Jeremiah 33-34

English Standard Version

The Lord Promises Peace

33 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still ^(A)shut up in the court of the guard: ²“Thus says ^(B)the Lord who made the earth,^[a] the Lord who formed it to establish it—^(C)the Lord is his name: ³^(D)Call to me and I will answer you, ^(E)and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. ⁴For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against ^(F)the siege mounds and against the sword: ⁵They are coming in ^(G)to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them^[b] with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down ^(H)in my anger and my wrath, ^(I)for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. ⁶^(J)Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. ⁷^(K)I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, ^(L)and rebuild them as they were ^(M)at first. ⁸^(N)I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, ^(O)and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. ⁹^(P)And this city^[c] shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall ^(Q)fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord: In this place ^(R)of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again ¹¹^(S)the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring ^(T)thank offerings to the house of the Lord:

^(U)“‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
for the Lord is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!’

^(V)For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

¹²“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(W)In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be ^(X)habitations of shepherds ^(Y)resting their flocks. ¹³^(Z)In the cities of the hill country, ^(AA)in the cities of the Shephelah, ^(AB)and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, ^(AC)the places about Jerusalem, ^(AD)and in the cities of Judah, ^(AE)flocks shall again pass under the hands ^(AF)of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

The Lord's Eternal Covenant with David

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

¹⁷“For thus says the Lord: ^(AL)David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸^(AM)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.”

¹⁹The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰^(AN)“Thus says the Lord: ^(AO)If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, ^(AP)so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, ²¹^(AQ)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. ²²As ^(AR)the host of heaven cannot be numbered and ^(AS)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.”

²³The 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. ²⁵Thus says the Lord: ^(AT)If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, ²⁶then 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. ^(AU)For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

Zedekiah to Die in Babylon

34 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^(AV)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army ^(AW)and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: ²“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to ^(AX)Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(AY)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ³^(AZ)You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. ^(BA)You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’ ⁴Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! ^(BB)Thus says the Lord concerning you: ^(BC)‘You shall not die by the sword. ⁵You shall die in peace. ^(BD)And as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall ^(BE)burn spices for you ^(BF)and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.”

⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, ⁷when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, ^(BG)Lachish and ^(BH)Azekah, ^(BI)for these were the only ^(BJ)fortified cities of Judah that remained.

⁸The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^(BK)had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^(BL)to make a proclamation of liberty to them, ⁹^(BM)that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^(BN)so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^(BO)they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. ¹²The 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 ^(BP)I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ¹⁴^(BQ)‘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; ^(BR)you must set him free from your service.’ But ^(BS)your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. ¹⁵You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(BT)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(BU)you made a covenant before me in the ^(BV)house that is called by my name, ¹⁶but then you turned around ^(BW)and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^(BX)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 ^(BY)by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^(BZ)behold, I proclaim to you liberty ^(CA)to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^(CB)I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(CC)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^[d] ^(CD)the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^(CE)the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^(CF)and into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^(CG)Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. ²¹And ^(CH)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 ^(CI)which has withdrawn from you. ²²Behold, ^(CJ)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(CK)bring them back to this city. ^(CL)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(CM)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(CN)without inhabitant.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 33:2 Septuagint; Hebrew it
Jeremiah 33:5 That is, the torn-down houses
Jeremiah 33:9 Hebrew And it
Jeremiah 34:18 Hebrew lacks them like

Psalm 74

English Standard Version

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)Asaph.

74 O God, why do you ^(B)cast us off forever?
    Why does your anger ^(C)smoke against ^(D)the sheep of your pasture?
²^(E)Remember your congregation, which you have ^(F)purchased of old,
    which you have ^(G)redeemed to be ^(H)the tribe of your heritage!
    Remember Mount Zion, ^(I)where you have dwelt.
³Direct your steps to ^(J)the perpetual ruins;
    the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴Your foes have ^(K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
    ^(L)they set up their ^(M)own signs for ^(N)signs.
⁵They were like those who swing ^(O)axes
    in a forest of trees.^[b]
⁶And all its ^(P)carved wood
    they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷They ^(Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
    they ^(R)profaned ^(S)the dwelling place of your name,
    bringing it down to the ground.
⁸They ^(T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
    they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our ^(U)signs;
    ^(V)there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰How long, O God, ^(W)is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹Why ^(X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the fold of your garment^[c] and destroy them!

¹²Yet ^(Y)God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³You ^(Z)divided the sea by your might;
    you ^(AA)broke the heads of ^(AB)the sea monsters^[d] on the waters.
¹⁴You crushed the heads of ^(AC)Leviathan;
    you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵You ^(AD)split open springs and brooks;
    you ^(AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you have established ^(AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷You have ^(AG)fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
    you have made ^(AH)summer and winter.

¹⁸^(AI)Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and ^(AJ)a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your ^(AK)dove to the wild beasts;
^(AL)do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰Have regard for ^(AM)the covenant,
for ^(AN)the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹Let not ^(AO)the downtrodden ^(AP)turn back in shame;
let ^(AQ)the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Arise, O God, ^(AR)defend your cause;
^(AS)remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
^(AT)the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

Footnotes

Psalm 74:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 74:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Psalm 74:11 Hebrew from your bosom
Psalm 74:13 Or the great sea creatures

1 John 5

English Standard Version

Overcoming the World

5 ^(A)Everyone who believes that ^(B)Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and ^(C)everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. ²^(D)By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For ^(E)this is the love of God, that we ^(F)keep his commandments. And ^(G)his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For ^(H)everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—^(I)our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes ^(J)that Jesus is the Son of God?

Testimony Concerning the Son of God

⁶This is he who came ^(K)by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And ^(L)the Spirit is the one who testifies, because ^(M)the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. ⁹^(N)If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God ^(O)that he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God ^(P)has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God ^(Q)has made him a liar, ^(R)because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony, that God gave us ^(S)eternal life, and ^(T)this life is in his Son. ¹²^(U)Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

That You May Know

¹³I write ^(V)these things to you who ^(W)believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴And this is ^(X)the confidence that we have toward him, that ^(Y)if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and ^(Z)God^[a] will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. ^(AA)There is sin that leads to death; ^(AB)I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷^(AC)All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

¹⁸We know that ^(AD)everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but ^(AE)he who was born of God ^(AF)protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are from God, and ^(AG)the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and ^(AH)has given us understanding, so that we may know ^(AI)him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and ^(AJ)eternal life. ²¹Little children, ^(AK)keep yourselves from idols.