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Philemon
Contemporary English Version
Philemon
Contemporary English Version
1 From Paul, who is in jail for serving Christ Jesus, and from Timothy, who is like a brother because of our faith.
Philemon, you work with us and are very dear to us. This letter is to you 2 (A) and to the church that meets in your home. It is also to our dear friend Apphia and to Archippus, who serves the Lord as we do.
3 I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
Philemon's Love and Faith
4 Philemon, each time I mention you in my prayers, I thank God. 5 I hear about your faith in our Lord Jesus and about your love for all God's people. 6 As you share your faith with others, I pray they may come to know all the blessings Christ has given us. 7 My friend, your love has made me happy and has greatly encouraged me. It has also cheered the hearts of God's people.
Paul Speaks to Philemon about Onesimus
8 Christ gives me the courage to tell you what to do. 9 But I would rather ask you to do it simply because of love. Yes, as someone[a] in jail for Christ, 10 (B) I beg you to help Onesimus![b] He is like a son to me because I led him to Christ here in jail. 11 Before this, he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me.
12 Sending Onesimus back to you makes me very sad. 13 I would like to keep him here with me, where he could take your place in helping me while I am here in prison for preaching the good news. 14 But I won't do anything unless you agree to it first. I want your act of kindness to come from your heart, and not be something you feel forced to do.
15 Perhaps Onesimus was taken from you for a little while so you could have him back for good, 16 but not as a slave. Onesimus is much more than a slave. To me he is a dear friend, but to you he is even more, both as a person and as a follower of the Lord.
17 If you consider me a friend because of Christ, then welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me. 18 If he has cheated you or owes you anything, charge it to my account. 19 With my own hand I write: I, PAUL, WILL PAY YOU BACK. But don't forget you owe me your life. 20 My dear friend and follower of Christ our Lord, please cheer me up by doing this for me.
21 I am sure you will do all I have asked, and even more. 22 Please get a room ready for me. I hope your prayers will be answered, and I can visit you.
23 (C) Epaphras is also here in jail for being a follower of Christ Jesus. He sends his greetings, 24 (D) and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, who work together with me.
25 I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you!
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Philemon
New International Version
Philemon
New International Version
1 Paul, a prisoner(A) of Christ Jesus, and Timothy(B) our brother,(C)
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker(D)— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus(E) our fellow soldier(F)—and to the church that meets in your home:(G)
3 Grace and peace to you[a] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(H)
Thanksgiving and Prayer
4 I always thank my God(I) as I remember you in my prayers,(J) 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people(K) and your faith in the Lord Jesus.(L) 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement,(M) because you, brother, have refreshed(N) the hearts of the Lord’s people.
Paul’s Plea for Onesimus
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you(O) on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner(P) of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son(Q) Onesimus,[b](R) who became my son while I was in chains.(S) 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains(T) for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced(U) but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave,(V) but better than a slave, as a dear brother.(W) He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me a partner,(X) welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.(Y) 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand.(Z) I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh(AA) my heart in Christ. 21 Confident(AB) of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be(AC) restored to you in answer to your prayers.(AD)
23 Epaphras,(AE) my fellow prisoner(AF) in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark,(AG) Aristarchus,(AH) Demas(AI) and Luke, my fellow workers.(AJ)
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.(AK)
Footnotes
- Philemon 1:3 The Greek is plural; also in verses 22 and 25; elsewhere in this letter “you” is singular.
- Philemon 1:10 Onesimus means useful.
Jeremiah 19-20
Contemporary English Version
Jeremiah 19-20
Contemporary English Version
Jeremiah and the Clay Jar
19 The Lord said:
Jeremiah, go to the pottery shop and buy a clay jar. Then take along some of the city officials and leading priests 2 (A) and go to Hinnom Valley, just outside Potsherd[a] Gate. Tell the people that I have said:
3 I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and you kings of Judah and you people of Jerusalem had better pay attention. I am going to bring so much trouble on this valley that everyone who hears about it will be shocked. 4-5 (B) The people of Judah stopped worshiping me and made this valley into a place of worship for Baal and other gods that have never helped them or their ancestors or their kings. And they have committed murder here, burning their young, innocent children as sacrifices to Baal. I have never even thought of telling you to do that. 6 So watch out! Someday this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. It will be called Slaughter Valley!
