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Jeremiah 50

Word Against Babylon

The word which Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
2
“Declare and make it heard among the nations.
Make it heard and lift up a standard.
Do not conceal it but say,
‘Babylon has been captured;
Bel has been put to shame; Marduk has been shattered;
Her images have been put to shame; her idols have been shattered.’
3 For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off; they have gone away! 4 “In those days and at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be Yahweh their God they will seek. 5 They will ask for the way to Zion—turning their faces in its direction and saying, ‘Come!’—in order that they may join themselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. 6
“My people have become lost sheep;
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn away on the mountains;
They have gone along from mountain to hill
And have forgotten their resting place.
7
All who came out against them have devoured them;
And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty,
Inasmuch as they have sinned against Yahweh, who is the abode of righteousness,
Even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.’

8
“Wander away from the midst of Babylon
And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;
Be also like male goats at the head of the flock.
9
For behold, I am going to arouse and bring up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the land of the north,
And they will arrange their battle lines against her;
From there she will be taken captive.
Their arrows will be like a warrior who makes one childless
Who does not return empty‑handed.
10
Chaldea will become spoil;
All who take her spoil will have enough,” declares Yahweh.

11
“Because you are glad, because you exult,
O you who plunder My inheritance,
Because you skip about like a threshing heifer
And neigh like valiant steeds,
12
Your mother will be greatly ashamed;
She who gave you birth will be humiliated.
Behold, she will be the least of the nations,
A wilderness, a parched land, and a desert.
13
Because of the wrath of Yahweh she will not be inhabited,
But she will be completely desolate;
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be in desolation
And will hiss because of all her wounds.
14
Arrange your battle lines against Babylon on every side,
All you who bend the bow;
Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,
For she has sinned against Yahweh.
15
Raise a loud shout against her on every side!
She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen,
Her walls have been pulled down.
For this is the vengeance of Yahweh:
Take vengeance on her;
As she has done to others, so do to her.
16
Cut off the sower from Babylon
And the one who seizes the sickle at the time of harvest;
From before the sword of the oppressor
They will each turn back to his own people,
And they will each flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is a scattered flock; the lions have banished them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 18 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will return Israel back to his pasture, and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days and at that time,’ declares Yahweh, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.’ 21
“Against the land of Merathaim, go up against it,
And against the inhabitants of Pekod.
Put them to the sword and devote them to destruction,” declares Yahweh,
“And do according to all that I have commanded you.
22
The noise of battle is in the land,
And great destruction.
23
How the hammer of the whole earth
Has been cut in pieces and broken!
How Babylon has become
An object of horror among the nations!
24
I set a snare for you, and you were also caught, O Babylon,
But you yourself did not know;
You have been found and also seized
Because you have engaged in conflict with Yahweh.”
25
Yahweh has opened His armory
And has brought forth the weapons of His indignation,
For it is a work of Lord Yahweh of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26
Come to her from the farthest border;
Open up her barns;
Pile her up like heaps,
And devote her to destruction;
Let nothing of her remain.
27
Put all her young bulls to the sword;
Let them go down to the slaughter!
Woe be upon them, for their day has come,
The time of their punishment.

28
There is a sound of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God,
Vengeance for His temple.

29
“Summon many against Babylon,
All those who bend the bow:
Encamp against her on every side,
Let there be no escape.
Repay her according to her work;
According to all that she has done, so do to her;
For she has become arrogant against Yahweh,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30
Therefore her young men will fall in her open squares,
And all her men of war will be silenced in that day,” declares Yahweh.
31
“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,”
Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts,
“For your day has come,
The time when I will punish you.
32
The arrogant one will stumble and fall
With no one to raise him up;
And I will set fire to his cities,
And it will devour him on every side.”

33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“The sons of Israel are oppressed,
And the sons of Judah as well;
And all who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
34
Their Redeemer is strong, Yahweh of hosts is His name;
He will vigorously plead their case
So that He may bring relief to the earth,
But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35
A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares Yahweh,
“And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her officials and her wise men!
36
A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become fools!
A sword against her mighty men, and they will be shattered!
37
A sword against their horses and against their chariots
And against all the foreigners who are in the midst of her,
And they will become women!
A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
38
A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!
For it is a land of graven images,
And they are mad over terrifying idols.

39
“Therefore the desert creatures will live there along with the jackals;
The ostriches also will live in it,
And it will never again be lived in
Or dwelt in from generation to generation.
40
As when God overthrew Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares Yahweh,
“No man will live there,
Nor will any son of man sojourn in it.

41
“Behold, a people is coming from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.
42
They seize their bow and javelin;
They are cruel and have no compassion.
Their voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on horses,
Arranged like a man for the battle
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43
The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands hang limp;
Distress has taken hold of him,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.
44 “Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to an enduring pasture; for in an instant I will make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen I will appoint over it. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can stand before Me?” 45 Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh which He has counseled against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them. 46 At the sound, “Babylon has been seized!” the earth is shaken, and an outcry is heard among the nations.

2 Corinthians 3 - 4

Ministers of a New Covenant

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
2 You are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh. 4 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, in letters having been engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was being brought to an end, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more in glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had been glorious, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which was being brought to an end was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. 12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness, 13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,
2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 in every way afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psalm 123

To You I Lift Up My Eyes

A Song of Ascents.

To You I lift up my eyes,
The One enthroned in the heavens!
2
Behold, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a servant‑girl to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to Yahweh our God,
Until He is gracious to us.

3
Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us,
For we are greatly saturated with contempt.
4
Our soul is greatly saturated
With the mockery of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud.