Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:

^6 (A)Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with ^(B)thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and ^(C)the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Jeremiah’s Question

^9 (A)Then Jacob said, ^(B)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord ^(C)who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the ^(D)mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with ^(E)my staff, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (F)Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and ^[a]attack me and ^(G)the mother with the children. ¹² For ^(H)You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the ^(I)sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

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

³⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(C)“I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will ^(D)increase their men like a flock.

David’s Thanksgiving to God^(A)

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: ^(B)“Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? ¹⁹ And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come. ^(C)Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? ²⁰ Now what more can David say to You? For You, Lord God, ^(D)know Your servant. ²¹ For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them. ²² Therefore ^(E)You are great, ^[a]O Lord God. For ^(F)there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ^(G)ears. ²³ And who is like Your people, like Israel, ^(H)the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name—and to do for Yourself great and awesome deeds for Your land—before ^(I)Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, the nations, and their gods? ²⁴ For ^(J)You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; ^(K)and You, Lord, have become their God.

²⁵ “Now, O Lord God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as You have said.