Jeremiah 38 - 39, 1 Corinthians 1 - 2, Psalm 112

Jeremiah Brought Up from the Cistern

38And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the ^ason of Shelemiah, and ^bPashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, ²“Thus says Yahweh, ‘He who ^astays in this city will die by the ^bsword and by the famine and by the pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own ^clife as spoil and stay alive.’ ³“Thus says Yahweh, ‘This city will certainly be ^agiven into the hand of the military force of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’” ⁴Then the ^aofficials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is ^bmaking the hands of the men of war who remain in this city as well as the hands of all the people limp, by speaking such words to them; for this man ^cis not seeking peace for this people but rather calamity.” ⁵So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your ¹hands; for the king ^acan do nothing against you.” ⁶Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the ¹^,^acistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only ^bmire, and Jeremiah sank into the mire. ⁷But ^aEbed-melech the Ethiopian, ¹a ^beunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the ^cGate of Benjamin; ⁸and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, ⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he ¹will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is ^ano more bread in the city.” ¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take in your hand thirty men from here and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men in his hand and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah. ¹²Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so. ¹³So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and brought him up from the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the ^acourt of the guard.

Zedekiah Sends for Jeremiah

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah ^asent and ¹had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of Yahweh; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ^bask you something; do not hide anything from me.” ¹⁵Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “^aIf I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in ^asecret saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made this ¹^,^blife for us, surely I will not put you to death, nor will I give you over to the hand of ^cthese men who are seeking your ²life.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says Yahweh ^aGod of hosts, the ^bGod of Israel, ‘If you will indeed ^cgo out to the ¹officers of the king of Babylon, then ²you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will live. ¹⁸‘But if you will ^anot go out to the ¹officers of the king of Babylon, then this city ^bwill be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and ^cyou yourself will not escape from their hand.’” ¹⁹Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I ^aam anxious because of the Jews who have ¹^,^bgone over to the Chaldeans, lest they give me over into their hand and they ^cdeal severely with me.” ²⁰But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please ^alisten to the voice of Yahweh in what I am saying to you, that it may go ^bwell with you and ¹^,^cyou may live. ²¹“But if you keep refusing to go out, this is the word which Yahweh has shown me: ²²‘And behold, all of the ^awomen who have remained in the house of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the ¹officers of the king of Babylon; and behold, those women will say, “²Your close friendsHave misled and overpowered you;While your feet were sunk in the mud,They turned back.”

²³‘And they will also bring out all your wives and your ^asons to the Chaldeans, and ^byou yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^cthis city will be burned with fire.’”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about these words and you will not die. ²⁵“But if the ^aofficials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^apresenting my petition before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he told them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they ceased speaking with him since the ¹conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸So Jeremiah ^astayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

The Walls of Jerusalem Torn Down

39¹Now when Jerusalem was captured ²^,^ain the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his military force came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; ²in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city was ^abreached. ³Then all the ^aofficials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^bMiddle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ¹Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ²Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴Now it happened that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^afled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^bbetween the two walls; and he went out toward the ¹Arabah. ⁵But the military force of the ^aChaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ¹^,^bplains of Jericho; and they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^cRiblah in the land of Hamath, and he spoke judgment on him. ⁶Then the ^aking of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah ^bbefore his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the ^cnobles of Judah. ⁷He then ^ablinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^bfetters of bronze to bring him to ^cBabylon. ⁸The Chaldeans also ^aburned with fire the house of the king and the houses of the people, and they ^btore down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹And as for the rest of the people who remained in the city, the ¹^,^adefectors who had gone over to him and ^bthe rest of the people who remained, ^cNebuzaradan the ^dcaptain of the bodyguard took them away into exile in Babylon. ¹⁰But some of the ^apoorest people who had nothing, ^bNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had them remain in the land of Judah and gave them vineyards and fields ¹at that time.

Jeremiah Delivered

¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave a command about ^aJeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, ¹²“Take him and set your eyes to look after him and ^ado nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he speaks to you.” ¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ¹Rab-saris and Nergal-sar-ezer the ²Rab-mag and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; ¹⁴they even sent and ^atook Jeremiah out of the court of the guard and gave him over to ^bGedaliah, the son of ^cAhikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

¹⁵Now the word of Yahweh had come to Jeremiah while he was ^aconfined in the court of the guard, saying, ¹⁶“Go and speak to ^aEbed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city ^bfor ¹calamity and not for ²prosperity; and they will ^ctake place before you on that day. ¹⁷“But I will ^adeliver you on that day,” declares Yahweh, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are terrified. ¹⁸“For I will certainly provide you escape, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own ^alife as spoil because you have ^btrusted in Me,” declares Yahweh.’”

Christ Is Undivided

1Paul, ^acalled as an apostle of Jesus Christ ¹by ^bthe will of God, and ^cSosthenes our ^dbrother,

²To ^athe church of God which is at ^bCorinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^ccalled as ¹saints, with all who in every place ^dcall on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

³^aGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴^aI thank ¹my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in everything you were ^aenriched in Him, in all ^bword and ^call knowledge, ⁶even as ^athe witness about Christ was confirmed ¹in you, ⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, ^aeagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸^awho will also confirm you to the end, beyond reproach in ^bthe day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹^aGod is faithful, through whom you were ^bcalled into ^cfellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now ^aI exhort you, ^bbrothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all ¹agree and that there be no ²^,^cdivisions among you, but that you be ³made complete in ^dthe same mind and in the same judgment. ¹¹For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. ¹²Now I mean this, that ^aeach one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of ^bApollos,” and “I of ^cCephas,” and “I of Christ.” ¹³¹Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^abaptized ²in the name of Paul? ¹⁴¹I thank God that I ^abaptized none of you except ^bCrispus and ^cGaius, ¹⁵so that no one would say you were baptized ¹in my name. ¹⁶Now I did baptize also the ^ahousehold of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. ¹⁷^aFor Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, ^bnot in wisdom of word, so that the cross of Christ will not be made empty.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is ^afoolishness to ^bthose who ¹are perishing, but to us who ²are being saved, it is ^cthe power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, “^aI will destroy the wisdom of the wise,And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

²⁰^aWhere is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of ^bthis age? Has not God ^cmade foolish the wisdom of ^dthe world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, ^athe world through its wisdom did not come to know God, ^bGod was well-pleased, through the ^cfoolishness of the ¹message preached, to ^dsave those who believe. ²²For indeed ^aJews ask for ¹signs and Greeks search for wisdom, ²³but we preach ¹^,^aChrist crucified, ^bto Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles ^cfoolishness, ²⁴but to those who are ^athe called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^bthe power of God and ^cthe wisdom of God. ²⁵Because the ^afoolishness of God is wiser than men, and ^bthe weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For ¹consider your ^acalling, brothers, that there were ^bnot many wise according to ²the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. ²⁷But ^aGod has chosen the foolish things of ^bthe world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of ^cthe world to shame the things which are strong, ²⁸and the base things of ^athe world and the despised God has chosen, ^bthe things that are not, so that He may ^cabolish the things that are, ²⁹so that ^ano flesh may boast before God. ³⁰But by His doing you are in ^aChrist Jesus, who became to us ^bwisdom from God, ¹and ^crighteousness and ^dsanctification, and ^eredemption, ³¹so that, just as it is written, “^aLet him who boasts, boast in the ¹Lord.”

Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit

2And when I came to you, brothers, I ^adid not come with superiority of word or of wisdom, proclaiming to you ^bthe ¹witness of God. ²For I determined to know nothing among you except ^aJesus Christ, and Him crucified. ³And I was with you in ^aweakness and in ^bfear and in much trembling, ⁴and my word and my preaching were ^anot in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^bthe Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in ^athe power of God.

⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are ^amature, a wisdom, however, not of ^bthis age nor of the rulers of ^cthis age, who are ^dbeing abolished. ⁷But we speak God’s wisdom in a ^amystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God ^bpredestined before the ^cages to our glory, ⁸^awhich none of the rulers of ^bthis age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified ^cthe Lord of glory. ⁹But just as it is written, “^aThings which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,And which have not entered the heart of man,All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

¹⁰¹^,^aBut to us God revealed them ^bthrough the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the ^cdepths of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the depths of a man except the ^aspirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we ^ahave received, not the spirit of ^bthe world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, ¹³of which depths we also speak, ^anot in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, ¹combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

¹⁴But ¹a ^anatural man ^bdoes not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are ^cfoolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because ^dthey are spiritually examined. ¹⁵But he who is ^aspiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. ¹⁶For ^awho has known the mind of the ¹Lord, that he will direct Him? But ^bwe have the mind of Christ.

The Righteous Will Be Remembered Forever

112

א Aleph

¹Praise Yah!How ^ablessed is the man who ²fears Yahweh,Who greatly ^bdelights in His commandments.

ג Gimel

²His ^aseed will be mighty ¹on earth;The generation of the ^bupright will be blessed.

ה He

³^aWealth and riches are in his house,And his righteousness stands forever.

ז Zayin

⁴Light arises in the darkness ^afor the upright;He is ^bgracious and compassionate and righteous.

ט Teth

⁵It is well with the man who ^ais gracious and lends;Who sustains his ¹works with justice.

כ Kaph

⁶For he will ^anever be shaken;The ^brighteous will be ¹remembered forever.

מ Mem

⁷He will not fear an ^aevil report;His ^bheart is set, ^ctrusting in Yahweh.

ס Samekh

⁸His ^aheart is upheld, he ^bwill not fear,Until he ^clooks in triumph on his adversaries.

פ Pe

⁹¹He ^ahas given freely to the needy,His righteousness stands forever;His ^bhorn will be raised in glory.

ר Resh

¹⁰The ^awicked will see it and be ¹vexed,He will ^bgnash his teeth and ^cmelt away;The ^ddesire of the wicked will perish.