Jeremiah 49-50
Christian Standard Bible
Prophecies against Ammon
49 About the Ammonites,(A) this is what the Lord says:
Does Israel have no sons?
Is he without an heir?
Why then has Milcom[a][b] dispossessed Gad(B)
and his people settled in their cities?
2 Therefore look, the days are coming(C)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will make the shout of battle(D) heard
against Rabbah(E) of the Ammonites.
It will become a desolate mound,
and its surrounding villages will be set on fire.
Israel will dispossess their dispossessors,
says the Lord.
3 Wail, Heshbon,(F) for Ai is devastated;
cry out, daughters of Rabbah!
Clothe yourselves with sackcloth,(G) and lament;
run back and forth within your walls,[c]
because Milcom will go into exile
together with his priests and officials.(H)
4 Why do you boast about your valleys,
your flowing valley,[d]
you faithless daughter—
you who trust in your treasures
and say, “Who can attack me?”
5 Look, I am about to bring terror on you(I)—
this is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies—
from all those around you.
You will be banished, each person headlong,
with no one to gather up the fugitives.
6 But after that, I will restore the fortunes[e] of the Ammonites.(J)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Prophecies against Edom
7 About Edom,(K) this is what the Lord of Armies says:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?(L)
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom rotted away?(M)
8 Run! Turn back! Lie low,
residents of Dedan,(N)
for I will bring Esau’s calamity on him(O)
at the time I punish him.(P)
9 If grape harvesters came to you,
wouldn’t they leave a few grapes?(Q)
Were thieves to come in the night,
they would destroy only what they wanted.(R)
10 But I will strip Esau bare;
I will uncover his secret places.(S)
He will try to hide,(T) but he will be unable.
His descendants will be destroyed
along with his relatives and neighbors.
He will exist no longer.(U)
11 Abandon your fatherless; I will preserve them;
let your widows trust in me.(V)
12 For this is what the Lord says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too. 13 For by myself I have sworn”(W)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“Bozrah[f] will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and an example for cursing, and all its surrounding cities will become ruins forever.”(X)
14 I have heard an envoy from the Lord;
a messenger has been sent among the nations:
Assemble yourselves to come against her.
Rise up for war!
15 I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations,
despised among humanity.
16 As to the terror you cause,[g]
your arrogant heart has deceived you.
You who live in the clefts of the rock,[h]
you who occupy the mountain summit,
though you elevate your nest like the eagles,
even from there I will bring you down.
This is the Lord’s declaration.(Y)
17 “Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be appalled and scoff because of all her wounds.(Z) 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,”(AA) says the Lord, “no one will live there; no human being will stay in it even temporarily.(AB)
19 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[i] of the Jordan to the watered grazing land.(AC) I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me?(AD) Who will issue me a summons?(AE) Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?” (AF)
20 Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Edom and the strategies he has devised against the people of Teman:(AG) The flock’s little lambs will certainly be dragged away,(AH) and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.(AI) 21 At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;(AJ) the sound of her cry will be heard at the Red Sea.(AK) 22 Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.(AL)
Prophecies against Damascus
23 About Damascus:(AM)
Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,(AN)
for they have heard a bad report and are agitated,
like[j] the anxious sea that cannot be calmed.
24 Damascus has become weak;
she has turned to run;
panic has gripped her.
Distress and labor pains have seized her
like a woman in labor.(AO)
25 How can the city of praise not be abandoned,(AP)
the town that brings me joy?
26 Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.(AQ)
27 I will set fire to the wall of Damascus;
it will consume Ben-hadad’s citadels.(AR)
Prophecies against Kedar and Hazor
28 About Kedar(AS) and the kingdoms of Hazor, which King Nebuchadnezzar(AT) of Babylon defeated, this is what the Lord says:
Rise up, attack Kedar,
and destroy the people of the east!
29 They will take their tents and their flocks
along with their tent curtains and all their equipment.
They will take their camels for themselves.
They will call out to them,
“Terror is on every side!” (AU)
30 Run! Escape quickly! Lie low,
residents of Hazor—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
has drawn up a plan against you;
he has devised a strategy against you.