7 You people of Judah and Jerusalem may have big plans, but here in this valley I'll ruin[b] those plans. I'll let your enemies kill you, and I'll tell the birds and wild animals to eat your dead bodies. 8 I will turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, and every passerby will be shocked and horrified and will make insulting remarks. 9 And while your enemies are trying to break through your city walls to kill you, the food supply will run out. You will become so hungry that you will eat the flesh of your friends and even of your own children.
10 Jeremiah, as soon as you have said this, smash the jar while the people are watching. 11 Then tell them that I have also said:
I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I warn you that I will shatter Judah and Jerusalem just like this jar that is broken beyond repair. You will bury your dead here in Topheth, but so many of you will die that there won't be enough room.
12-13 I will make Jerusalem as unclean as Topheth, by filling the city with your dead bodies. I will do this because you and your kings have gone up to the roofs of your houses and burned incense to the stars in the sky, as though they were gods. And you have given sacrifices of wine to foreign gods.
Jeremiah Speaks in the Temple Courtyard
14 I went to Topheth, where I told the people what the Lord had said. Then I went to the temple courtyard and shouted to the people, 15 “Listen, everyone! Some time ago, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, warned you that he would bring disaster on Jerusalem and all nearby villages. But you were stubborn and refused to listen. Now the Lord is going to bring the disaster he promised.”
Pashhur Arrests Jeremiah
20 Pashhur son of Immer was a priest and the chief of temple security. He heard what I had said, 2 and so he hit me.[c] Then he had me arrested and put in chains[d] at the Benjamin Gate in the Lord's temple.[e] 3 The next day, when Pashhur let me go free, I told him that the Lord had said:
No longer will I call you Pashhur. Instead, I will call you Afraid-of-Everything.[f] 4 You will be afraid, and you will bring fear to your friends as well. You will see enemies kill them in battle. Then I will let the king of Babylonia take everyone in Judah prisoner, killing some and dragging the rest away to Babylonia. 5 He will clean out the royal treasury and take everything else of value from Jerusalem.
6 Pashhur, you are guilty of telling lies and claiming they were messages from me. That's why I will let the Babylonians take you, your family, and your friends as prisoners to Babylonia, where you will all die and be buried.
Jeremiah Complains to the Lord
7 You tricked me, Lord,
and I was really fooled.
You are stronger than I am,
and you have defeated me.
People never stop sneering
and insulting me.
8 You have let me announce
only injustice and death.
Your message has brought me
nothing but insults
and trouble.
9 Sometimes I tell myself
not to think about you, Lord,
or even mention your name.
But your message burns
in my heart and bones,
and I cannot keep silent.
10 I heard the crowds whisper,
“Everyone is afraid.
Now's our chance
to accuse Jeremiah!”
All of my so-called friends
are just waiting
for me to make a mistake.
They say, “Maybe Jeremiah
can be tricked.
Then we can overpower him
and get even at last.”
11 But you, Lord,
are a mighty soldier,
standing at my side.
Those troublemakers
will fall down and fail—
terribly embarrassed,
forever ashamed.
12 Lord All-Powerful,
you test those who do right,
and you know every heart
and mind.
I have told you my complaints,
so let me watch you
take revenge on my enemies.
13 I sing praises to you, Lord.
You rescue the oppressed
from the wicked.
14 (C) Put a curse on the day I was born!
Don't bless that day.
15 Put a curse on the man
who told my father, “Good news!
You have a son.”
16 May that man be like the towns
you destroyed without pity.
Let him hear shouts of alarm
in the morning
and battle cries at noon.
17 He deserves to die
for not killing me
before I was born.
Then my mother's body
would have been my grave.
18 Why did I have to be born?
Was it just to suffer
and die in shame?
Footnotes
- 19.2 Potsherd: A piece of broken pottery.
- 19.7 ruin: In Hebrew “ruin” sounds like “jar” (see verse 1).
