The Daily Audio Bible

Another Promise of Hope

33 While I was still in prison in the courtyard, the Lord's message came to me again. ² The Lord, who made the earth, who formed it and set it in place, spoke to me. He whose name is the Lord said, ³ “Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things that you know nothing about. ⁴ I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say that the houses of Jerusalem and the royal palace of Judah will be torn down as a result of the siege and the attack. ⁵ Some will fight against the Babylonians, who will fill the houses^[a] with the corpses of those whom I am going to strike down in my anger and fury. I have turned away from this city because of the evil things that its people have done. ⁶ But I will heal this city and its people and restore them to health. I will show them abundant peace and security. ⁷ I will make Judah and Israel prosperous, and I will rebuild them as they were before. ⁸ I will purify them from the sins that they have committed against me, and I will forgive their sins and their rebellion. ⁹ Jerusalem will be a source of joy, honor, and pride to me; and every nation in the world will fear and tremble when they hear about the good things that I do for the people of Jerusalem and about the prosperity that I bring to the city.”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “People are saying that this place is like a desert, that it has no people or animals living in it. And they are right; the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are empty; no people or animals live there. But in these places you will hear again ^11 (A)the shouts of gladness and joy and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. You will hear people sing as they bring thank offerings to my Temple; they will say,

I will make this land as prosperous as it was before. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

¹² The Lord Almighty said, “In this land that is like a desert and where no people or animals live, there will once again be pastures where shepherds can take their sheep. ¹³ In the towns in the hill country, in the foothills, and in southern Judah, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, shepherds will once again count their sheep. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

^14 (B)The Lord said, “The time is coming when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will do what is right and just throughout the land. ¹⁶ The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called ‘The Lord Our Salvation.’ ^17 (C)I, the Lord, promise that there will always be a descendant of David to be king of Israel ^18 (D)and that there will always be priests from the tribe of Levi to serve me and to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices.”

¹⁹ The Lord said to me, ²⁰ “I have made a covenant with the day and with the night, so that they always come at their proper times; and that covenant can never be broken. ²¹ In the same way I have made a covenant with my servant David that he would always have a descendant to be king, and I have made a covenant with the priests from the tribe of Levi that they would always serve me; and those covenants can never be broken. ²² I will increase the number of descendants of my servant David and the number of priests from the tribe of Levi, so that it will be as impossible to count them as it is to count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore.”

²³ The Lord said to me, ²⁴ “Have you noticed how people are saying that I have rejected Israel and Judah, the two families that I chose? And so they look with contempt on my people and no longer consider them a nation. ²⁵ But I, the Lord, have a covenant with day and night, and I have made the laws that control earth and sky. ²⁶ And just as surely as I have done this, so I will maintain my covenant with Jacob's descendants and with my servant David. I will choose one of David's descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will be merciful to my people and make them prosperous again.”

A Message for Zedekiah

34 ^(E)The Lord spoke to me when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army, supported by troops from all the nations and races that were subject to him, were attacking Jerusalem and its nearby towns. ² The Lord, the God of Israel, told me to go and say to King Zedekiah of Judah, “I, the Lord, will hand this city over to the king of Babylonia, and he will burn it down. ³ You will not escape; you will be captured and handed over to him. You will see him face-to-face and talk to him in person; then you will go to Babylonia. ⁴ Zedekiah, listen to what I say about you. You will not be killed in battle. ⁵ You will die in peace, and as people burned incense when they buried your ancestors, who were kings before you, in the same way they will burn incense for you. They will mourn over you and say, ‘Our king is dead!’ I, the Lord, have spoken.”

⁶ Then I gave this message to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem ⁷ while the army of the king of Babylonia was attacking the city. The army was also attacking Lachish and Azekah, the only other fortified cities left in Judah.

Deceitful Treatment of Slaves

⁸ King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem had made an agreement to set free ⁹ their Hebrew slaves, both male and female, so that no one would have an Israelite as a slave. ¹⁰ All the people and their leaders agreed to free their slaves and never to enslave them again. They did set them free, ¹¹ but later they changed their minds, took them back, and forced them to become slaves again.

¹² Then the Lord, ¹³ the God of Israel, told me to say to the people: “I made a covenant with your ancestors when I rescued them from Egypt and set them free from slavery. I told them that ^14 (F)every seven years they were to set free any Hebrew slave who had served them for six years. But your ancestors would not pay any attention to me or listen to what I said. ¹⁵ Just a few days ago you changed your minds and did what pleased me. All of you agreed to set all Israelites free, and you made a covenant in my presence, in the Temple where I am worshiped. ¹⁶ But then you changed your minds again and dishonored me. All of you took back the slaves whom you had set free as they desired, and you forced them into slavery again. ¹⁷ So now, I, the Lord, say that you have disobeyed me; you have not given all Israelites their freedom. Very well, then, I will give you freedom: the freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation. I will make every nation in the world horrified at what I do to you. ^18-19 The officials of Judah and of Jerusalem, together with the palace officials, the priests, and all the leaders, made a covenant with me by walking between the two halves of a bull that they had cut in two. But they broke the covenant and did not keep its terms. So I will do to these people what they did to the bull. ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies, who want to kill them, and their corpses will be eaten by birds and wild animals. ²¹ I will also hand over King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials to those who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the Babylonian army, which has stopped its attack against you. ²² I will give the order, and they will return to this city. They will attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make the towns of Judah like a desert where no one lives. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

False Teachers

4 The Spirit says clearly that some people will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons. ² Such teachings are spread by deceitful liars, whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron. ³ Such people teach that it is wrong to marry and to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten, after a prayer of thanks, by those who are believers and have come to know the truth. ⁴ Everything that God has created is good; nothing is to be rejected, but everything is to be received with a prayer of thanks, ⁵ because the word of God and the prayer make it acceptable to God.

A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

⁶ If you give these instructions to the believers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, as you feed yourself spiritually on the words of faith and of the true teaching which you have followed. ⁷ But keep away from those godless legends, which are not worth telling. Keep yourself in training for a godly life. ⁸ Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future. ⁹ This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed. ¹⁰ We struggle^[a] and work hard, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all and especially of those who believe.

¹¹ Give them these instructions and these teachings. ¹² Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for the believers in your speech, your conduct, your love, faith, and purity. ¹³ Until I come, give your time and effort to the public reading of the Scriptures and to preaching and teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you, which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵ Practice these things and devote yourself to them, in order that your progress may be seen by all. ¹⁶ Watch yourself and watch your teaching. Keep on doing these things, because if you do, you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

^(A)A Hymn in Time of National Trouble^[a]

²³ Gossip brings anger just as surely as the north wind brings rain.

²⁴ Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife.