Jeremiah 52, 2 Corinthians 7 - 8, Psalm 125

The Anger of Yahweh Towards Judah

52^aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ¹^,^bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of ^cLibnah. ²And he did ^awhat was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that ^bJehoiakim had done. ³For through the ^aanger of Yahweh this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah ^brebelled against the king of Babylon. ⁴^aNow it happened in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem, and they camped against it and built a ^bsiege wall all around ¹it. ⁵^aSo the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶On the ninth day of the ^afourth month, the ^bfamine was so strong in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷Then the city was ^abreached, and all the ^bmen of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were ¹^,^call around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. ⁸But the military force of the Chaldeans pursued the king and ^aovertook Zedekiah in the ¹plains of Jericho, and all his military force was scattered from him. ⁹Then they seized the king and ^abrought him up to the king of Babylon at ^bRiblah in the land of ^cHamath, and he ¹spoke his judgment on him. ¹⁰Then the king of Babylon ^aslaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the ¹princes of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹Then he ^ablinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹²^aNow on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the ^bnineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ^cNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³And he ^aburned the house of Yahweh, the ^bking’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire. ¹⁴So all the military force of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ^atore down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard ^atook away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the ¹^,^bdefectors who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the artisans. ¹⁶But ^aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard had some of the poorest of the land remain to be vinedressers and ¹plowmen.

¹⁷Now the bronze ^apillars which belonged to the house of Yahweh and the ^bstands and the bronze ^csea, which were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans shattered and carried all their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸They also took away the ^apots, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the ¹pans, and all the bronze vessels which were used to minister. ¹⁹And the captain of the guard also took away the ^acups, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the ¹pans, and the offering bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver. ²⁰The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under ¹the sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh—the bronze of all these vessels was ^abeyond weight. ²¹As for the pillars, the ^aheight of each pillar was ¹eighteen cubits, and ²it was twelve cubits in ^bcircumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow. ²²Now a ^acapital of bronze was on it; and the height of each capital was five cubits, with network and ^bpomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates. ²³There were ninety-six ¹exposed pomegranates; all ^athe pomegranates numbered one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴Then the captain of the guard took ^aSeraiah the chief priest and ^bZephaniah the second priest, with the three ¹^,^cdoorkeepers of the temple. ²⁵And from the city he took one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven ¹of the ^aking’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and ^aled them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷Then the king of Babylon ^astruck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah ^bwent into exile from its land.

²⁸These are the people whom ^aNebuchadnezzar took away into exile: in the ¹seventh year 3,023 Jews; ²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, ^aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away into exile 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.

³¹^aNow it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that ¹Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, ^blifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison; ³²^aand he spoke to him good words, and he set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³So ¹Jehoiachin ^achanged his prison clothes and ²^,^bhad his meals in ³the king’s presence continually all the days of his life. ³⁴For his allowance, a ^acontinual allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.

7Therefore, having these promises, ^abeloved, ^blet us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Godly Sorrow Produces Repentance

²^aMake room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. ³I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said ^abefore that you are ^bin our hearts to die together and to live together. ⁴Great is my ^aboldness toward you; great is my ^bboasting on your behalf. I have been filled with ^ccomfort; I am overflowing with ^djoy in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we came into ^aMacedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were ^bafflicted on every side—^cconflicts without, fears within. ⁶But ^aGod, who comforts the humbled, ^bcomforted us by the coming of ^cTitus; ⁷and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. ⁸For though I ^acaused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— ⁹I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to repentance. For you were made to have ¹godly sorrow, so that you might not suffer loss in anything ²through us. ¹⁰For ¹godly sorrow produces a ^arepentance ²without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world brings about death. ¹¹For behold what earnestness this very thing—this ¹godly sorrow—has brought about in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what ^alonging, what zeal, what ^bavenging of wrong! In everything you ^cdemonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. ¹²So although ^aI wrote to you, it was not for the sake of ^bthe offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be manifested to you in the sight of God. ¹³For this reason we have been ^acomforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of ^bTitus, because his ^cspirit has been refreshed by you all. ¹⁴For if in anything I have ^aboasted to him about you, I was not put to shame, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before ^bTitus proved to be the truth. ¹⁵And his ¹affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the ^aobedience of you all, how you received him with ^bfear and trembling. ¹⁶I rejoice that in everything ^aI am encouraged about you.

Generosity and Grace

8Now brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been ^agiven in the churches of ^bMacedonia, ²that in a great testing by affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the ^arichness of their ¹generosity. ³For I testify that ^aaccording to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, ⁴begging us with much urging for the ^agrace ¹of sharing in the ^bministry to the saints, ⁵and this, not as we had ¹expected, but they first ^agave themselves to the Lord and to us by ^bthe will of God. ⁶So we ^aencouraged ^bTitus that as he had previously ^cmade a beginning, so he would also complete in you ^dthis gracious work as well.

⁷But just as you ^aabound ^bin everything, in faith and word and knowledge and in all earnestness and in ¹the love we inspired in you, see that you ^cabound in this gracious work also. ⁸I ^aam not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. ⁹For you know ^athe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^bthough being rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. ¹⁰And I ^agive my opinion in this matter, for this is profitable for you, who were the first to begin ^ba year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. ¹¹But now complete ¹doing it also, so that just as there was the ^areadiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it from what you have. ¹²For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable ^aaccording to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³For this is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— ¹⁴at this present time your abundance being a supply for ^atheir need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for ^byour need, that there may be equality. ¹⁵As it is written, “^aHe who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”

¹⁶But ¹^,^athanks be to God who ^bputs the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of ^cTitus. ¹⁷For he not only accepted our ^aplea, but being himself very earnest, he has gone out to you of his own accord. ¹⁸And we have sent along with him ^athe brother whose praise in the things of the ^bgospel is throughout ^call the churches. ¹⁹^aAnd not only this, but he has also been ^bappointed by the churches to travel with us in ^cthis gracious work that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our ^dreadiness, ²⁰¹taking precaution lest anyone discredits us in our ministering of this generous gift, ²¹for we ^arespect what is good, not only in ^bthe sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. ²²And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found earnest in many things, but now even more earnest because of his great confidence in you. ²³As for ^aTitus, he is my ^bpartner and fellow worker ¹among you; as for our ^cbrothers, they are ²^,^dmessengers of the churches, ^ea glory to Christ. ²⁴Therefore ¹openly before the churches, ²show them the proof of your love and of our ^areason for boasting about you.

Yahweh Surrounds His People

125

A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in YahwehAre as Mount Zion, which ^awill not be shaken but ^bwill abide forever.²As the mountains surround Jerusalem,So ^aYahweh surrounds His people^bFrom now until forever.³For the ^ascepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the ¹land of the righteous,So that the righteous ^bwould not send forth their hands in unrighteousness.⁴^aDo good, O Yahweh, to those who are goodAnd to those who are ^bupright in their hearts.⁵But as for those who ^aturn aside to their ^bcrooked ways,Yahweh will lead them away with the ^cworkers of iniquity.^dPeace be upon Israel.