in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, refrain. See! The entire land is before you. To wherever it is good and right in your eyes to go, go there.”

And he was yet not one that would return, when [Neb·u’zar·ad’an said]: “Do return to Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam the son of Sha’phan, whom the king of Babylon has commissioned over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him in the midst of the people; or to wherever it is right in your eyes to go, go.”

And the chief of the bodyguard then gave him a food allowance and a present and let him go. Accordingly Jeremiah came to Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam at Miz’pah and took up dwelling with him in the midst of the people who were left remaining in the land.

In time all the chiefs of the military forces who were in the field, they and their men, got to hear that the king of Babylon had commissioned Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam over the land and that he had commissioned him [over] the men and women and little children and some of the lowly people of the land, who had not been taken into exile in Babylon. So they came to Ged·a·li’ah at Miz’pah, even Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah and Jo·ha’nan and Jon’a·than, the sons of Ka·re’ah, and Se·rai’ah the son of Tan·hu’meth and the sons of E’phai the Ne·toph’a·thite and Jez·a·ni’ah the son of the Ma·ac’a·thite, they and their men. And Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam the son of Sha’phan proceeded to swear to them and to their men, saying: “Do not be afraid of serving the Chal·de’ans. Continue dwelling in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with YOU. And as for me, here I am dwelling in Miz’pah, in order to stand before the Chal·de’ans who will come to us. And as for YOU yourselves, gather wine and summer fruits and oil and put [them] in YOUR vessels and dwell in YOUR cities that YOU have seized.”

And all the Jews that were in Mo’ab and among the sons of Am’mon and in E’dom and those who were in all the [other] lands, they also heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had commissioned over them Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam the son of Sha’phan. And all the Jews began to return from all the places to which they had been dispersed, and they kept coming into the land of Judah to Ged·a·li’ah at Miz’pah. And they went gathering wine and summer fruits in very great quantity.

As for Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the chiefs of the military forces who were in the field, they came to Ged·a·li’ah at Miz’pah. And they proceeded to say to him: “Do you not at all know that Ba’a·lis, the king of the sons of Am’mon, himself has sent Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah to strike you to the soul?” But Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam did not believe them.

And Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah himself said to Ged·a·li’ah, in a place of concealment in Miz’pah: “I want to go, now, and strike down Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah, as no one at all will know. Why should he strike you to the soul, and why must all those of Judah who are being collected together to you be scattered and the remnant of Judah perish?” But Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam said to Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah: “Do not do this thing, for it is a falsehood that you are speaking concerning Ish’ma·el.”  

So it came about in the seventh month that Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah the son of E·lish’a·ma of the royal offspring and [of the] principal men of the king and ten other men with him came to Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam at Miz’pah. And there they began to eat bread together in Miz’pah. Then Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah and the ten men that happened to be with him rose up and struck down Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam the son of Sha’phan with the sword. So he put to death the one whom the king of Babylon had commissioned over the land. And all the Jews who happened to be with him, that is, with Ged·a·li’ah, in Miz’pah, and the Chal·de’ans who were found there, that is, the men of war, Ish’ma·el struck down.

And it came about on the second day of the putting of Ged·a·li’ah to death, when there was no one at all that knew [it], then there came men from She’chem, from Shi’loh and from Sa·mar’i·a, eighty men with their beards shaved off and with their garments ripped apart and with cuts made upon themselves, and there were grain offering and frankincense in their hand to bring to the house of Jehovah. So Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah went out from Miz’pah to meet them, weeping while he was walking along. And it came about that as soon as he encountered them he proceeded to say to them: “Come to Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam.” But it occurred that as soon as they came into the midst of the city, Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah went slaughtering them [and throwing them] into the midst of the cistern, he and the men that were with him.

But there were ten men that were found among them who immediately said to Ish’ma·el: “Do not put us to death, for there exist in our possession hidden treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey.” So he refrained, and he did not put them to death in the midst of their brothers. Now the cistern into which Ish’ma·el threw all the carcasses of the men that he had struck down was a great cistern, the one that King A’sa had made because of Ba’a·sha the king of Israel. It was the one that Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah filled with those slain.

