Jeremiah 45-46
EasyEnglish Bible
God's message to Baruch
45 Baruch wrote down on a scroll the words that Jeremiah told him to write. That happened in the fourth year that Josiah's son, Jehoiakim, ruled Judah as king. At that time, Jeremiah said to Baruch, 2 ‘The Lord, Israel's God, says this to you, Baruch: 3 You said, “I have terrible trouble! I have a lot of pain, and the Lord has also made me very sad. I am so upset that I have become very weak. I cannot rest at all.”
4 But the Lord says this to you, Baruch: “I will soon knock down the things that I have built. I will pull out of the ground the things that I have planted. I will do that everywhere in the land. 5 If you want to become famous and important, do not hope for that to happen. I will send great trouble to all the people on the earth. But I promise that I will keep your life safe, wherever you go.” That is what the Lord says.’
The Lord's messages about Egypt[a]
46 The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah messages about the nations.
2 This is the message about Egypt.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his army fought against the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt. Babylon's army won the battle against Egypt's army at Carchemish on the Euphrates river. That happened in the fourth year that Josiah's son Jehoiakim ruled Judah as king.
3 ‘Get ready to march to the battle!
Pick up your shields and your weapons.
4 Prepare your horses and sit on them.
Put on your helmets and be ready to fight.
Make your spears sharp.
Put on your armour!’
5 The Lord says,
‘But I see this:
The soldiers are afraid and they are running away!
They cannot win the fight.
Terror is everywhere around them.[b]
They do not turn to look behind them.
They run away as fast as they can.
6 But none of them can run fast enough.
Even the strongest soldiers cannot escape.
In the north, beside the River Euphrates,
they fall down to the ground.
7 A nation is rising up, like the great waters of the Nile river.
Who is this nation?
8 Egypt is rising like the waters of the Nile.
Its streams of water quickly pour out over the earth.
Egypt says, “I will rise up and I will cover the earth.
I will destroy cities.
I will kill the people who live in them.”
9 So ride your horses quickly into the battle!
Drive your chariots as fast as they will go!
Tell your soldiers to march forward into the battle.
Send your soldiers of Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields.
Send your soldiers of Lydia who have bows and arrows.
10 But it is the Lord God Almighty who will win!
It is the day when he will punish his enemies.
His sword will completely destroy them,
like a hungry person who cannot stop eating!
His sword will cause a lot of blood to pour out.
The Lord God Almighty will accept his enemies as a sacrifice.
That is what will happen in the northern land beside the Euphrates river.
11 Dear people of Egypt,
go to Gilead and find medicine to make you well.
But that will not help you.
There is no medicine that will make you better.
12 The other nations will see that you are ashamed.
All over the earth, people will hear you as you weep.
As your soldiers run from the battle,
they will fall over each other.
They will fall to the ground together.’
King Nebuchadnezzar will attack Egypt
13 The Lord gave this message to the prophet Jeremiah about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He said that Nebuchadnezzar would come to attack Egypt.
14 ‘Shout this message everywhere in Egypt.
Let people hear it in Migdol, Memphis and in Tahpanhes.
“Get ready to fight against your enemies!
They are already killing the people all around you.”
15 Your brave soldiers will fall.
They will lie flat on the ground.
They cannot stand and fight because the Lord will knock them down.
16 They will continue to fall over each other.
They will say to each other, “Get up!
We must return to our homes where our own people live.
We must escape from our enemies, who want to kill us.”
17 When they get back home, they will say,
“The king of Egypt is only a loud noise.
He could not win when he had the chance.” ’
18 The Lord Almighty is the great King. He says,
‘I promise you, as surely as I live,
that a powerful army will come to fight against you!
They will look as great as Tabor looks among the other mountains.
They will seem like Carmel mountain that stands beside the sea.
19 You dear people of Egypt, be ready to travel as prisoners to a foreign land!
Your enemy will destroy Memphis city.
It will become a heap of stones where nobody lives.
20 Egypt is like a beautiful young cow.
But an army from the north will attack her, like a crowd of flies that bite.
21 Egypt has paid soldiers from other countries to help her.
But they are like fat calves that are too weak to fight.
They will not stand and fight, but they will turn and run away.
Yes, the day of Egypt's punishment has arrived!
Their enemy has come to destroy them.
22 Egypt's people will run away, like a snake along the ground.
The enemy's strong army will march forward.
They will attack Egypt with axes, like men who cut down trees.
23 Egypt's soldiers are as many as the trees in a great forest.
But the enemy's soldiers will cut them down.
Their army is like a hungry crowd of locusts.
They are too many to count.
24 The people of Egypt will be ashamed.
They will be under the power of the people from the north.’
That is what the Lord says.
25 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, also says, ‘Now I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes city, and the other gods of Egypt. I will also punish Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and Egypt's other rulers. I will punish Egypt's people and everyone who trusts in Pharoah's power. 26 I will put them under the power of King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, who want to kill them. But in later years, people will again live in Egypt, as they did before.’ That is what the Lord says.
The Israelites will live in peace
27 ‘My servants, descendants of Jacob, do not be afraid.[c]
People of Israel, do not be upset.
You have been prisoners in countries far away.
But I will rescue you and your descendants.
You will return to your own land and you will live in peace.
Jacob's descendants will be safe and nobody will make them afraid.
28 So do not be afraid, descendants of my servant Jacob.
I am with you to help you.
I may completely destroy all the nations where I send you to live.
But I will never completely destroy you.
I will certainly punish you, to teach you what is right.
But I will do that in a fair way.’
That is what the Lord says.
Footnotes
- 46:1 Chapters 46-51 are about punishment for the nations.
- 46:5 See Jeremiah 20:3,10.
- 46:27 Jacob was the ancestor of the nation, Israel. The Israelites were descendants of Jacob.
1 Corinthians 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Church leaders
4 This is how you should think about us, who are leaders in the church. We are Christ's servants. God has also given a special job to us. We must explain his message to people so that they understand it. 2 Anyone who has that kind of job must do what his master wants. That is the important thing.
3 So what you think about me does not matter to me. What you decide, or what any human authority decides, is not important. I do not even try to decide about myself. 4 I am sure in my own mind that I have not done anything wrong. But that does not make me right. Only the Lord himself can judge me. 5 So you should not decide about things before the time is right. Wait until the Lord comes again. He will show everything clearly. He will show the bad things that people have done secretly. He will show the secret purpose of people's thoughts. Then God will praise each person in a way that is right for them.
6 My Christian friends, I want to help you to understand these things. That is why I have used Apollos and myself as examples. You should learn from us what this means: ‘Obey what is written in the Bible.’ None of you should be proud of one leader and not respect another leader. 7 Do not think that any of you are better than anyone else. You received from God everything that you have. So you have no reason to be proud of what you have. It is all a gift!
8 You already have everything that you need, do you? You think that you are very rich already! You are ready to rule as kings. You no longer need us to help you. I think it would be good if you had really become kings. Then we could also rule together with you! 9 This is what I think: as apostles, God has put us last of everyone. People see us like we are prisoners at the end of the line. They are taking us to die in a public place. Everybody in the world has come to look at us, both people and angels.
10 We have become like fools so that we can serve Christ. But you think that you are wise because you belong to Christ. We seem like weak people, but you seem to be strong! People respect you but they insult us!
11 Until now, we continue to be hungry and thirsty. Our clothes have become old. Sometimes people hit us for no reason. We do not have our own homes. 12 We work hard, so that we become very tired. When people insult us, we ask God to bless them. When people give us trouble, we are patient and brave. 13 When people say bad things against us, we answer with kind words. We have become like dirty things that people throw away. That is still true, even today.
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed. You are like my own children that I love. So I want to teach you what is right. 15 When I told the good news about Jesus Christ to you, I became like a father for you. You may have ten thousand teachers to help you understand the message about Christ. But I am the only person who is like a father for you. 16 That is why I want you to copy my example. 17 To help you to do that, I have sent Timothy to visit you. He is like a son to me, and I love him very much. He continues to serve the Lord well. He will help you to remember how I live as a Christian. I teach the same things to all groups of Christians everywhere.
18 Some people among you have become proud. They think that I will never come back to warn them. 19 But I will come to visit you again soon, if the Lord wants me to. Then I will find out what these proud people are really like. It is not just the words that they say. I will find out if they have the power of God. 20 When people serve God as their king, they have God's power. They do not just speak proud words. 21 I will come and I will find out what is really true. So you must choose. Will I need to be angry and punish you? Or will I speak kind words to show that I love you? Which do you want me to do?
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