- 20.2 hit me: Or “beat me up” or “had me beaten up.”
- 20.2 in chains: Or “in the stocks” (a wooden frame with holes for the hands, neck, or feet of a prisoner) or “in a prison cell.”
- 20.2 the Benjamin Gate in the Lord's temple: The Hebrew text has “the upper Benjamin Gate in the temple”; the lower Benjamin Gate may have been the city gate of that name.
- 20.3 Afraid-of-Everything: Hebrew “Magor-Missabib.”
Jeremiah 19-20
New International Version
Jeremiah 19-20
New International Version
19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.(A) Take along some of the elders(B) of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(C) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings(D) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster(E) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.(F) 4 For they have forsaken(G) me and made this a place of foreign gods(H); they have burned incense(I) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.(J) 5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children(K) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.(L) 6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth(M) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(N) but the Valley of Slaughter.(O)
7 “‘In this place I will ruin[a] the plans(P) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,(Q) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses(R) as food(S) to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;(T) all who pass by will be appalled(U) and will scoff because of all its wounds.(V) 9 I will make them eat(W) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies(X) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’
10 “Then break the jar(Y) while those who go with you are watching, 11 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash(Z) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury(AA) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 12 This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses(AB) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled(AC) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs(AD) to all the starry hosts(AE) and poured out drink offerings(AF) to other gods.’”
14 Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court(AG) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster(AH) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked(AI) and would not listen(AJ) to my words.’”
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer,(AK) the official(AL) in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten(AM) and put in the stocks(AN) at the Upper Gate of Benjamin(AO) at the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name(AP) for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.(AQ) 4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes(AR) you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give(AS) all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry(AT) them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. 5 I will deliver all the wealth(AU) of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away(AV) as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied(AW) lies.’”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
7 You deceived[b](AX) me, Lord, and I was deceived[c];
you overpowered(AY) me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed(AZ) all day long;
everyone mocks(BA) me.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.(BB)
So the word of the Lord has brought me
insult and reproach(BC) all day long.
9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”(BD)
his word is in my heart like a fire,(BE)
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;(BF)
indeed, I cannot.
10 I hear many whispering,
“Terror(BG) on every side!
Denounce(BH) him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends(BI)
are waiting for me to slip,(BJ) saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail(BK) over him
and take our revenge(BL) on him.”
11 But the Lord(BM) is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors(BN) will stumble and not prevail.(BO)
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;(BP)
their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,(BQ)
let me see your vengeance(BR) on them,
for to you I have committed(BS) my cause.
13 Sing(BT) to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues(BU) the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.(BV)
14 Cursed be the day I was born!(BW)
May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
who made him very glad, saying,
“A child is born to you—a son!”
16 May that man be like the towns(BX)
the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing(BY) in the morning,
a battle cry at noon.
17 For he did not kill me in the womb,(BZ)
with my mother as my grave,
her womb enlarged forever.
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb(CA)
to see trouble(CB) and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?(CC)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 19:7 The Hebrew for ruin sounds like the Hebrew for jar (see verses 1 and 10).
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
Psalm 128
Contemporary English Version
Psalm 128
Contemporary English Version
(A song for worship.)
The Lord Rewards His Faithful People
1 The Lord will bless you
if you respect him
and obey his laws.
2 Your fields will produce,
and you will be happy—
all will go well.
3 Your wife will be as fruitful
as a grapevine,
and just as an olive tree
is rich with olives,
your home will be rich
with healthy children.
4 This is how the Lord will bless
everyone who respects him.
5 I pray that the Lord
will bless you from Zion
and let Jerusalem prosper
as long as you live.
6 May you live long enough
to see your grandchildren.
Let's pray for peace in Israel!
Psalm 128
New International Version
Psalm 128
New International Version
Psalm 128
A song of ascents.
1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,(A)
who walk in obedience to him.(B)
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;(C)
blessings and prosperity(D) will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine(E)
within your house;
your children(F) will be like olive shoots(G)
around your table.
4 Yes, this will be the blessing(H)
for the man who fears the Lord.(I)
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