Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
19 Remember my affliction
my homelessness, bitterness and gall.
20 Whenever I remember,
my soul is downcast within me.
Our Hope—His Faithfulness
21 This I recall to my heart—
therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the mercies of Adonai
we will not be consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning!
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “Adonai is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 Adonai is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul that seeks Him.
26 It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of Adonai.
Babylon Destroys Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, just like all Jehoiakim had done. 3 Because of Adonai’s anger it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He had them cast out of His presence.
So Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came—he and all his army—against Jerusalem, and besieged it. They built a siege wall all around it. 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city, that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled, going out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was near the king’s garden—even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They were heading along the way of the Arabah.
8 But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the desert plains of Jericho. Then all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. He passed judgment on him.
10 At Riblah, the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and also all the Judean leaders. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes. Then the king of Babylon bound him in bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon, where he put him in prison until the day of his death.
Smyrna: Do Not Fear Satan’s Testing
8 To the angel of Messiah’s community in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and Last, who was dead and came to life. 9 I know your tribulation and your poverty (yet you are rich), as well as the slander of those who say they are Jewish and are not, but are a synagogue of satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. [a] 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities. The one who overcomes shall never be harmed by the second death.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.