Psalm 2

⁷ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

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.’”

⁶ If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters,^[a] you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith^(A) and of the good teaching that you have followed.^{(B) 7} Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales;^(C) rather, train yourself to be godly.^{(D) 8} For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things,^(E) holding promise for both the present life^(F) and the life to come.^{(G) 9} This is a trustworthy saying^(H) that deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God,^(I) who is the Savior of all people,^(J) and especially of those who believe.

¹¹ Command and teach these things.^{(K) 12} Don’t let anyone look down on you^(L) because you are young, but set an example^(M) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith^(N) and in purity. ¹³ Until I come,^(O) devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture,^(P) to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy^(Q) when the body of elders^(R) laid their hands on you.^(S)

¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save^(T) both yourself and your hearers.

Psalm 101

Of David. A psalm.

⁹ In King Hezekiah’s fourth year,^(A) which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰ At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹ The king^(B) of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.^{(C) 12} This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant^(D)—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.^(E) They neither listened to the commands^(F) nor carried them out.

¹³ In the fourteenth year^(G) of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah^(H) and captured them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^(I) “I have done wrong.^(J) Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents^[b] of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah gave^(K) him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶ At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors^(L) and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(M)(N)

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^(O) his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^(P) on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸ They called for the king; and Eliakim^(Q) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^(R) the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

⁶ If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters,^[a] you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith^(A) and of the good teaching that you have followed.^{(B) 7} Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales;^(C) rather, train yourself to be godly.^{(D) 8} For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things,^(E) holding promise for both the present life^(F) and the life to come.^{(G) 9} This is a trustworthy saying^(H) that deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God,^(I) who is the Savior of all people,^(J) and especially of those who believe.

¹¹ Command and teach these things.^{(K) 12} Don’t let anyone look down on you^(L) because you are young, but set an example^(M) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith^(N) and in purity. ¹³ Until I come,^(O) devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture,^(P) to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy^(Q) when the body of elders^(R) laid their hands on you.^(S)

¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save^(T) both yourself and your hearers.