2 Corinthians 6:14-7:16

Contemporary English Version

The Temple of the Living God

¹⁴Stay away from people who are not followers of the Lord! Can someone who is good get along with someone who is evil? Are light and darkness the same? ¹⁵Is Christ a friend of Satan?^[a] Can people who follow the Lord have anything in common with those who don't? ¹⁶^(A) Do idols belong in the temple of God? We are the temple of the living God, as God himself says,

“I will live with these people
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be
my people.”

¹⁷^(B) The Lord also says,

“Leave them and stay away!
Don't touch anything
    that isn't clean.
Then I will welcome you
¹⁸    ^(C) and be your Father.
You will be my sons
    and my daughters,
as surely as I am God,
    the All-Powerful.”

7 My friends, God has made us these promises. So we should stay away from everything that keeps our bodies and spirits from being clean. We should honor God and try to be completely like him.

The Church Makes Paul Happy

²Make a place for us in your hearts! We haven't mistreated or hurt anyone. We haven't cheated anyone. ³I am not saying this to be hard on you. But, as I have said before, you will always be in our thoughts, whether we live or die. ⁴I trust you completely.^[b] I am always proud of you, and I am greatly encouraged. In all my trouble I am still very happy.

⁵^(D) After we came to Macedonia, we didn't have any chance to rest. We were faced with all kinds of problems. We were troubled by enemies and troubled by fears. ⁶But God cheers up people in need, and this is what he did when he sent Titus to us. ⁷Of course, we were glad to see Titus, but what really made us glad is the way you cheered him up. He told how sorry you were and how concerned you were about me. And this made me even happier.

⁸I don't feel bad anymore, even though my letter^[c] hurt your feelings. I did feel bad at first, but I don't now. I know that the letter hurt you for a while. ⁹Now I am happy, but not because I hurt your feelings. It is because God used your hurt feelings to make you turn back to him, and none of you were harmed by us. ¹⁰When God makes you feel sorry enough to turn to him and be saved, you don't have anything to feel bad about. But when this world makes you feel sorry, it can cause your death.

¹¹Just look what God has done by making you feel sorry! You sincerely want to prove you are innocent. You are angry. You are shocked. You are eager to see that justice is done. You have proved that you were completely right in this matter. ¹²When I wrote you, it wasn't to accuse the one who was wrong or to take up for the one who was hurt. I wrote, so God would show you how much you do care for us. ¹³And we were greatly encouraged.

Although we were encouraged, we felt even better when we saw how happy Titus was, because you had shown he had nothing to worry about. ¹⁴We had told him how much we thought of you, and you did not disappoint us. Just as we have always told you the truth, so everything we told him about you has also proved to be true. ¹⁵Titus loves all of you very much, especially when he remembers how you obeyed him and how you trembled with fear when you welcomed him. ¹⁶It makes me really glad to know I can depend on you.

Footnotes

6.15 Satan: The Greek text has “Beliar,” which is another form of the Hebrew word “Belial,” meaning “wicked” or “useless.” The Jewish people sometimes used this as a name for Satan.
7.4 I trust you completely: Or “I have always spoken the truth to you” or “I can speak freely to you.”
7.8 my letter: There is no copy of this letter that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth.

2 Kings 19

Contemporary English Version

Hezekiah Asks Isaiah the Prophet for Advice

(Isaiah 37.1-13)

19 As soon as Hezekiah heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the temple of the Lord. ²He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell the prophet Isaiah:

³These are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born. ⁴Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.

⁵When these leaders went to Isaiah, ⁶he told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah:

I am the Lord. Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria. ⁷I will upset him with rumors about what's happening in his own country. He will go back, and there I will make him die a violent death.

⁸Meanwhile, the commander of the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the town of Lachish and was now attacking Libnah. So he went there.

⁹About this same time the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia^[a] was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:

¹⁰Don't trust your God or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me. ¹¹You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped out other nations. What makes you feel so safe? ¹²The Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and everyone from Eden who lived in Telassar. What good did their gods do them? ¹³The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah have all disappeared.

Hezekiah Prays

(Isaiah 37.14-20)

¹⁴After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see. ¹⁵^(A) He prayed:

Lord God of Israel, your throne is above the winged creatures.^[b] You created the heavens and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of this world. ¹⁶But just look how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.

¹⁷It is true, our Lord, that Assyrian kings have turned nations into deserts. ¹⁸They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshiped. ¹⁹But you are our Lord and our God! We ask you to keep us safe from the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth will know that you are the only God.

