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First Reading: Jeremiah Chapter 51 and 52Jeremiah 51
51:1 This is what the LORD says:
"See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the
people of Leb Kamai. 2 I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to
devastate her land;they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.
3 Let not the archer string his bow,nor let him put on his armor.Do not spare
her young men;completely destroy her army. 4 They will fall down slain in Babylon,
fatally wounded in her streets. 5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the LORD Almighty,though their land is full of guilt before the
Holy One of Israel.
6 "Flee from Babylon!Run for your lives!Do not be destroyed because of
her sins.It is time for the LORD's vengeance;he will pay her what she deserves.
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand;she made the whole earth drunk.The
nations drank her wine;therefore they have now gone mad. 8 Babylon will suddenly
fall and be broken.Wail over her!Get balm for her pain;perhaps she can be healed.
9 "'We would have healed Babylon,but she cannot be healed;let us leave
her and each go to his own land,for her judgment reaches to the skies,it rises
as high as the clouds.'
10 "'The LORD has vindicated us;come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD
our God has done.'
11 "Sharpen the arrows,take up the shields!The LORD has stirred up the
kings of the Medes,because his purpose is to destroy Babylon.The LORD will take
vengeance,vengeance for his temple. 12 Lift up a banner against the walls of
Babylon!Reinforce the guard,station the watchmen,prepare an ambush!The LORD
will carry out his purpose,his decree against the people of Babylon. 13 You
who live by many waters and are rich in treasures,your end has come,the time
for you to be cut off. 14 The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself:I will surely
fill you with men, as with a swarm of locusts,and they will shout in triumph
over you.
15 "He made the earth by his power;he founded the world by his wisdom and
stretched out the heavens by his understanding. 16 When he thunders, the waters
in the heavens roar;he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.He sends
lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17 "Every man is senseless and without knowledge;every goldsmith is shamed
by his idols.His images are a fraud;they have no breath in them. 18 They are
worthless, the objects of mockery;when their judgment comes, they will perish.
19 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,for he is the Maker of all
things,including the tribe of his inheritance the LORD Almighty is his
name.
20 "You are my war club,my weapon for battle with you I shatter
nations,with you I destroy kingdoms, 21 with you I shatter horse and rider,with
you I shatter chariot and driver, 22 with you I shatter man and woman,with you
I shatter old man and youth,with you I shatter young man and maiden, 23 with
you I shatter shepherd and flock,with you I shatter farmer and oxen,with you
I shatter governors and officials.
24 "Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia
for all the wrong they have done in Zion," declares the LORD.
25 "I am against you, O destroying mountain,you who destroy the whole earth,"
declares the LORD."I will stretch out my hand against you,roll you off
the cliffs,and make you a burned-out mountain. 26 No rock will be taken from
you for a cornerstone,nor any stone for a foundation,for you will be desolate
forever," declares the LORD.
27 "Lift up a banner in the land!Blow the trumpet among the nations!Prepare
the nations for battle against her;summon against her these kingdoms:Ararat,
Minni and Ashkenaz.Appoint a commander against her;send up horses like a swarm
of locusts. 28 Prepare the nations for battle against her the kings of
the Medes,their governors and all their officials,and all the countries they
rule. 29 The land trembles and writhes,for the LORD's purposes against Babylon
stand to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.
30 Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting;they remain in their strongholds.Their
strength is exhausted;they have become like women.Her dwellings are set on fire;the
bars of her gates are broken. 31 One courier follows another and messenger follows
messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,
32 the river crossings seized,the marshes set on fire,and the soldiers terrified."
33 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
"The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled;the
time to harvest her will soon come."
34 "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,he has thrown us into
confusion,he has made us an empty jar.Like a serpent he has swallowed us and
filled his stomach with our delicacies,and then has spewed us out. 35 May the
violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon,"say the inhabitants of Zion."May
our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,"says Jerusalem.
36 Therefore, this is what the LORD says:
"See, I will defend your cause and avenge you;I will dry up her sea and
make her springs dry. 37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,a haunt of jackals,an
object of horror and scorn,a place where no one lives. 38 Her people all roar
like young lions,they growl like lion cubs. 39 But while they are aroused,I
will set out a feast for them and make them drunk,so that they shout with laughter
then sleep forever and not awake," declares the LORD. 40 "I
will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,like rams and goats.
