Old/New Testament
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 Immer's son Pashhur was the priest who had authority in the Lord's temple. He heard Jeremiah's message about Jerusalem. 2 So he told his men to beat Jeremiah. Then they tied Jeremiah up with heavy pieces of wood on his legs. That was at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord's temple. 3 The next day, Pashhur let Jeremiah go free. Jeremiah said to him, ‘The Lord's name for you is not “Pashhur”. It is “Terror is all around”. 4 The Lord says, “I will send enemies to make you and your friends very afraid. You yourself will see enemies kill all your friends in war. I will put Judah's people under the power of Babylon's king. He will take some of them away as prisoners. His soldiers will kill others of them. 5 I will give all the riches in this city to Judah's enemies. I will give them all the things that the people have worked hard to get. They will take all the valuable things that belonged to the people, and to the kings of Judah. They will take everything away to Babylon. 6 They will also take you, Pashhur, and everybody who lives in your house. They will take you as prisoners to Babylon. You will die there and people will bury you there. The same thing will happen to all your friends. You spoke false messages to these people, as if they were messages from me.” ’
Jeremiah complains to the Lord
7 Lord, you forced me to become a prophet,
and I let you do that.
You used your power to make me agree,
and you won.
Now everybody laughs at me and they insult me.
8 When I speak your message, I have to say,
‘Terrible trouble is coming!’
When I shout that message from the Lord,
people laugh at me.
They insult me.
9 Sometimes I think,
‘I will say nothing about the Lord or his message.’
But then his message burns like a fire inside me.
It gives me pain in my mind and my body.
I cannot keep his message to myself.
I have to speak it.
10 I hear what people are saying against me.
They say, ‘Terror is all around him![a]
We should tell the officers what he is saying.’
All my friends want me to make a mistake
so that they can accuse me.
They say, ‘Perhaps we can cause him to say something wrong.
Then we will have power over him.
We will pay him back for the trouble he has given us.’
11 But the Lord is with me,
like a brave soldier who will fight for me.
So people who want to hurt me will fail.
They will not get power over me.
They will be very ashamed because they have failed.
Nobody will ever forget their shame.
12 Lord Almighty, you test righteous people,
to see if they are faithful.
You know what people think.
You know their feelings.
I trust you to show that I am not guilty.
So punish those people who want to hurt me.
13 Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
He rescues poor people
from the power of wicked people.
14 I would like to curse the day that I was born.
That day was not a happy day,
the day that my mother gave birth to me.
15 That day, a man told my father,
‘Good news! You have a son!’
I would like to curse that man too.
16 May the Lord destroy that man,
as he completely destroyed those cities long ago.[b]
I want that man to hear people who are weeping in the morning.
I want him to hear the noise of battles at noon.
17 He should have killed me before I was born.
I should have died inside my mother.
She would have held me inside her.
That would have been my grave for ever.
18 I should have stayed in that safe place.
In my life, I only receive trouble and pain.
When I die, all I will have is shame.
King Nebuchadnezzar will take Jerusalem
21 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. King Zedekiah sent Malkijah's son Pashhur, to speak to Jeremiah. He also sent the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah's son. They went to say to Jeremiah, 2 ‘Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, is attacking us. Please ask the Lord to help us. Perhaps he will do a powerful miracle as he has done for us in the past. Perhaps he will cause Nebuchadnezzar to go away and leave us alone.’[c]
3 Jeremiah answered them, ‘Tell Zedekiah that the Lord, Israel's God, says this:
4 “Your soldiers have gone outside the city to fight against the king of Babylon and his soldiers. But I will make the weapons of your soldiers useless. You will have to bring them all back into the city. 5 I myself will use my great power and strength to fight against you. I will do that because I am very angry with you. 6 I will attack everything that lives in this city, both people and animals. A very bad disease will kill them.”
7 The Lord also says this: “Then I will put King Zedekiah of Judah under the power of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I will do the same thing to any of his officers or people who are still alive. Those are the people that war, famine or disease has not already killed. I will give them to King Nebuchadnezzar and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will tell his soldiers to kill them. He will not be kind to them and he will kill them all.”
