Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar

21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him ^(A)Pashhur the son of Malchiah and ^(B)Zephaniah the priest, the son of ^(C)Maaseiah, saying, ^2 (D)“Inquire of the Lord for us, ^(E)for Nebuchadnezzar^[a] king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to ^(F)all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(G)Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. ^(H)And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. ⁵ I myself will fight against you ^(I)with outstretched hand and strong arm, ^(J)in anger and in fury and in great wrath. ⁶ And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷ Afterward, declares the Lord, ^(K)I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. ^(L)He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’

⁸ “And to this people you shall say: ^(M)‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, ^(N)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who stays in this city shall die ^(O)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and ^(P)surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live ^(Q)and shall have his life as a prize of war. ¹⁰ For ^(R)I have set my face against this city for harm and ^(S)not for good, declares the Lord: ^(T)it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

Message to the House of David

¹¹ “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ² and say, ^(AD)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(AE)Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ^(AF)do no wrong or violence ^(AG)to the resident alien, ^(AH)the fatherless, and the widow, nor ^(AI)shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you will indeed obey this word, ^(AJ)then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. ⁵ But if you will not obey these words, I ^(AK)swear by myself, declares the Lord, that ^(AL)this house shall become a desolation. ⁶ For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

⁸ “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, ^(AQ)“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” ^9 (AR)And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”

Message to the Sons of Josiah

¹¹ For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and ^(AU)who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, ¹² but ^(AV)in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

¹⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

^24 (BT)“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were ^(BU)the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off ²⁵ and ^(BV)give you ^(BW)into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ^26 (BX)I will hurl you and ^(BY)the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. ²⁷ But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”

The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

2 I ^(A)said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.^{[a] 2} I ^(B)said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³ I ^(C)searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^(D)folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴ I made great works. I ^(E)built houses and planted ^(F)vineyards for myself. ⁵ I made myself ^(G)gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and had ^(H)slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^(I)herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and ^(J)gold and the treasure of ^(K)kings and ^(L)provinces. I got ^(M)singers, both men and women, and many ^(N)concubines,^[b] the delight of the sons of man.

⁹ So I became great and ^(O)surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^(P)wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^(Q)found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ^(R)reward for all my toil. ¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^(S)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^(T)to be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12 (U)So I turned to consider ^(V)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^(W)what has already been done. ¹³ Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ^14 (X)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^(Y)same event happens to all of them. ¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, ^(Z)“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶ For of the wise as of the fool there is ^(AA)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^(AB)How the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^(AC)all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸ I hated ^(AD)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(AE)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I ^(AF)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(AG)over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from ^(AH)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For ^(AI)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(AJ)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24 (AK)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(AL)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[c] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(AM)from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him^[d] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him ^(AN)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(AO)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(AP)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(AQ)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Greeting

¹ Paul, ^(A)a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and ^(B)Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker ² and Apphia our sister and ^(C)Archippus our ^(D)fellow soldier, and ^(E)the church in your house:

^3 (F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon's Love and Faith

^4 (G)I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, ⁵ because I ^(H)hear of your love and ^(I)of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, ⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full ^(J)knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.^{[a] 7} For I have derived much joy and ^(K)comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints ^(L)have been refreshed through you.

Paul's Plea for Onesimus

⁸ Accordingly, ^(M)though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do ^(N)what is required, ⁹ yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now ^(O)a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— ¹⁰ I appeal to you for ^(P)my child, ^(Q)Onesimus,^{[b] (R)}whose father I became in my imprisonment. ¹¹ (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) ¹² I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. ¹³ I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me ^(S)on your behalf ^(T)during my imprisonment for the gospel, ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be ^(U)by compulsion but of your own accord. ¹⁵ For this perhaps is why ^(V)he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, ^16 (W)no longer as a bondservant^[c] but more than a bondservant, as ^(X)a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, ^(Y)both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷ So if you consider me ^(Z)your partner, receive him as you would receive me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ^19 (AA)I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. ²⁰ Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. ^(AB)Refresh my heart in Christ.

^21 (AC)Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. ²² At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for ^(AD)I am hoping that ^(AE)through your prayers ^(AF)I will be graciously given to you.

Final Greetings

^23 (AG)Epaphras, my ^(AH)fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, ²⁴ and so do ^(AI)Mark, ^(AJ)Aristarchus, ^(AK)Demas, and ^(AL)Luke, my fellow workers.

^25 (AM)The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.