^12 (A)“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ^(B)the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will ^(C)love you, bless you, and multiply you. ^(D)He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples. ^(E)There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. ¹⁵ And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil ^(F)diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ And ^(G)you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. ^(H)Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(I)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ ^18 (J)you shall not be afraid of them but you shall ^(K)remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, ¹⁹ the great trials that your eyes saw, ^(L)the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, ^(M)the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. ²¹ You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^(N)in your midst, ^(O)a great and awesome God. ^22 (P)The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,^[a] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ^23 (Q)But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And ^(R)he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall ^(S)make their name perish from under heaven. ^(T)No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods ^(U)you shall burn with fire. You ^(V)shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ^(W)ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction^[b] like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ^(X)for it is devoted to destruction.

^5 (A)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ^6 (B)Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(C)and bound him in chains ^(D)to take him to Babylon. ^7 (E)Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. ^8 (F)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

^9 (G)Jehoiachin was eighteen^[a] years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰ In ^(H)the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, ^(I)with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother ^(J)Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

^11 (K)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before ^(L)Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. ^13 (M)He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. ^(N)He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, ^(O)sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ^16 (P)But they kept mocking the messengers of God, ^(Q)despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, ^(R)until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Jerusalem Captured and Burned

^17 (S)Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. ^18 (T)And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. ^19 (U)And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. ²⁰ He ^(V)took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, ^(W)and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had ^(X)enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate ^(Y)it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

^22 (Z)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ^(AA)that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, ^(AB)the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ²³ “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”

Warning Visions

7 ^(A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, ^(B)he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. ² When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

^4 (E)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling ^(F)for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. ⁵ Then I said,

^7 (I)This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with ^(J)a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸ And the Lord said to me, ^(K)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

Amos Accused

¹⁰ Then Amaziah ^(P)the priest of Bethel sent to ^(Q)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has ^(R)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. ¹¹ For thus Amos has said,

¹² And Amaziah said to Amos, ^(T)“O seer, go, flee away ^(U)to the land of Judah, and ^(V)eat bread there, and prophesy there, ¹³ but ^(W)never again prophesy at Bethel, for ^(X)it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

¹⁴ Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, ^(Y)“I was^[a] no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but ^(Z)I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. ^15 (AA)But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ^16 (AB)Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

^17 (AF)Therefore thus says the Lord:

²³ Therefore his parents said, ^(A)“He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^(B)“Give glory to God. We know that ^(C)this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I ^(D)was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, ^(E)“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but ^(F)we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ^(G)we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is ^(H)an amazing thing! ^(I)You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that ^(J)God does not listen to sinners, but ^(K)if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ^33 (L)If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, ^(M)“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they ^(N)cast him out.

A Worker Approved by God

¹⁴ Remind them of these things, and ^(A)charge them before God^{[a] (B)}not to quarrel about words, ^(C)which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,^[b] a worker ^(D)who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. ¹⁶ But ^(E)avoid ^(F)irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are ^(G)Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have swerved from the truth, ^(H)saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. ¹⁹ But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ^(I)“The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone ^(J)who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

²⁰ Now in ^(K)a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, ^(L)some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. ²¹ Therefore, ^(M)if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,^[c] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ^(N)ready for every good work.

²² So ^(O)flee ^(P)youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with ^(Q)those who call on the Lord ^(R)from a pure heart. ²³ Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant ^(S)controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. ²⁴ And ^(T)the Lord's servant^[d] must not be quarrelsome but ^(U)kind to everyone, ^(V)able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵ correcting his opponents ^(W)with gentleness. God ^(X)may perhaps grant them repentance ^(Y)leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from ^(Z)the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.