Gedaliah Murdered

41 ^(A)In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^(B)Mizpah. As they ^(C)ate bread together there at Mizpah, ^2 (D)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, ^(E)whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. ³ Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at ^(F)Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

⁴ On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, ⁵ eighty men arrived from ^(G)Shechem and ^(H)Shiloh and ^(I)Samaria, with ^(J)their beards shaved and ^(K)their clothes torn, and ^(L)their bodies gashed, ^(M)bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. ⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from ^(N)Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” ⁷ When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. ⁸ But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have ^(O)stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.

⁹ Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with^[a] Gedaliah was the large cistern that ^(P)King Asa had made for defense against ^(Q)Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^(R)the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom ^(S)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to ^(T)the Ammonites.

¹¹ But when ^(U)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(V)all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹² they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at ^(W)the great pool that is in ^(X)Gibeon. ¹³ And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(Y)all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. ^14 (Z)So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to ^(AA)the Ammonites. ¹⁶ Then Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(AB)all the leaders of the forces with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—soldiers, ^(AC)women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from ^(AD)Gibeon. ¹⁷ And they went and stayed at Geruth ^(AE)Chimham near ^(AF)Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt ¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, ^(AG)whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Warning Against Going to Egypt

42 Then ^(AH)all the commanders of the forces, and ^(AI)Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of ^(AJ)Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(AK)from the least to the greatest, came near ² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let ^(AL)our plea for mercy come before you, and ^(AM)pray to the Lord your God for us, for all ^(AN)this remnant—^(AO)because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— ³ that ^(AP)the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” ⁴ Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and ^(AQ)whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. ^(AR)I will keep nothing back from you.” ⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, ^(AS)“May the Lord be a true and ^(AT)faithful witness against us ^(AU)if we do not act according to all the word ^(AV)with which the Lord your God sends you to us. ⁶ Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, ^(AW)that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

^7 (AX)At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he summoned ^(AY)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(AZ)all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people ^(BA)from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(BB)to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: ¹⁰ If you will remain in this land, ^(BC)then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; ^(BD)for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. ^11 (BE)Do not fear the king of Babylon, ^(BF)of whom you are afraid. ^(BG)Do not fear him, declares the Lord, ^(BH)for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ^12 (BI)I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ^13 (BJ)But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God ¹⁴ and saying, ‘No, ^(BK)we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or ^(BL)hear the sound of the trumpet or ^(BM)be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ ¹⁵ then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BN)If you set your faces to enter Egypt ^(BO)and go to live there, ¹⁶ then the sword ^(BP)that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, ^(BQ)and there you shall die. ¹⁷ All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have ^(BR)no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

¹⁸ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BS)As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. ^(BT)You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. ¹⁹ The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ^(BU)‘Do not go to Egypt.’ ^(BV)Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day ²⁰ that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. ^(BW)For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ^(BX)‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and ^(BY)whatever the Lord our God says, declare to us and we will do it.’ ²¹ And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything ^(BZ)that he sent me to tell you. ^22 (CA)Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”

Paul's Ministry to the Church

²⁴ Now ^(A)I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh ^(B)I am filling up ^(C)what is lacking in Christ's afflictions ^(D)for the sake of his body, that is, the church, ^25 (E)of which I became a minister according to ^(F)the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ^26 (G)the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ^27 (H)To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are ^(I)the riches of the glory of ^(J)this mystery, which is Christ in you, ^(K)the hope of glory. ²⁸ Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that ^(L)we may present everyone ^(M)mature in Christ. ²⁹ For this ^(N)I toil, ^(O)struggling ^(P)with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

2 For I want you to know ^(Q)how great a ^(R)struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ² that ^(S)their hearts may be encouraged, being ^(T)knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of ^(U)God's mystery, which is Christ, ^3 (V)in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴ I say this in order ^(W)that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. ⁵ For ^(X)though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ^(Y)good order and ^(Z)the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

^6 (AA)Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ^7 (AB)rooted and ^(AC)built up in him and ^(AD)established in the faith, just ^(AE)as you were taught, abounding ^(AF)in thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by ^(AG)philosophy and ^(AH)empty deceit, according to ^(AI)human tradition, according to the ^(AJ)elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For ^(AK)in him the whole fullness of deity dwells ^(AL)bodily, ¹⁰ and ^(AM)you have been filled in him, who is ^(AN)the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹ In him also ^(AO)you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^(AP)putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12 (AQ)having been buried with him in baptism, in which ^(AR)you were also raised with him through faith in ^(AS)the powerful working of God, ^(AT)who raised him from the dead. ^13 (AU)And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God ^(AV)made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by ^(AW)canceling ^(AX)the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ^15 (AY)He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and ^(AZ)put them to open shame, by ^(BA)triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶ Therefore let no one ^(BB)pass judgment on you ^(BC)in questions of food and drink, or with regard to ^(BD)a festival or ^(BE)a new moon or a Sabbath. ^17 (BF)These are a shadow of the things to come, but ^(BG)the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one ^(BH)disqualify you, ^(BI)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^(BJ)going on in detail about visions,^{[d] (BK)}puffed up without reason by ^(BL)his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and ^(BM)not ^(BN)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰ If with Christ ^(BO)you died to the ^(BP)elemental spirits of the world, ^(BQ)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21 (BR)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²² (^(BS)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(BT)human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(BU)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(BV)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

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