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First Reading: Jeremiah Chapter 30 and 31Jeremiah 30
30:1 Restoration of Israel and Judah
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 "Thus speaks the
LORD God of Israel, saying: 'Write in a book for yourself all the words that
I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that
I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,' says the LORD.'And
I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they
shall possess it.'"
4 Now these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
5 "For thus says the LORD:
'We have heard a voice of trembling,Of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and
see,Whether a man is ever in labor with child?So why do I see every man with
his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor,And all faces turned pale? 7 Alas!
For that day is great,So that none is like it;And it is the time of Jacob's
trouble,But he shall be saved out of it.
8'For it shall come to pass in that day,'Says the LORD of hosts,'That I will
break his yoke from your neck,And will burst your bonds;Foreigners shall no
more enslave them. 9 But they shall serve the LORD their God,And David their
king,Whom I will raise up for them.
10'Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the LORD,'Nor be dismayed,
O Israel;For behold, I will save you from afar,And your seed from the land of
their captivity.Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet,And no one shall
make him afraid. 11 For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to save you;Though I
make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,Yet I will not make
a complete end of you.But I will correct you in justice,And will not let you
go altogether unpunished.'
12 "For thus says the LORD:
'Your affliction is incurable,Your wound is severe. 13 There is no one to plead
your cause,That you may be bound up;You have no healing medicines. 14 All your
lovers have forgotten you;They do not seek you;For I have wounded you with the
wound of an enemy,With the chastisement of a cruel one,For the multitude of
your iniquities,Because your sins have increased. 15 Why do you cry about your
affliction?Your sorrow is incurable.Because of the multitude of your iniquities,Because
your sins have increased,I have done these things to you.
16'Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured;And all your adversaries,
every one of them, shall go into captivity;Those who plunder you shall become
plunder,And all who prey upon you I will make a prey. 17 For I will restore
health to you And heal you of your wounds,' says the LORD,'Because they called
you an outcast saying:"This is Zion;No one seeks her."'
18 "Thus says the LORD:
'Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob's tents,And have mercy on
his dwelling places;The city shall be built upon its own mound,And the palace
shall remain according to its own plan. 19 Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving
And the voice of those who make merry;I will multiply them, and they shall not
diminish;I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. 20 Their children
also shall be as before,And their congregation shall be established before Me;And
I will punish all who oppress them. 21 Their nobles shall be from among them,And
their governor shall come from their midst;Then I will cause him to draw near,And
he shall approach Me;For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?'
says the LORD. 22'You shall be My people,And I will be your God.'"
23 Behold, the whirlwind of the LORDGoes forth with fury,A continuing whirlwind;It
will fall violently on the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the LORD
will not return until He has done it,And until He has performed the intents
of His heart.
In the latter days you will consider it.
Jeremiah 31
31:1 The Remnant of Israel Saved
"At the same time," says the LORD,"I will be the God of all
the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."
2 Thus says the LORD:
"The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness
Israel, when I went to give him rest."
3 The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying:"Yes, I have loved you with
an everlasting love;Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. 4 Again
I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt,O virgin of Israel!You shall again
be adorned with your tambourines,And shall go forth in the dances of those who
rejoice. 5 You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria;The planters
shall plant and eat them as ordinary food. 6 For there shall be a day When the
watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim,'Arise, and let us go up to Zion,To the LORD
our God.'"
7 For thus says the LORD:
"Sing with gladness for Jacob,And shout among the chief of the nations;Proclaim,
give praise, and say,'O LORD, save Your people,The remnant of Israel!' 8 Behold,
I will bring them from the north country,And gather them from the ends of the
earth,Among them the blind and the lame,The woman with child And the one who
labors with child, together;A great throng shall return there. 9 They shall
come with weeping,And with supplications I will lead them.I will cause them
to walk by the rivers of waters,In a straight way in which they shall not stumble;For
I am a Father to Israel,And Ephraim is My firstborn.
10 "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,And declare it in the isles afar
off, and say,'He who scattered Israel will gather him,And keep him as a shepherd
does his flock.' 11 For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,And ransomed him from the
hand of one stronger than he. 12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height
of Zion,Streaming to the goodness of the LORD For wheat and new wine
and oil,For the young of the flock and the herd;Their souls shall be like a
well-watered garden,And they shall sorrow no more at all.
13 "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,And the young men and the
old, together;For I will turn their mourning to joy,Will comfort them,And make
them rejoice rather than sorrow. 14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with
abundance,And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD."
15 Mercy on Ephraim
Thus says the LORD:
"A voice was heard in Ramah,Lamentation and bitter weeping,Rachel weeping
for her children,Refusing to be comforted for her children,Because they are
no more."
16 Thus says the LORD:
"Refrain your voice from weeping,And your eyes from tears;For your work
shall be rewarded, says the LORD,And they shall come back from the land of the
enemy. 17 There is hope in your future, says the LORD,That your children shall
come back to their own border.
18 "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself:'You have chastised me,
and I was chastised,Like an untrained bull;Restore me, and I will return,For
You are the LORD my God. 19 Surely, after my turning, I repented;And after I
was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated,Because
I bore the reproach of my youth.' 20 Is Ephraim My dear son?Is he a pleasant
child?For though I spoke against him,I earnestly remember him still;Therefore
My heart yearns for him;I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.
21 "Set up signposts,Make landmarks;Set your heart toward the highway,The
way in which you went.Turn back, O virgin of Israel,Turn back to these your
cities. 22 How long will you gad about,O you backsliding daughter?For the LORD
has created a new thing in the earth A woman shall encompass a man."
23 Future Prosperity of Judah
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "They shall again use
this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their
captivity:'The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!'
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers
and those going out with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and
I have replenished every sorrowful soul."
26 After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the house
of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up,
to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over
them to build and to plant, says the LORD. 29 In those days they shall say no
more:
'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,And the children's teeth are set on edge.'
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour
grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 A New Covenant
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah 32 not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke,
though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will
put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know
Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will
forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
35 Thus says the LORD,Who gives the sun for a light by day,The ordinances of
the moon and the stars for a light by night,Who disturbs the sea,And its waves
roar (The LORD of hosts is His name):
36 "If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD,Then the seed
of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever."
37 Thus says the LORD:
"If heaven above can be measured,And the foundations of the earth searched
out beneath,I will also cast off all the seed of IsraelFor all that they have
done, says the LORD.
38 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be
built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor's
line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall
turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes,
and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate
toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown
down anymore forever."
1 Peter 2
2:1 Our Inheritance Through Christ's Blood
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil
speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may
grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God
and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
"Behold, I lay in ZionA chief cornerstone, elect, precious,And he who believes
on Him will by no means be put to shame."
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
"The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,"
8 and
"A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense."
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own
special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are
now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
11 Living Before the World
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which
war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that
when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which
they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submission to Government
(cf. Rom 13:1-5)
Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether
to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him
for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice,
but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear
God. Honor the king.
18 Submission to Masters
(Isa 53:7-9)
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of
conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit
is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when
you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before
God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 "Who committed no sin,Nor was deceit found in His mouth";
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He
did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins,
might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For
you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and
Overseer of your souls.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
I PETER
Part 2 of 2
The first letter of Peter can be outlined as follows:
"However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?" I Peter 4:16-17
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