Then Ish’ma·el took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Miz’pah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were remaining over in Miz’pah, whom Neb·u’zar·ad’an the chief of the bodyguard had put in the custody of Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam. So Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah took them captive and went off to cross over to the sons of Am’mon.

In time Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the chiefs of the military forces who were with him got to hear all the bad that Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah had done. Consequently they took all the men and went off to fight against Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah and found him by the abundant waters that were in Gib’e·on.

Then it came about that as soon as all the people that were with Ish’ma·el saw Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the chiefs of the military forces who were with him, they began to rejoice. And all the people whom Ish’ma·el had led captive from Miz’pah proceeded to turn around and return and go to Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah. And as for Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah, he escaped with eight men from before Jo·ha’nan, that he might go to the sons of Am’mon.

Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the chiefs of the military forces who were with him now took all the remnant of the people whom they brought back from Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah, from Miz’pah, after he had struck down Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam, able-bodied men, men of war, and the wives and the little children and the court officials, whom he brought back from Gib’e·on. So they went and took up dwelling in the lodging place of Chim’ham that was beside Beth’le·hem, in order to go on and enter into Egypt, because of the Chal·de’ans; for they had become afraid because of them, since Ish’ma·el the son of Neth·a·ni’ah had struck down Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam, whom the king of Babylon had commissioned over the land.  

Then all the chiefs of the military forces and Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and Jez·a·ni’ah the son of Ho·shai’ah and all the people, from the smallest one even to the greatest one, approached and said to Jeremiah the prophet: “May our request for favor, please, fall before you, and do you pray in our behalf to Jehovah your God, in behalf of all this remnant, for we have been left remaining, a few out of many, just as your eyes are seeing us. And may Jehovah your God tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”

At that Jeremiah the prophet said to them: “I have heard. Here I am praying to Jehovah YOUR God according to YOUR words; and it will certainly occur that every word that Jehovah gives in answer to YOU I shall tell YOU. I shall not hold back from YOU a word.”

And they, for their part, said to Jeremiah: “May Jehovah prove to be a true and faithful witness against us if it is not according to every word with which Jehovah your God sends you to us that we shall exactly do. Whether good or bad, it is the voice of Jehovah our God to whom we are sending you that we shall obey, to the intent that it may go well with us because we obey the voice of Jehovah our God.”

Now it came about at the end of ten days that the word of Jehovah proceeded to occur to Jeremiah. So he called for Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and for all the chiefs of the military forces who were with him and for all the people, from the smallest one even to the greatest one; and he went on to say to them: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel, to whom YOU sent me to cause your request for favor to fall before him, has said, ‘If YOU will without fail keep dwelling in this land, I will also build YOU up and I shall not tear [YOU] down, and I will plant YOU and I shall not uproot [YOU]; for I shall certainly feel regret over the calamity that I have caused to YOU. Do not be afraid because of the king of Babylon, of whom YOU are in fear.’

“‘Do not be afraid because of him,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘for I am with YOU, in order to save YOU and to deliver YOU out of his hand. And I shall give to YOU mercies, and he will certainly have mercy upon YOU and return YOU to YOUR own soil.

“‘But if YOU are saying: “No; we are not going to dwell in this land!” in order to disobey the voice of Jehovah YOUR God, saying: “No, but into the land of Egypt we shall enter, where we shall see no war and the sound of the horn we shall not hear and for bread we shall not go hungry; and there is where we shall dwell”; even now therefore hear the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: “If YOU yourselves positively set YOUR faces to enter into Egypt and YOU actually enter in to reside there as aliens, it must also occur that the very sword of which YOU are afraid will there catch up with YOU in the land of Egypt, and the very famine at which YOU are in a fright will there closely follow after YOU to Egypt; and there is where YOU will die. And it will come about that all the men that have set their faces to enter into Egypt to reside there as aliens will be the ones to die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence; and they will not come to have a survivor or an escapee, because of the calamity that I am bringing in upon them.”’

“For this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘Just as my anger and my rage have been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my rage will be poured out upon YOU because of YOUR entering into Egypt, and YOU will certainly become a curse and an object of astonishment and a malediction and a reproach, and you will no more see this place.’

“Jehovah has spoken against YOU, O remnant of Judah. Do not enter into Egypt. YOU should positively know that I have borne witness against YOU today, that YOU have committed error against YOUR souls; for YOU yourselves have sent me to Jehovah YOUR God, saying, ‘Pray in our behalf to Jehovah our God; and according to everything that Jehovah our God says tell us that way, and we shall certainly do.’ And I tell YOU today, but YOU will certainly not obey the voice of Jehovah YOUR God or anything with which he has sent me to YOU. And now YOU should positively know that by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence YOU will die in the place into which YOU do delight to enter to reside as aliens.”  

Now it came about that as soon as Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all the words of Jehovah their God with which Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words, Az·a·ri’ah the son of Ho·shai’ah and Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the presumptuous men proceeded to say to Jeremiah: “It is a falsehood that you are speaking. Jehovah our God has not sent you, saying, ‘Do not enter into Egypt to reside there as aliens.’ But Bar’uch the son of Ne·ri’ah is instigating you against us for the purpose of giving us into the hand of the Chal·de’ans, to put us to death or to take us into exile in Babylon.”

And Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the chiefs of the military forces and all the people did not obey the voice of Jehovah, to keep on dwelling in the land of Judah. So Jo·ha’nan the son of Ka·re’ah and all the chiefs of the military forces took all the remnant of Judah that had returned from all the nations to which they had been dispersed, in order to reside for a while in the land of Judah, even the able-bodied men and the wives and the little children and the daughters of the king and every soul that Neb·u’zar·ad’an the chief of the bodyguard had let stay with Ged·a·li’ah the son of A·hi’kam the son of Sha’phan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Bar’uch the son of Ne·riah.  And they finally came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah; and they came gradually as far as Tah’pan·hes.

Then the word of Jehovah occurred to Jeremiah in Tah’pan·hes, saying: “Take in your hand great stones, and you must hide them in the mortar in the terrace of bricks that is at the entrance of the house of Phar’aoh in Tah’pan·hes before the eyes of the Jewish men. And you must say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: “Here I am sending and I will take Neb·u·chad·rez’zar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will place his throne right above these stones that I have hidden, and he will certainly extend his state tent over them. And he must come in and strike the land of Egypt. Whoever is [due] for deadly plague will be for deadly plague, and whoever is [due] for captivity will be for captivity, and whoever is [due] for the sword will be for the sword. And I will set a fire ablaze in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he will certainly burn them and lead them captive and wrap himself up in the land of Egypt, just as a shepherd wraps himself up in his garment, and he will actually go out from there in peace. And he will certainly break to pieces the pillars of Beth-she’mesh, which is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”  

The word that occurred to Jeremiah for all the Jews that were dwelling in the land of Egypt, the ones dwelling in Mig’dol and in Tah’pan·hes and in Noph and in the land of Path’ros, saying: “This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘YOU yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought in upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah, and here they are a devastated place this day, and in them there is no inhabitant. It is because of their badness that they did in order to offend me by going and making sacrificial smoke and rendering service to other gods whom they themselves had not known, neither YOU nor YOUR forefathers. And I kept sending to YOU all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending, saying: “Do not do, please, this detestable sort of thing that I have hated.” But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear to turn back from their badness by not making sacrificial smoke to other gods. So my rage, and my anger, was poured out and it burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they came to be a devastated place, a desolate waste, as at this day.’

“And now this is what Jehovah, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘Why are YOU causing a great calamity to YOUR souls, in order to cut off from yourselves man and woman, child and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, so that YOU do not leave over for yourselves a remnant; by offending me with the works of YOUR hands by making sacrificial smoke to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which YOU are entering to reside as aliens; for the purpose of causing a cutting off of yourselves and for the purpose of YOUR becoming a malediction and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have YOU forgotten the bad deeds of YOUR forefathers and the bad deeds of the kings of Judah and the bad deeds of their wives and YOUR own bad deeds and the bad deeds of YOUR wives, that they have done in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? And down to this day they did not feel crushed, and they did not become afraid, nor did they walk in my law and in my statutes that I put before YOU and before YOUR forefathers.’

