Excellence of the Restored Nation

33 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still ^(A)shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord ^(B)who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it ^(C)(the^[a] Lord is His name): ^3 (D)‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and ^[b]mighty things, which you do not know.’

⁴ “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against ^(E)the siege mounds and the sword: ⁵ ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to ^(F)fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. ⁶ Behold, ^(G)I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. ⁷ And ^(H)I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places ^(I)as at the first. ⁸ I will ^(J)cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. ^9 (K)Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall ^(L)fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’

¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—^(M)of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, ¹¹ the ^(N)voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:

and of those who will bring ^(P)the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.

¹² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(Q)‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. ^13 (R)In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again ^(S)pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the Lord.

The Riot at Ephesus

^21 (A)When these things were accomplished, Paul ^(B)purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through ^(C)Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^(D)I must also see Rome.” ²² So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, ^(E)Timothy and ^(F)Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.

²³ And ^(G)about that time there arose a great commotion about ^(H)the Way. ²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of ^[a]Diana, brought ^(I)no small profit to the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. ²⁶ Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that ^(J)they are not gods which are made with hands. ²⁷ So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and ^[b]her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸ Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized ^(K)Gaius and ^(L)Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions. ³⁰ And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him. ³¹ Then some of the ^[c]officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater. ³² Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And ^(M)Alexander ^(N)motioned with his hand, and wanted to make his defense to the people. ³⁴ But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ And when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: “Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess ^[d]Diana, and of the image which fell down from ^[e]Zeus? ³⁶ Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of ^[f]your goddess. ³⁸ Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a ^[g]case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being ^[h]called in question for today’s uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.” ⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

^14 (A)‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(B)I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:

^[a]THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’

¹⁷ “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never ^(D)lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ¹⁸ nor shall the ^(E)priests, the Levites, lack a man to ^(F)offer burnt offerings before Me, to ^[b]kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’ ”

The Permanence of God’s Covenant

¹⁹ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, ²¹ then ^(G)My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. ²² As ^(H)the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I ^(I)multiply the descendants of David My servant and the ^(J)Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

²³ Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have ^(K)despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.

²⁵ “Thus says the Lord: ‘If ^(L)My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not ^(M)appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, ^26 (N)then I will ^(O)cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ”

Journeys in Greece

20 After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and ^(A)departed to go to Macedonia. ² Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to ^(B)Greece ³ and stayed three months. And ^(C)when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also ^(D)Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and ^(E)Gaius of Derbe, and ^(F)Timothy, and ^(G)Tychicus and ^(H)Trophimus of Asia. ⁵ These men, going ahead, waited for us at ^(I)Troas. ⁶ But we sailed away from Philippi after ^(J)the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them ^(K)at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Ministering at Troas

⁷ Now on ^(L)the first day of the week, when the disciples came together ^(M)to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps ^(N)in the upper room where ^[a]they were gathered together. ⁹ And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down, ^(O)fell on him, and embracing him said, ^(P)“Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. ¹² And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

From Troas to Miletus

¹³ Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had ^[b]given orders, intending himself to go on foot. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. ¹⁵ We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for ^(Q)he was hurrying ^(R)to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on ^(S)the Day of Pentecost.