Read Through the Bible in a Year / August

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 20
2 Kings 25:1; 2 Chron. 36:13– 16; Jer. 39:1; 52:4; Ezek. 24; Jer. 21:1–22:9; 32

IN THE ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siege works against it round about.
2 Kings 25:1


13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.
14 Also all the chiefs of the priests and the people trespassed greatly in accord with all the abominations of the heathen, and they polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent to them persistently by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.
16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets till the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, till there was no remedy or healing.
2 Chronicles 36:13–16

IN THE ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. [Jer. 52:4–27.]
Jeremiah 39:1

4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they pitched against it and built moveable towers and siege mounds against it round about. [Jer. 39:1–10.]
Jeremiah 52:4



Ezekiel Chapter 24

AGAIN IN the ninth year [of King Jehoiachin’s captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon], in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, record the name of the day, even of this same day; the king of Babylon set himself against and assailed Jerusalem this same day.
3 And utter a parable against the rebellious house [of Judah] and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Put on a pot; put it on and also pour water into it.
4 Put into it the pieces [of meat], all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with the choice of the bones.
5 Take the choicest of the flock and burn also the unused bones under it, and make it boil well and seethe its bones in [the pot].
6 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust and scum are in it and whose rust and scum have not gone out of it! Take out of it piece by piece, without making any choice.
7 For the blood she has shed remains in the midst of her; she put it upon the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.
8 That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood [guilt for her children sacrificed to Molech] upon the bare rock, that it would not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloodguilty city! Also I will make the pile [of fuel] great.
10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire and make it hot, boil well the meat and mix the spices, pour out the broth when thick, and let the bones be burned up.
11 Then set [the pot Jerusalem] back empty upon the coals, that the bronze of it may be hot and may glow and the filthiness of it may be melted in it and the rust and scum of it may be consumed.
12 She has wearied herself and Me with toil; yet her great rust and scum go not forth out of her, for however hotly the fire burns, her thick rust and filth will not go out of her by fire.
13 In your filthiness is abomination; [and therefore] because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more until I have satisfied My wrath against and upon you.
14 I the Lord have spoken it; it shall come to pass and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I relent; according to your ways and according to your doings shall they judge and punish you, says the Lord God.
15 Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
16 Son of man [Ezekiel], behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] at a single stroke. Yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears flow.
17 Sigh and groan, but not aloud [be silent]; make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban upon your head and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your beard or eat the bread of mourners [furnished by others].
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning and in the evening my wife died, and I did the next morning as I was commanded.
19 And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things are supposed to mean to us, that you are acting as you do?
20 Then I answered them, The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
21 Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will profane My sanctuary—[in which you take] pride as your strength, the desire of your eyes, and the pity and sympathy of your soul [that you would spare with your life]; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword.
22 And you shall do as I [Ezekiel] have done; you shall not cover your beard nor eat the bread of mourning [brought to you by others],
23 And your turbans shall be upon your heads and your shoes upon your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities (your guilt) and sigh and groan to one another. [Lev. 26:39.]
24 Thus Ezekiel is to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. And when this [destruction of the temple] comes, you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord God [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].
25 And you, son of man, on the day when I take from them [My temple] their strength and their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the delight of their eyes and their hearts’ chief desire, and also [take] their sons and their daughters—
26 On that day an escaped fugitive shall come to you to cause you to hear of it [the destruction of Jerusalem] with your own ears.
27 In that day your mouth shall be open to him who has escaped, and you shall speak and be no more speechless, and you shall be a sign to them and they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.


JEREMIAH CHAPTER 21

THE WORD which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,
2 Inquire, I pray you, of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, forcing him to withdraw from us.
3 Then said Jeremiah to them, Say this to Zedekiah:
4 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the midst of this city [Jerusalem].

5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation and wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. And he will smite them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have pity or mercy and compassion upon them.

8 And to this people you [Jeremiah] shall say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9 He who remains in this city [Jerusalem] shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence. But he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him his only booty [as a prize of war].
10 For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

11 And concerning the royal house of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord:
12 O house of David, thus says the Lord: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn so that none can quench it—because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, says the Lord—you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or, Who shall enter into our dwelling places?