“Therefore this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘Here I am setting my face against YOU for calamity and for cutting off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah who set their faces to enter into the land of Egypt to reside there as aliens, and they will all certainly come to their finish in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword; [and] by the famine they will come to their finish, from the smallest one even to the greatest one; by the sword and by the famine they will die. And they must become a curse, an object of astonishment and a malediction and a reproach. And I will hold an accounting against those dwelling in the land of Egypt, just as I held an accounting against Jerusalem, with the sword, with the famine and with the pestilence. And there will come to be no escapee or survivor for the remnant of Judah who are entering in to reside there as aliens, in the land of Egypt, even to return to the land of Judah to which they are lifting up their soul[ful desire] to return in order to dwell; for they will not return, except some escaped ones.’”

And all the men who were knowing that their wives had been making sacrificial smoke to other gods, and all the wives who were standing as a great congregation, and all the people who were dwelling in the land of Egypt, in Path’ros, proceeded to answer Jeremiah, saying: “As regards the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we are not listening to you; but we shall positively do every word that has gone forth from our mouth, in order to make sacrificial smoke to the ‘queen of the heavens’ and to pour out to her drink offerings, just as we ourselves and our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, when we used to be satisfied with bread and to be well off, and we did not see any calamity at all. And from the time that we ceased to make sacrificial smoke to the ‘queen of the heavens’ and pour out drink offerings to her we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine we have come to our finish.

“Also, when we were making sacrificial smoke to the ‘queen of the heavens’ and [were disposed] to pour out drink offerings to her, did we without asking our husbands make for her sacrificial cakes, in order to make an image of her, and to pour out drink offerings to her?”

In turn Jeremiah said to all the people, to the able-bodied men and to the wives and to all the people, who were answering him with a word, saying: “As for the sacrificial smoke that YOU made in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, YOU and YOUR forefathers, YOUR kings and YOUR princes and the people of the land, was it not this that Jehovah remembered and that proceeded to come up into his heart? Finally Jehovah was no longer able to put up with it because of the badness of YOUR dealings, because of the detestable things that YOU had done, and so YOUR land came to be a devastated place and an object of astonishment and a malediction, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because of the fact that YOU made sacrificial smoke and that YOU sinned against Jehovah and did not obey the voice of Jehovah and in his law and in his statutes and in his reminders YOU did not walk, that is why there has befallen YOU this calamity as at this day.”

And Jeremiah continued on to say to all the people and to all the women: “Hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt. This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘As for YOU men and YOUR wives, YOU women also speak with YOUR mouths, (and with YOUR hands YOU people have made a fulfillment,) saying: “We shall without fail perform our vows that we have vowed, to make sacrificial smoke to the ‘queen of the heavens’ and to pour out drink offerings to her.” YOU women will without fail carry out YOUR vows, and YOU will without fail perform YOUR vows.’

“Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah who are dwelling in the land of Egypt, ‘“Here I myself have sworn by my great name,” Jehovah has said, “that my name will no more prove to be something called out by the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, ‘As the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is alive!’ in all the land of Egypt. Here I am keeping alert toward them for calamity and not for good; and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt will certainly come to their finish by the sword and by the famine, until they cease to be. And as for the ones escaping from the sword, they will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all those of the remnant of Judah, who are coming into the land of Egypt to reside there as aliens, will certainly know whose word comes true, that from me or that from them.”’”

“‘And this is the sign for YOU,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘that I am turning my attention upon YOU in this place, in order that YOU may know that my words will without fail come true upon YOU for calamity: This is what Jehovah has said: “Here I am giving Phar’aoh Hoph’ra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those seeking for his soul, just as I have given Zed·e·ki’ah the king of Judah into the hand of Neb·u·chad·rez’zar the king of Babylon, his enemy and the one seeking for his soul.”’”

-Jeremiah 40-44, NWT

We Shall Without Fail Perform Our Vows That We Have Vowed, To Make Sacrificial Smoke To The ‘Queen of The Heavens’