8 But also tell the people that the Lord says this: “I will let you choose between two things. One is a way that will give you life. The other is a way that will give you death. 9 Anyone who stays in the city will die. War or famine or disease will kill them. But you may choose to leave the city. You may put yourselves under the power of Babylon's army that is attacking the city. Anyone who does that will continue to live. 10 I, the Lord, tell you this: I have decided not to rescue this city. Instead I will destroy it. I will give it to the king of Babylon. He will destroy it with fire.” ’
A message to Judah's kings
11 This is the Lord's message to the king of Judah, to his family and his officers:
12 ‘Descendants of King David, the Lord says this to you:
Every day you must be fair as you judge people.
Punish those who rob other people.
Punish those who are cruel to other people.
Help the people that they have hurt.
If you do not do judge in a fair way,
I will be very angry.
My anger will burn like a hot fire
that nobody can stop.
It will destroy you
because of the evil things that you have done.’
The Lord says:
13 ‘I have turned against you, Jerusalem's palace.
Kings sit there on their thrones,
on a high rock above the valley.
You say, “We are safe here in our strong building.
No enemy can get in here to attack us.”
14 But I will punish you for everything that you have done.
I will destroy your palace with fire.
That fire will destroy everything that is around you.’
That is what the Lord says.
Timothy must continue to do his work for God
4 Timothy, I tell you this seriously, as God and Christ Jesus see everything that we do. When Christ Jesus comes to rule as king, he will judge everyone. He will judge the people who are alive and also those who have already died. When he appears, he will decide what should happen to them all. So I tell you this now: 2 Tell God's message to people. Always be ready to speak God's message clearly to people, whether they want to listen to you or not. Warn people when they are doing something wrong. Tell them to stop doing wrong things, and explain to them what they ought to do. But be very patient while you teach them what is true.
3 Do this, because a time will come when people will not listen to God's true message. Instead, they will want to hear all kinds of new messages that will make them happy. So they will find many teachers for themselves who will tell them what they want to hear. 4 People will refuse to listen to God's true message. Instead, they will want to listen to silly stories that are false. 5 But you yourself must continue to think seriously and clearly. Be patient and brave when troubles come. Continue to tell the good news about Christ to people. Do all the work that God has given you to do as his servant.
6 As for me, it is nearly time for me to die. My death will be like a drink offering that they pour out to God. My life as God's servant will end.[a] 7 I have worked to serve Christ well. I have finished everything that God wanted me to do. I am like a runner who has run to the end of the race. I have continued to believe God's true message. 8 So now a gift is waiting for me. The Lord will make me completely right with him. That will be like a crown which the Lord will give me on that great day when he judges people. He is the judge who is fair and right. He will not only give that gift to me. He will give it to all those people who love him. They will be happy to see him when he comes again.[b]
Paul's last words to Timothy
9 Timothy, please come to see me as soon as you can. 10 Demas has left me and he has gone to Thessalonica city. He wanted to enjoy the things of this world too much.[c] Crescens has gone to Galatia region.[d] Titus has gone to Dalmatia region.[e]
11 Only Luke is with me now.[f] Bring Mark with you when you come. He can help me very much with the work for God. 12 I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.[g]
13 I left a coat with Carpus in Troas.[h] Bring it when you come. Also bring the books for me. If you cannot bring all of them, then be sure to bring my special papers.
14 Alexander, the man who makes things from metal, caused a lot of trouble for me. The Lord will punish him because of the wrong things that he did. 15 You must also be careful that he does not cause trouble for you. He argued very strongly against our message.
16 I had to explain to a judge that I had not done anything wrong. The first time I did that, nobody helped me. All my friends stayed away. I pray that God will forgive them for that. 17 But the Lord was there to help me. He made me strong so that I could tell his message clearly. Gentile people from many countries could hear what I said. So the Lord saved me from the danger of death. 18 The Lord will continue to save me from every bad thing. And he will bring me safely to heaven, where he rules. He is great and we should praise him for ever! Amen! This is true!
19 Say ‘hello’ for me to Priscilla and Aquila, and to the family of Onesiphorus.[i][j] 20 Erastus remained at Corinth city.[k] I left Trophimus at Miletus city because he was ill.[l]
21 Please try to come before the winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia say ‘hello’ to you. All the other believers here also say ‘hello’.
22 I pray that the Lord will continue to make you strong in your spirit. I pray that he will be kind to all of you.
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