31 Rise up, attack a nation at ease,
one living in security.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They have no doors, not even a gate bar;
they live alone.(AV)
32 Their camels will become plunder,
and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil.(AW)
I will scatter them to the wind in every direction,
those who clip the hair on their temples;
I will bring calamity on them across all their borders.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
33 Hazor will become a jackals’ den,(AX)
a desolation forever.
No one will live there;
no human being will stay in it even temporarily.(AY)
Prophecies against Elam
34 This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam[k] at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.(AZ) 35 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
I am about to shatter Elam’s bow,(BA)
the source[l] of their might.
36 I will bring the four winds against Elam
from the four corners of the heavens,
and I will scatter them to all these winds.
There will not be a nation
to which Elam’s banished ones will not go.
37 I will devastate Elam before their enemies,
before those who intend to take their lives.
I will bring disaster on them,
my burning anger.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will send the sword after them(BB)
until I finish them off.
38 I will set my throne in Elam,
and I will destroy the king and officials from there.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
39 Yet, in the last days,
I will restore the fortunes of Elam.(BC)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Prophecies against Babylon
50 This is the word the Lord spoke about Babylon,(BD) the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:
2 Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;(BE)
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say, “Babylon is captured;
Bel(BF) is put to shame;
Marduk is terrified.”
Her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3 For a nation from the north will attack her;(BG)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it—
both people and animals will escape.[m](BH)
4 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,(BI)
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.(BJ)
5 They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves[n] to the Lord
in a permanent covenant(BK) that will never be forgotten.
6 My people were lost sheep;(BL)
their shepherds led them astray,(BM)
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.(BN)
They wandered from mountain to hill;
they forgot their resting place.
7 Whoever found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,(BO)
the hope of their ancestors,(BP) the Lord.”
8 Escape from Babylon;(BQ)
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9 For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon(BR)
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;(BS)
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like a skilled[o] warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10 The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11 Because you rejoice,
because you celebrate—
you who plundered my inheritance—
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,(BT)
12 your mother(BU) will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all[p] the nations—
an arid wilderness, a desert.(BV)
13 Because of the Lord’s wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be appalled
and scoff because of all her wounds.(BW)
14 Line up in battle formation around Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.(BX)
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,(BY)
take your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor’s sword,(BZ)
each will turn to his own people,(CA)
each will flee to his own land.
The Return of God’s People
17 Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.(CB)
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last who crushed his bones
was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.(CC)
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to punish the king of Babylon(CD) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 I will return Israel to his grazing land,(CE)
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.(CF)
20 In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
one will search for Israel’s iniquity,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive(CG) those I leave as a remnant.(CH)
The Invasion of Babylon
21 Attack the land of Merathaim,
and those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
do everything I have commanded you.(CI)
22 The sound of war is in the land(CJ)—
a crushing blow!
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!(CK)
24 Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,(CL)
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you pitted yourself against the Lord.
25 The Lord opened his armory
and brought out his weapons of wrath,(CM)
because it is a task of the Lord God of Armies
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the most distant places.[q]
Open her granaries;
pile her up like mounds of grain
and completely destroy her.
Leave her no survivors.
27 Put all her young bulls to the sword;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them because their day has come,
the time of their punishment.(CN)
The Humiliation of Babylon
28 There is a voice of fugitives and refugees
from the land of Babylon.
The voice announces in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance for his temple.(CO)
29 Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;(CP)
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.(CQ)
30 Therefore, her young men will fall
in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the Lord’s declaration.(CR)
31 Look, I am against you, you arrogant one—
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Armies—
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The arrogant will stumble and fall(CS)
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.(CT)
The Desolation of Babylon
33 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;(CU)
they refuse to release them.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
the Lord of Armies is his name.
He will fervently champion their cause(CV)
so that he might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.(CW)
35 A sword is over the Chaldeans—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her sages.
36 A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
37 A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them,(CX)
and they will be like women.(CY)
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
38 A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things.[r](CZ)
39 Therefore, desert creatures[s] will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.(DA)
40 Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns(DB)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
so no one will live there;
no human being will stay in it even temporarily
as a temporary resident.(DC)
The Conquest of Babylon
41 Look! A people comes from the north.(DD)
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.(DE)
42 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,(DF)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard about them;
his hands have become weak.
Distress has seized him—
pain, like a woman in labor.(DG)
44 “Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets[t](DH) of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Babylon[u] away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me? Who will issue me a summons? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?”
45 Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans:(DI) Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them. 46 At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.(DJ)
Footnotes
- 49:1 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads Malkam
- 49:1 = Molech
- 49:3 Or sheep pens
- 49:4 Or about your strength, your ebbing strength
- 49:6 Or will end the captivity, also in v. 39
- 49:13 = Edom’s capital
- 49:16 Lit Your horror
- 49:16 = Petra
- 49:19 Lit pride
- 49:23 Lit in
- 49:34 = modern Iran
- 49:35 Lit first
- 50:3 Lit escape; they will walk
- 50:5 LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves
- 50:9 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving
- 50:12 Lit Look! The last of
- 50:26 Lit from the end
- 50:38 Or of dreaded gods
- 50:39 Or desert demons
- 50:44 Lit pride
- 50:44 Lit them
1 Thessalonians 2-3
Christian Standard Bible
Paul’s Conduct
2 For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit(A) with you was not without result. 2 On the contrary, after we had previously suffered(B) and were treated outrageously in Philippi,(C) as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition. 3 For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity(D) or an intent to deceive.(E) 4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted(F) with the gospel,(G) so we speak, not to please people, but rather God,(H) who examines our hearts.(I) 5 For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy(J) motives(K)—God is our witness(L)— 6 and we didn’t seek glory(M) from people, either from you or from others. 7 Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles,(N) instead we were gentle[a] among you, as a nurse[b] nurtures her own children. 8 We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9 For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working(O) night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you. 10 You are witnesses,(P) and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously,(Q) and blamelessly(R) we conducted ourselves with you believers. 11 As you know, like a father with his own children,(S) 12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God,(T) who calls you into his own kingdom(U) and glory.(V)
Reception and Opposition to the Message
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is,(W) the word of God,(X) which also works effectively in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea,(Y) since you have also suffered(Z) the same things from people of your own country,(AA) just as they did from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus(AB) and the prophets and persecuted us.(AC) They displease God and are hostile to everyone, 16 by keeping us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are constantly filling up their sins to the limit,(AD) and wrath has overtaken them at last.[c]
Paul’s Desire to See Them
17 But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you[d] for a short time (in person, not in heart(AE)), we greatly desired and made every effort to return(AF) and see you face to face. 18 So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan(AG) hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or joy(AH) or crown(AI) of boasting(AJ) in the presence of our Lord(AK) Jesus at his coming?(AL) Is it not you?(AM) 20 Indeed you are our glory(AN) and joy!
Anxiety in Athens
3 Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens.(AO) 2 And we sent Timothy,(AP) our brother and God’s coworker[e] in the gospel of Christ,(AQ) to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
Encouraged by Timothy
6 But now Timothy has come to us(AR) from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you.(AS) 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand firm(AT) in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy(AU) we experience before our God because of you, 10 as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face(AV) and to complete what is lacking in your faith?(AW)
Prayer for the Church
11 Now may our God and Father(AX) himself, and our Lord Jesus,(AY) direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love(AZ) for one another(BA) and for everyone, just as we do for you. 13 May he make your hearts blameless(BB) in holiness(BC) before our God and Father at the coming(BD) of our Lord(BE) Jesus with all his saints. Amen.[f]
Psalm 119:33-40
Christian Standard Bible
ה He
33 Teach me, Lord, the meaning[a] of your statutes,
and I will always keep them.[b](A)
34 Help me understand your instruction,(B)
and I will obey it
and follow it with all my heart.(C)
35 Help me stay on the path of your commands,(D)
for I take pleasure in it.(E)
36 Turn my heart to your decrees(F)
and not to dishonest profit.(G)
37 Turn my eyes
from looking at what is worthless;(H)
give me life in your ways.[c](I)
38 Confirm what you said to your servant,(J)
for it produces reverence for you.
39 Turn away the disgrace I dread;(K)
indeed, your judgments are good.
40 How I long for your precepts!(L)
Give me life through your righteousness.
Proverbs 26:1
Christian Standard Bible
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