Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “After I had given the deed of purchase to ^(A)Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:

^6 (A)do not be anxious about anything, ^(B)but in everything by prayer and supplication ^(C)with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And ^(D)the peace of God, ^(E)which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jeremiah's Complaint

⁹ And Jacob said, ^(A)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ^(B)said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ^10 (C)I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ^(D)I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But ^(E)you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

³⁵ And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like ^(A)the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then ^(B)the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and ^(C)replanted that which was desolate. ^(D)I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷ “Thus says the Lord God: This also ^(E)I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: ^(F)to increase their people like ^(G)a flock.

David's Prayer of Gratitude

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, ^(A)“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? ¹⁹ And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. ^(B)You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! ²⁰ And what more can David say to you? ^(C)For you know your servant, O Lord God! ²¹ Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. ^22 (D)Therefore you are great, O Lord God. ^(E)For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ^23 (F)And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name ^(G)and doing for them^[a] great and awesome things by driving out before your people,^[b] whom ^(H)you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? ^24 (I)And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. ²⁵ And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken.