The Lord's Eternal Covenant with David

^14 (A)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(B)I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous ^(C)Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, ^(D)and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ^(E)‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

¹⁷ “For thus says the Lord: ^(F)David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ^18 (G)and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ^20 (H)“Thus says the Lord: ^(I)If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, ^(J)so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, ^21 (K)then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. ²² As ^(L)the host of heaven cannot be numbered and ^(M)the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

²³ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. ²⁵ Thus says the Lord: ^(N)If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^(O)For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

The Advance of the Gospel

¹² I want you to know, brothers,^[a] that what has happened to me has really ^(A)served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard^[b] and ^(B)to all the rest that ^(C)my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold ^(D)to speak the word^[c] without fear.

^15 (E)Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, ^(F)knowing that I am put here for ^(G)the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ ^(H)out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

To Live Is Christ

Yes, and I will rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that ^(I)through your prayers and ^(J)the help of ^(K)the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, ²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope ^(L)that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full ^(M)courage now as always Christ ^(N)will be honored in my body, ^(O)whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me ^(P)to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ^23 (Q)I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is ^(R)to depart and ^(S)be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ^25 (T)Convinced of this, ^(U)I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your ^(V)progress and ^(W)joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that in me ^(X)you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

²⁷ Only ^(Y)let your manner of life be ^(Z)worthy^[d] of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you ^(AA)that you are standing firm in one spirit, with ^(AB)one mind ^(AC)striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is ^(AD)a clear sign to them of their destruction, but ^(AE)of your salvation, and that from God. ²⁹ For ^(AF)it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also ^(AG)suffer for his sake, ³⁰ engaged in the same ^(AH)conflict that ^(AI)you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^(A)had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^(B)to make a proclamation of liberty to them, ^9 (C)that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^(D)so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^(E)they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. ¹² The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^(F)I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ^14 (G)‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^(H)you must set him free from your service.’ But ^(I)your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. ¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(J)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(K)you made a covenant before me in the ^(L)house that is called by my name, ¹⁶ but then you turned around ^(M)and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^(N)whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷ “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^(O)by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^(P)behold, I proclaim to you liberty ^(Q)to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^(R)I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(S)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{[a] (T)}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^(U)the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^(V)and into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^(W)Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And ^(X)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ^(Y)which has withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, ^(Z)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(AA)bring them back to this city. ^(AB)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(AC)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(AD)without inhabitant.”

I and the Father Are One

²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, ^(A)in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are ^(B)the Christ, ^(C)tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. ^(D)The works that I do ^(E)in my Father's name bear witness about me, ²⁶ but ^(F)you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ^27 (G)My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ^28 (H)I give them eternal life, and ^(I)they will never perish, and ^(J)no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, ^(K)who has given them to me,^{[a] (L)}is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of ^(M)the Father's hand. ^30 (N)I and the Father are one.”

^31 (O)The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³ The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but ^(P)for blasphemy, because you, being a man, ^(Q)make yourself God.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in ^(R)your Law, ^(S)‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be ^(T)broken— ³⁶ do you say of him whom ^(U)the Father consecrated and ^(V)sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because ^(W)I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ^37 (X)If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸ but if I do them, ^(Y)even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that ^(Z)the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ^39 (AA)Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

⁴⁰ He went away again across the Jordan to the place ^(AB)where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. ⁴¹ And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but ^(AC)everything that John said about this man was true.” ⁴² And ^(AD)many believed in him there.