The Lord's Answer to Hezekiah

(Isaiah 37.21-35)

²⁰Isaiah went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:

Hezekiah, I heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria. ²¹Now this is what I say to that king:

The people of Jerusalem
hate and make fun of you;
they laugh
behind your back.

²²Sennacherib, you cursed,
shouted, and sneered at me,
    the holy God of Israel.
²³You let your officials
    insult me, the Lord.
And this is how you
    bragged about yourself:
“I led my chariots
to the highest heights
    of Lebanon's mountains.
I went deep into its forest,
cutting down the best cedar
    and cypress trees.
²⁴I dried up every stream
    in the land of Egypt,
and I drank water
    from wells I had dug.”

²⁵Sennacherib, now listen
    to me, the Lord.
I planned all this long ago.
And you don't even realize
    that I alone am the one
who decided that you
    would do these things.
I let you make ruins
    of fortified cities.
²⁶Their people became weak,
    terribly confused.
They were like wild flowers
or tender young grass
    growing on a flat roof,
scorched before it matures.^[c]

²⁷I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
    you are with me.
²⁸I have seen your pride
and the tremendous hatred
    you have for me.
Now I will put a hook
in your nose,
    a bit in your mouth,^[d]
then I will send you back
    to where you came from.

²⁹Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. ³⁰Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. ³¹I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.

³²I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. ³³As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. ³⁴I will protect it for myself and for my servant David.

The Death of King Sennacherib

(Isaiah 37.36-38)

³⁵^(B) That same night the Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them. And so the next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. ³⁶After this King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. ³⁷One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king.^[e]

Footnotes

19.9 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
19.15 winged creatures: Two winged creatures made of gold were on the top of the sacred chest and were symbols of the Lord's throne on earth (see Exodus 25.18; 2 Samuel 6.2).
19.26 tender young grass … matures: Many of the houses had roofs made of packed earth. Grass would sometimes grow out of the roof, but would die quickly because of the sun and hot winds.
19.28 I will put … your mouth: This is how the Assyrians treated their prisoners, and now the Lord will treat Sennacherib the same way.
19.37 Esarhaddon became king: Ruled Assyria 681–669 b.c.

Nahum 1

Contemporary English Version

1 ^(A) I am Nahum from Elkosh.^[a] And this is the message^[b] that I wrote down about Nineveh.^[c]

The Fierce Anger of the Lord

²The Lord God demands loyalty.
In his anger, he takes revenge
    on his enemies.
³The Lord is powerful,
    yet patient;
he makes sure that the guilty
    are always punished.
He can be seen in storms
    and in whirlwinds;
clouds are the dust from his feet.

⁴At the Lord's command,
    oceans and rivers dry up.
Bashan, Mount Carmel,
and Lebanon^[d] wither,
    and their flowers fade.
⁵At the sight of the Lord,
mountains and hills
    tremble and melt;
the earth and its people
    shudder and shake.
⁶Who can stand the heat
    of his furious anger?
It flashes out like fire
    and shatters stones.

The Power of Assyria Will Be Broken

⁷The Lord is good.
He protects those who trust him
    in times of trouble.
⁸But like a roaring flood,
the Lord chases his enemies
    into dark places
    and destroys them.^[e]
⁹So don't plot against the Lord!
He wipes out his enemies,
    and they never revive.
¹⁰They are like drunkards
    overcome by wine,
or like twisted thornbushes
    burning in a fire.^[f]
¹¹Assyria, one of your rulers
has made evil plans
    against the Lord.

¹²But the Lord says, “Assyria,
no matter how strong you are,
    you will be cut down!
My people Judah,
I have troubled you before,
    but I won't do it again.
¹³I'll snap your chains
and set you free
    from the Assyrians.”

¹⁴Assyria, this is what else
    the Lord says to you:
“Your name will be forgotten.
I will destroy every idol
    in your temple,
and I will send you to the grave,
    because you are worthless.”

¹⁵^(B) Look toward the mountains,
    people of Judah!
Here comes a messenger
    with good news of peace.
Celebrate your festivals.
    Keep your promises to God.
Your evil enemies are destroyed
and will never again
    invade your country.

Footnotes

1.1 Elkosh: The location of Elkosh is not known.
1.1 message: Or “vision.”
1.1 Nineveh: The capital of Assyria, the hated enemy of Israel.
1.4 Bashan, Mount Carmel, and Lebanon: Three regions noted for their trees and flowers.
1.8 the Lord chases his enemies … and destroys them: Or “the Lord chases Nineveh … and destroys her.”
1.10 fire: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.