41 "How Sheshach will be captured,the boast of the whole earth seized!What
a horror Babylon will be among the nations! 42 The sea will rise over Babylon;its
roaring waves will cover her. 43 Her towns will be desolate,a dry and desert
land,a land where no one lives,through which no man travels. 44 I will punish
Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed.The nations will
no longer stream to him.And the wall of Babylon will fall.
45 "Come out of her, my people!Run for your lives!Run from the fierce anger
of the LORD. 46 Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the
land;one rumor comes this year, another the next,rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler. 47 For the time will surely come when I will punish
the idols of Babylon;her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all
lie fallen within her. 48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will
shout for joy over Babylon,for out of the north destroyers will attack her,"
declares the LORD.
49 "Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain,just as the slain in all
the earth have fallen because of Babylon. 50 You who have escaped the sword,leave
and do not linger!Remember the LORD in a distant land,and think on Jerusalem."
51 "We are disgraced,for we have been insulted and shame covers our faces,because
foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD's house."
52 "But days are coming," declares the LORD,"when I will punish
her idols,and throughout her land the wounded will groan. 53 Even if Babylon
reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold,I will send destroyers against
her," declares the LORD.
54 "The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,the sound of great destruction
from the land of the Babylonians. 55 The LORD will destroy Babylon;he will silence
her noisy din.Waves [of enemies] will rage like great waters;the roar of their
voices will resound. 56 A destroyer will come against Babylon;her warriors will
be captured,and their bows will be broken.For the LORD is a God of retribution;he
will repay in full. 57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk,her governors,
officers and warriors as well;they will sleep forever and not awake,"declares
the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
58 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Babylon's thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire;the
peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,the nations' labor is only fuel for the
flames."
59 This is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah,
the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in
the fourth year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all
the disasters that would come upon Babylon all that had been recorded
concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see
that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, 'O LORD, you have said you
will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it
will be desolate forever.' 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone
to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64 Then say, 'So will Babylon sink to
rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will
fall.'"
The words of Jeremiah end here.
Jeremiah 52
52:1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned
in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah;
she was from Libnah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim
had done. 3 It was because of the LORD's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem
and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.
Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army.
They camped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 5 The city
was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so
severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 7 Then the city wall was
broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through
the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians
were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, 8 but the Babylonian
army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his
soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 9 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he
pronounced sentence on him. 10 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered
the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah.
11 Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took
him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.
12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the
king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He set fire to the temple of the LORD,
the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he
burned down. 14 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial
guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Nebuzaradan the commander
of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained
in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had gone over
to the king of Babylon. 16 But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest
people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze
Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.
18 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes
and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 19 The commander of
the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands,
dishes and bowls used for drink offerings all that were made of pure
gold or silver.
20 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under
it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the
LORD, was more than could be weighed. 21 Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits
high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.
22 The bronze capital on top of the one pillar was five cubits high and was
decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar,
with its pomegranates, was similar. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on
the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was
a hundred.
24 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah
the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 25 Of those still in the
city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers.
He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the
people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city. 26 Nebuzaradan
the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. 28 This is the number of the
people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; 29 in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year,
832 people from Jerusalem; 30 in his twenty-third year,
745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard.
There were 4,600 people in all.
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the
year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah
and freed him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. 32 He
spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other
kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes
and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table. 34 Day by day
the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived,
till the day of his death.
Second Reading: 2 Peter Chapter 3
2 Peter 3
3:1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both
of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to
recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given
by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come,
scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where
is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on
as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget
that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out
of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged
and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved
for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like
a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow
in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear
with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything
in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought
you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to
the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction
of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping
with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the
home of righteousness.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every
effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind
that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also
wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all
his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things
that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as
they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so
that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your
secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
BIBLE TERMINOLOGY
Exhort - Beseech, comfort, entreat. " Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus." I Thessalonians 4:1 (NKJ)
Church - "called out ones," assembly, gathering of people. "Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--their Lord and ours: " I Corinthians 1:1-2 (NIV)
Worship - service or rite showing reverence, intense love or admiration. "Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Psalm 29:2 (NKJ)
Hallelujah - Hebrew word meaning praise (hallelu) the LORD (Yah). The same as Alleluia. "After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,..." Revelation 19:1(NIV)
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