Seventy Years of Desolation

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ^(A)in the fourth year of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ^3 (C)“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, ^(D)but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, ^(E)rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. ⁵ They said, ^(F)‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might ^(G)provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, ⁹ behold, I will send and take ^(H)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(I)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and ^(J)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰ Moreover I will ^[a]take from them the ^(K)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(L)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy ^(M)years.

¹² ‘Then it will come to pass, ^(N)when ^[b]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ^(O)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. ¹³ So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. ^14 (P)(For many nations ^(Q)and great kings shall ^(R)be served by them also; ^(S)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Marriage—Christ and the Church^(A)

²² Wives, ^(B)submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(C)the husband is head of the wife, as also ^(D)Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands ^(E)in everything.

^25 (F)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(G)gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might ^[a]sanctify and cleanse her ^(H)with the washing of water ^(I)by the word, ^27 (J)that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, ^(K)not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For ^(L)we are members of His body, ^[b]of His flesh and of His bones. ^31 (M)“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the ^(N)two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless ^(O)let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(P)respects her husband.

² “Thus says the Lord to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, ^(A)and put them on your neck, ³ and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters: ^5 (B)‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and ^(C)have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. ^6 (D)And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(E)My servant; and ^(F)the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. ^7 (G)So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, ^(H)until the time of his land comes; ^(I)and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. ⁸ And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. ⁹ Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your ^[a]dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ For they prophesy a ^(J)lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ¹¹ But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”

¹² I also spoke to ^(K)Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live! ^13 (L)Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ Therefore ^(M)do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy ^(N)a lie to you; ¹⁵ for I have ^(O)not sent them,” says the Lord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, ^(P)the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you. ¹⁷ Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste? ¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’

¹⁹ “For thus says the Lord of hosts ^(Q)concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away ^(R)captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the ^(S)vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem: ²² ‘They shall be ^(T)carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I ^(U)visit them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then ^(V)I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”

Jesus the Light of the World

8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

² Now ^[a]early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and ^(A)taught them. ³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, ^[b]this woman was caught in ^(B)adultery, in the very act. ^5 (C)Now ^[c]Moses, in the law, commanded us ^[d]that such should be stoned. But what do You ^[e]say?” ⁶ This they said, testing Him, that they ^(D)might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, ^[f]as though He did not hear.

⁷ So when they continued asking Him, He ^[g]raised Himself up and said to them, ^(E)“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Then those who heard it, ^(F)being^[h] convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had raised Himself up ^[i]and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers ^[j]of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, ^(G)“Neither do I condemn you; go ^[k]and ^(H)sin no more.”

¹² Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ^(I)“I am the light of the world. He who ^(J)follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Jesus Defends His Self-Witness

¹³ The Pharisees therefore said to Him, ^(K)“You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not ^[l]true.”

¹⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but ^(L)you do not know where I come from and where I am going. ^15 (M)You judge according to the flesh; ^(N)I judge no one. ¹⁶ And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for ^(O)I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. ^17 (P)It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸ I am One who bears witness of Myself, and ^(Q)the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”

¹⁹ Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?”

Jesus answered, ^(R)“You know neither Me nor My Father. ^(S)If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”

²⁰ These words Jesus spoke in ^(T)the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and ^(U)no one laid hands on Him, for ^(V)His hour had not yet come.

Jesus Predicts His Departure

²¹ Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and ^(W)you will seek Me, and ^(X)will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

²² So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?”

²³ And He said to them, ^(Y)“You are from beneath; I am from above. ^(Z)You are of this world; I am not of this world. ^24 (AA)Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; ^(AB)for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”

And Jesus said to them, “Just what I ^(AC)have been saying to you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but ^(AD)He who sent Me is true; and ^(AE)I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.”

²⁷ They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.

²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you ^(AF)lift^[m] up the Son of Man, ^(AG)then you will know that I am He, and ^(AH)that I do nothing of Myself; but ^(AI)as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹ And ^(AJ)He who sent Me is with Me. ^(AK)The Father has not left Me alone, ^(AL)for I always do those things that please Him.” ³⁰ As He spoke these words, ^(AM)many believed in Him.