14 And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forest, and it will devour all that is round about you.


JEREMIAH CHAPTER 22

THUS SAYS the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word:
2 Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit upon the throne of David—you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates.
3 Thus says the Lord: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver out of the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger or temporary resident, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then will there enter in through the gates of this [the king’s] house kings sitting [for David] upon David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their servants and their people.
5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a desolation.
6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: [If you will not listen to Me, though] you are [as valuable] to Me as [the fat pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan] or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan], yet surely I will make you a wilderness and uninhabited cities.
7 And I will prepare, solemnly set apart, and appoint [to execute My judgments against you] destroyers, each with his weapons, and they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done this to this great city?
9 Then they will answer, Because [the people] forsook the covenant or solemn pledge with the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.
Jeremiah 21:1–22:9



JEREMIAH CHAPTER 32

THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
2 For the king of Babylon’s army was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah.
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had locked him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
4 And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye;
5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him [for evil], says the Lord; and though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper [why do you thus prophesy]? [Jer. 21:3-7; 34:2-5; 37:17; 52:7-14.]
6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
7 Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you and say, Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.
8 So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of the Lord, and he said to me, I pray you, buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
9 And I bought the field that was in Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son and weighed out for him the money—seventeen shekels of silver.
10 And I signed the deed and sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed out for him the money on the scales.
11 So I took the deed of the purchase—both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and the copy which was unsealed—
12 And I gave the purchase deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.
13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
14 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this unsealed deed, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last a long time.
15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased yet again in this land.
16 Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
17 Alas, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too hard or too wonderful for You—
18 You Who show loving-kindness to thousands but recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosoms of their children after them. The great, the mighty God; the Lord of hosts is His name—
19 Great [are You] in counsel and mighty in deeds, Whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to reward or repay each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings,
20 Who wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day [continues to do so], both in Israel and among other men, and made for Yourself a name, as at this day.
21 And You brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm and with great terror;
22 And You gave them this land which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
23 And they entered and took possession of it, but they obeyed not Your voice, nor walked in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do. Therefore You have caused all this evil to come upon them.
24 See the siege mounds [of earth which the foe has heaped against the walls]; they have come up to the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because [the people are overcome] by the sword and the famine and the pestilence. What You have spoken has come to pass, and behold, You see it.
25 Yet, O Lord God, You said to me, Buy the field with money and get witnesses, even though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.
26 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,
27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?
28 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
29 And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come in and set this city on fire and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger. [Jer. 19:13.]
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands [the idols], says the Lord.
31 For this city has been to Me a [such a] provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they [finished] building it [in the time of Solomon, who was the first Israelite king who turned to idolatry] even to this day that I must remove it from before My face—[I Kings 11:1-13.]
32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 And they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces; though I taught them persistently, yet they would not listen and receive instruction.
34 But they set their abominations [of idol worship] in the house which is called by My Name to defile it.
35 And they built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire [in worship also of and] to Molech—which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind or heart that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. [Jer. 7:30-31.]
36 And now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword and by famine and by pestilence:
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries to which I drove them in My anger and in My wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them again to this place, and I will make them dwell safely.
38 And they will be My people, and I will be their God.
39 And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may [reverently] fear Me forever for the good of themselves and of their children after them.
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will not turn away from following them to do them good, and I will put My [reverential] fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me. [Jer. 31:31-34.]
41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly and in truth with My whole heart and with My whole being.
42 For thus says the Lord: As I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.
43 And fields shall be bought in this land of which you say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.
44 Men shall buy fields for money and shall sign deeds, seal them, and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South (the Negeb), for I will cause them to be released from their exile, says the Lord.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 21
Jeremiah 30–31, 33


JEREMIAH CHAPTER 30

THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.
3 For, note well, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will release 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 will possess it.

4 And these are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
5 Thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling and panic—of terror, and not peace.
6 Ask now and see whether a man can give birth to a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor? Why are all faces turned pale?

7 Alas! for that day will be great, so that none will be like it; it will be the time of Jacob’s [unequaled] trouble, but he will be saved out of it. [Matt. 24:29, 30; Rev. 7:14.]

8 For it will come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break [the oppressor’s] yoke from your neck, and I will burst your bonds; and strangers will no more make slaves of [the people of Israel].

9 But they will serve the Lord their God and David’s [descendant] their King, Whom I will raise up for them. [Jer. 23:5.]
10 Therefore fear not, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed or cast down, O Israel; for behold, I will save you out of a distant land [of exile] and your posterity from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid or cause him to be terrorized and to tremble.

11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; for I will make a full and complete end of all the nations to which I have scattered you, but I will not make a full and complete end of you. But I will correct you in measure and with judgment and will in no sense hold you guiltless or leave you unpunished.

12 For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable and your wound is grievous.
13 There is none to plead your cause; for [the pressing together of] your wound you have no healing [device], no binding plaster.
14 All your lovers (allies) have forgotten you; they neither seek, inquire of, or require you. For I have hurt you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel and merciless foe, because of the greatness of your perversity and guilt, because your sins are glaring and innumerable.

15 Why do you cry out because of your hurt [the natural result of your sins]? Your pain is deadly (incurable). Because of the greatness of your perversity and guilt, because your sins are glaring and innumerable, I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And they who despoil you will become a spoil, and all who prey upon you will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!

18 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will release from captivity the tents of Jacob and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city will be rebuilt on its own [old] moundlike site, and the palace will be dwelt in after its former fashion.
19 Out of them [city and palace] will come songs of thanksgiving and the voices of those who make merry. And I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.

20 Their children too shall be as in former times, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all who oppress them.

21 And their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will come from the midst of them. I will cause him to draw near and he will approach Me, for who is he who would have the boldness and would dare [on his own initiative] to approach Me? says the Lord.
22 Then you will be My people, and I will be your God. [Jer. 7:23.]
23 Behold, the tempest of the Lord has gone forth with wrath, a sweeping and gathering tempest; it shall whirl and burst upon the heads of the wicked.

24 The fierce anger and indignation of the Lord shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the thoughts and intents of His mind and heart. In the latter days you shall understand this.


JEREMIAH CHAPTER 31

AT THAT time, says the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.
2 Thus says the Lord: The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness [place of exile]—when Israel sought to find rest.

3 The Lord appeared from of old to me [Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you. [Deut. 7:8.]

4 Again I will build you and you will be built, O Virgin Israel! You will again be adorned with your timbrels [small one-headed drums] and go forth in the dancing [chorus] of those who make merry. [Isa. 37:22; Jer. 18:13.]

5 Again you shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and make the fruit common and enjoy it [undisturbed].
6 For there shall be a day when the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry out, Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.

7 For thus says the Lord: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the head of the nations [on account of the chosen people, Israel]. Proclaim, praise, and say, The Lord has saved His people, the remnant of Israel!
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and among them will be the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who labors in childbirth together; a great company, they will return here to Jerusalem.

9 They will come with weeping [in penitence and for joy], pouring out prayers [for the future]. I will lead them back; I will cause them to walk by streams of water and bring them in a straight way in which they will not stumble, for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim [Israel] is My firstborn.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O you nations, and declare it in the isles and coastlands far away, and say, He Who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.

11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from the hand of him who was too strong for him.
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion and shall flow together and be radiant with joy over the goodness of the Lord—for the corn, for the juice [of the grape], for the oil, and for the young of the flock and the herd. And their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow or languish any more at all.

13 Then will the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and old together. For I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice after their sorrow.
14 I will satisfy fully the life of the priests with abundance [of offerings shared with them], and My people will be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.

15 Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. [Matt. 2:18.]
16 Thus says the Lord: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord; and [your children] shall return from the enemy’s land.

17 And there is hope for your future, says the Lord; your children shall come back to their own country.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim [Israel] moaning thus: You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; bring me back, that I may be restored, for You are the Lord my God.

19 Surely after I [Ephraim] was turned [from You], I repented; and after I was instructed, I penitently smote my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth [as a nation].
20 Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a darling child and beloved? For as often as I speak against him, I do [earnestly] remember him still. Therefore My affection is stirred and My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy, pity, and loving-kindness for him, says the Lord.

21 Set up for yourselves highway markers [back to Canaan], make for yourselves guideposts; turn your thoughts and attention to the way by which you went [into exile]. Retrace your steps, O Virgin Israel, return to these your cities.
22 How long will you waver and hesitate [to return], O you backsliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the land [of Israel]: a female shall compass (woo, win, and protect) a man.

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in her cities when I release them from exile: The Lord bless you, O habitation of justice and righteousness, O holy mountain!
24 And [the people of] Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together—[nomad] farmers and those who wander about with their flocks.

25 For I will [fully] satisfy the weary soul, and I will replenish every languishing and sorrowful person.
26 Thereupon I [Jeremiah] awoke and looked, and my [trancelike] sleep was sweet [in the assurance it gave] to me.
27 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed (offspring) of man and of beast.

28 And it will be that as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to overthrow, destroy, and afflict [with evil], so will I watch over them to build and to plant [with good], 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. [Ezek. 18:2.]

30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity [only]; every man who eats sour grapes—his [own] teeth shall be set on edge.
31 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, [Luke 22:20; I Cor. 11:25.]

32 Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.

34 And they will no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me [recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Me], from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will [seriously] remember their sin no more. [Heb. 8:8-12; 10:16, 17.]

35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day and the fixed order of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, Who stirs up the sea’s roaring billows or stills the waves when they roar—the Lord of hosts is His name:
36 If these ordinances [of fixed order] depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the posterity of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me throughout the ages.

37 Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord.
38 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city [of Jerusalem] shall be built [again] for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

39 And the measuring line shall go out farther straight onward to the hill Gareb and shall then turn to Goah [exact location unknown].
40 And the whole valley [Hinnom] of the dead bodies and [the hill] of the ashes [long dumped there from the temple sacrifices], 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 [the city] shall not be plucked up or overthrown any more to the end of the age. [Zech. 14:10-11.]

JEREMIAH CHAPTER 33

MOREOVER, THE word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying,
2 Thus says the Lord Who made [the earth], the Lord Who formed it to establish it—the Lord is His name:
3 Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).

4 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and before the sword: [Isa. 22:10; Jer. 6:6.]
5 They [the besieged Jews] are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans, and they [the houses] will be filled with the dead bodies of men whom I shall slay in My anger and My wrath; for I have hidden My face [in indignation] from this city because of all their wickedness.

6 Behold, [in the future restored Jerusalem] I will lay upon it health and healing, and I will cure them and will reveal to them the abundance of peace (prosperity, security, stability) and truth.

7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to be reversed and will rebuild them as they were at first.
8 And I will cleanse them from all the guilt and iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their guilt and iniquities by which they have sinned and rebelled against Me.

9 And [Jerusalem] shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth that hear of all the good I do for it, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace, prosperity, security, and stability I provide for it.

10 Thus says the Lord: Yet again there shall be heard in this place of which you say, It is a desolate waste, without man and without beast—even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast—
11 [There shall be heard again] the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing as they bring sacrifices of thanksgiving into the house of the Lord, Give praise and thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy and kindness and steadfast love endure forever! For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed and return to be as it was at first, says the Lord.

12 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be dwellings and pastures of shepherds resting their flocks.

13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South (the Negeb), in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah shall flocks pass again under the hands of him who counts them, says the Lord.
14 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
15 In those days and at that time will I cause a righteous Branch [the Messiah] to grow up to David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. [Isa. 4:2; Jer. 23:5; Zech. 3:8; 6:12.]

16 In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which it will be called, The Lord is Our Righteousness (our Rightness, our Justice).
17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,
18 Nor shall the Levitical priests fail [to have] a man [descendant] to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn cereal offerings and to make sacrifices continually (all day long).

19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break My covenant with the day, and My covenant with the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season,
21 Then can also My covenant be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne, and [My league be broken also] with the Levitical priests, My ministers.

22 As the host of [the stars of] the heavens cannot be numbered nor the sand of the sea be measured, so will I multiply the offspring of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.
23 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 Have you not noticed that these people [the Jews] are saying, The Lord has cast off the two families [Israel and Judah] which He chose? Thus My people have despised [themselves in relation to God as His covenant people], so that they are no more a nation in their [own] sight.

25 Thus says the Lord: If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth [the whole order of nature],
26 Then will I also cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant and will not choose one of his offspring to be ruler over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to be reversed, and I will have mercy, kindness, and steadfast love on and for them. [Gen. 49:10.]

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 22
Ezek. 25; 29:1–16; 30; 31

Ezekiel Chapter 25

THE WORD of the Lord came again to me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them.
3 And say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God, for thus says the Lord God: Because you said Aha! over My sanctuary when it was profaned and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate and over the house of Judah when it went into captivity and exile,
4 Therefore behold, I am delivering you to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst; they shall eat your fruit and they shall drink your milk.
5 And I will make Rabbah [your chief city] a stable for camels and [the cities of] the Ammonites a fold for flocks. And you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

6 For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced [in heart] with all the contempt, malice, and spite that is in you against the land of Israel,
7 Therefore behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and will hand you over for a prey and a spoil to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples and will cause you to perish and be lost out of the countries; I will destroy you.

Then will you know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]. [Jer. 49:1-6; Ezek. 21:28-32; Amos 1:13-15; Zeph. 2:8-11.]

8 Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab says, as does Seir [Edom], Behold, the house of Judah is like all the [heathen] nations,
9 Therefore behold, I will lay open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontiers and in every quarter, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim.

10 I will give it along with the children of Ammon to the people of the East for a possession, that it and the children of Ammon may not be [any more seriously] remembered among the nations.
11 And I will execute judgments and punishments upon Moab, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]. [Isa. 15, 16; Jer. 48; Amos 2:1-3; Zeph. 2:8-11.]

12 Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has greatly offended and has become doubly guilty by taking revenge upon them,
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will also stretch out My hand against Edom and will cut off and root out man and beast from it, and I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword.

14 And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they shall do upon Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath, and they shall know My vengeance, says the Lord God. [Isa. 34; Ezek. 35; Amos 1:11, 12; Obad.]

15 Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines have dealt revengefully and have taken vengeance contemptuously, with malice and spite in their hearts, to destroy in perpetual enmity,
16 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites [an immigration in Philistia] and destroy the remainder of the seacoast.

17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them with wrathful rebukes and chastisements, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them. [Isa. 14:29-31; Jer. 47; Amos 1:6-8; Zeph. 2:4-7; Zech. 9:5-7.]

Ezekiel 29:1–16

IN THE tenth year [of the captivity of King Jehoiachin by the king of Babylon], in the tenth [month], on the twelfth [day] of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face toward Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

3 Say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster [of sluggish and unwieldy strength] that lies in the midst of his [delta] streams, [boastfully] declaring, My river Nile is my own and I have made it for myself.

4 But I will put hooks in your jaws [O Egyptian dragon] and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales, and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams with all the fish of your streams which stick to your scales.
5 And I will cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall upon the open field and not be gathered up or buried. I have given you for food to the [wild] beasts of the earth and the birds of the heavens.

6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], because they have been a [deceitful] staff [made of fragile] reeds to the house of Israel.
7 When they grasped you with the hand and leaned upon you, you broke and tore their whole shoulder, and [by injuring their muscles made them so stiff and rigid that] they could do no more than stand.

8 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you and cut off man and beast from you,
9 And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. And they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]. Because you have said, The river is mine and I have made it,
10 Behold therefore, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter [plundered] waste and desolation [of subjection] from [northern] Migdol to [southern] Syene, even as far as the border of Ethiopia.

11 No foot of man shall pass through it [in travel], no foot of beast shall pass through it [in trade with other countries], neither shall [Egypt] be [truly] inhabited [again] for forty years.

12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation [plundered and reduced to subjection] in the midst of desolated (plundered and reduced to subjection) countries, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.
13 Yet thus says the Lord God: At the end of [their] forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, [Jer. 46:25, 26.]

14 And I will reverse the captivity of Egypt [as I will that of Israel] and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros [under Egypt], the land of their origin, and they shall be there a lowly kingdom.
15 It shall be the lowliest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; I will diminish [the Egyptians] so they shall never again rule over the nations.

16 And never again shall Egypt have the confidence and be the reliance of the house of Israel; their iniquity will be brought to remembrance whenever [Israel] looks toward them [for help]. They shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord God [Who demands loyalty and obedient service].

Ezekiel Chapter 30

THE WORD of the Lord came again to me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God: Wail, Alas for the day!

3 For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time [of doom] for the nations.
4 And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish and great sorrow shall be in Ethiopia (Cush), when the slain fall in Egypt and they [of Babylon] carry away her great mass of people and of things and her foundations are broken down.

5 Ethiopia (Cush) and Put, Lud and all the mingled people [foreigners living in Egypt], Cub (Lub, Libya) and the children of the land of the covenant [the Jews who had taken refuge in Egypt] shall fall with [the Egyptians] by the sword.

6 Thus says the Lord: They also who uphold or lean upon and are supported by Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her power shall come down; from Migdol [in the north] to Syene [in the south] they shall fall within her by the sword, says the Lord God.
7 And they shall be desolated in the midst of countries that are desolated, and her cities shall be in the midst of cities that are wasted [by plunder and subjection].

8 And they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], when I have set a fire in Egypt and all her helpers are broken and destroyed.

9 In that day shall [swift] messengers go forth from Me in ships to terrify the careless and unsuspecting Ethiopians, and there shall be anguish and great sorrow upon them as in the day of Egypt’s [doom], for behold, [their day] comes!

10 Thus says the Lord God: I will also make the tumult and the wealth and the large population of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

11 He and his people with him, the [most] terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land, and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.

12 And I will make the [artificial] streams [of the Nile delta] dry and will sell the land into the hand of evil men, and I will make the land desolate, and all that is in it, by the hand of strangers. I the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service] have spoken it.

13 Thus says the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols and I will put an end to the images in Noph or Memphis, and there shall be no longer a prince of the land of Egypt. And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

14 And I will make Pathros desolate and will set fire to Zoan and will execute judgments and punishments upon No or Thebes.
15 And I will pour My wrath upon Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will cut off the tumult, the prosperity and the population of No or Thebes.

16 And I will set fire to Egypt; Pelusium shall have great anguish and No or Thebes shall be torn open and Noph or Memphis shall have adversaries in the daytime and all the day long.

17 The young men of Aven or On and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword, and the [women and children] shall go into captivity.
18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself and be dark when I break there the yokes and dominion of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall come to an end. As for her, a cloud [of calamities] shall cover her and her daughters shall go into captivity.

19 Thus will I execute judgments and punishments upon Egypt. Then shall they know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

20 And in the eleventh year [after King Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon], in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up to heal it by binding it with a bandage, to make it strong to hold and wield the sword.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong one and the one which was broken, and I will cause the sword to fall from his hand.

23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them throughout the countries.
24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand, but I will break Pharaoh’s arms and he will groan before [Nebuchadrezzar] with the groanings of a mortally wounded man.

25 But I will strengthen and hold up the arms of the king of Babylon and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down, and they [of Egypt] shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.

26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

Ezekiel Chapter 31

AND IN the eleventh year [after King Jehoiachin was taken captive to Babylon], in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness?

3 Behold, [I will liken you to] Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with forestlike shade and of high stature, with its top among the thick boughs [even among the clouds].

4 The waters nourished it; the deep made it grow tall; its rivers ran round about its planting, sending out its streams to all the trees of the forest [the other nations].

5 Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the forest; its boughs were multiplied and its branches became long, because there was much water when they were shot forth.

6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs, and under its branches all the wild beasts of the field brought forth their young and under its shadow dwelt all of the great nations.

7 Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was by many and great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide or rival it; the cypress trees did not have boughs like it and the plane trees did not have branches like it, nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.

9 I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it [Assyria].

10 Therefore thus said the Lord God: Because it is exalted in stature and has set its top among the thick boughs and the clouds, and its heart is proud of its height, [II Kings 18:31-35.]

11 I will even deliver it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with it. I have driven it out for its wickedness and lawlessness.

12 And strangers, the most terrible of the nations, will cut it off and leave it; upon the mountains and in all the valleys its branches will fall and its boughs will lie broken by all the watercourses of the land, and all the peoples of the earth will go down out of its shade and leave it.

13 Upon its ruins all the birds of the heavens will dwell, and all the wild beasts of the field will be upon [Assyria’s fallen] branches.

14 All this is so that none of the trees by the waters may exalt themselves because of their height or shoot up their top among the thick boughs and the clouds, and that none of their mighty ones should stand upon [their own estimate of] themselves for their height, all that drink water. For they are all delivered over to death, to the lower world, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit (the grave).

15 Thus says the Lord God: When [Assyria] goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead), I will cause a mourning; I will cover the deep for it and I will restrain its floods, and the many waters [that contributed to its prosperity] will be stayed; and I will cause Lebanon to be in black gloom and to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field, dismayed, will faint because of it.

16 I will make the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit, and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all [the trees] that drink water, will be comforted in the netherworld [at Assyria’s downfall].

17 They also shall go down into Sheol with it to those who were slain by the sword—yes, those who were its arm, who dwelt under its shadow in the midst of the nations.

18 To whom [O Egypt] among the trees of Eden are you thus like in glory and in greatness? Yet you [also] shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the netherworld. You shall lie among the uncircumcised heathen with those who are slain by the sword. This is how it shall be with Pharaoh and all the multitude of his strength, his tumult, and his store [of wealth and glory], says the Lord God. [Ezek. 28:10; 32:19.]

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 23
Ezekiel 26–27

CHAPTER 26

AND IN the eleventh year, on the first day of the month [after the carrying away of King Jehoiachin], the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha! She is broken that has been the gate of the people; she is open to me [Tyre]; I shall become full now that she is desolate and a wasteland,
3 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you as the sea mounts up by its waves.

4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her and make her bare like the top of a rock.

5 Her island in the midst of the sea shall become a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken it, says the Lord God; and she shall become a prey and a spoil to the nations.

6 And Tyre’s daughters [her towns and villages on the mainland] in the level place shall be slain by the sword, and they shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].
7 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring from the north upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, with horses and chariots and with horsemen and a host of many people.

8 He shall slay with the sword your daughters [the towns and villages] in the level area [on the mainland], and he shall make a fortified wall against you and cast up a siege mound against you and raise up a roof of bucklers and shields as a defense against you.

9 And he shall set his battering engines in shock against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
10 Because of the great number of [Nebuchadrezzar’s] horses, their dust will cover you; your walls [O Tyre] will shake at the noise of the horsemen and of the wagon wheels and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates as men enter into the city in whose walls there has been made a breach.

11 With the hoofs of his horses [Nebuchadrezzar] will trample all your streets; he will slay your people with the sword and your strong pillars or obelisks will fall to the ground.

12 And [your adversaries] shall make a spoil of your riches and make booty of your merchandise. And they shall break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses, and they shall lay the stones and the timber and the very dust from your demolished city out in the midst of the water [between the island and the mainland city site to make a causeway].
13 And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease, and the sound of your lyres shall be no more heard.

14 And I will make you [Tyre] a bare rock; you shall be a place upon which to spread nets; you shall never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken it, says the Lord God.

15 Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the isles and coastlands shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you?

16 Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and strip off their embroidered garments; they shall clothe themselves with tremblings; they shall sit upon the ground and shall tremble every moment and be astonished at you and appalled.

17 They shall take up a lamentation over you and say to you, How you are destroyed and vanished, O renowned city that was won from the seas and inhabited by seafaring men, renowned city that was mighty on the sea, she and her inhabitants who caused their terror to fall upon all who dwell there!

18 Now the isles and coastlands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the isles that are in the sea are troubled and dismayed at your departure.

19 For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and great waters cover you,
20 Then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the pit (the place of the dead) to the people of olden times, and I will make you [Tyre] to dwell in the lower world like the places that were desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited or shed forth your glory and renown in the land of the living.

21 I will make you a terror [bring you to a dreadful end] and you shall be no more. Though you be sought, yet you shall never be found again, says the Lord God.


CHAPTER 27

THE WORD of the Lord came again to me, saying,
2 Now you, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre,
3 And say to Tyre, O you who dwell at the entrance to the sea, who are merchant of the peoples of many islands and coastlands, thus says the Lord God: O Tyre, you have thought and said, I am perfect in beauty.

4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.

5 They have made all your planks and boards of fir trees from Senir [a peak of Mount Hermon]; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
6 Of the oaks of Bashan they have made your oars; they have made your deck and benches of boxwood from the coasts of Cyprus, inlaid with ivory.

7 Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be an ensign for you; blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah [of Asia Minor] was the [ship’s] awning which covered you.
8 The inhabitants of Sidon and [the island] of Arvad were your oarsmen; your skilled and wise men, O Tyre, were in you; they were your pilots.

9 The old men of Gebal [a city north of Sidon] and its skilled and wise men in you were your calkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise and trading.
10 Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war; they hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you beauty and splendor.

11 The men of Arvad with your army were upon your walls round about and valorous men [of Gamad] were in your towers; they hung their shields upon your walls round about; they have perfected your beauty and splendor.
12 Tarshish [in Spain] carried on traffic with you because of the abundance of your riches of all kinds; with silver, iron, tin, and lead they traded for your wares.

13 Javan (Greece), Tubal, and Meshech [in the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian Seas] traded with you. They exchanged the lives of men [taken as slaves] and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.
14 They of the house of Togarmah (Armenia) traded for your wares with [chariot] horses, cavalry horses, and mules.
15 The men of Dedan [in Arabia] traded with you; many islands and coastlands were your own markets; they brought you in payment or as presents ivory tusks and ebony.

16 Aram (Syria or Mesopotamia) and Edom traded with you because of the multitude of the wares of your making. They exchanged for your merchandise emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate or rubies.
17 Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traders; they exchanged in your market wheat of Minnith [in Ammon], olives or early figs, honey, oil, and balm.

18 Damascus traded with you because of the abundance of supplies of your handiworks and the immense wealth of every kind, with wine of Helbon [Aleppo] and white wool [of Sachar in Syria].
19 Vedan also and [Arabic] Javan traded with yarn from Uzal [in Arabia] for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were exchanged for your merchandise.

20 Dedan supplied you with precious [saddle] cloths for riding.
21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants in lambs, rams, and goats favored by you; in these they traded with you.

22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah [in Arabia] traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the choicest of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold.
23 Haran and Canneh and Eden [in Mesopotamia], the merchants of Sheba [on the Euphrates], Asshur, and Chilmad [near Bagdad] were your traders.

24 These traded with you in choice fabrics, in bales of garments of blue and embroidered work, and in treasures of many colored rich damask and carpets bound with cords and made firm; in these they traded with you.
25 The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise, and you were replenished [Tyre] and were heavily loaded and made an imposing fleet [in your location] in the heart of the seas.

26 Your rowers have brought you out into great and deep waters; the east wind has broken and wrecked you in the heart of the seas.

27 Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your oarsmen and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your company which is in your midst, sink in the heart of the seas on the day of your ruin!

28 The waves and the countryside shake at the [piercing] sound of the [hopeless, wailing] cry of your pilots.
29 And down from their ships come all who handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand upon the shore
30 And are heard wailing loudly over you, and they cry bitterly. They cast up dust on their heads; they wallow in ashes,
31 And they make themselves [utterly] bald for you and gird themselves with sackcloth, and they weep over you in bitterness of heart and with bitter mourning and wailing.

32 And in their wailing they take up a lamentation for you and lament over you, saying, Who was ever like Tyre, the destroyed (the annihilated), [who has become so still] in the heart of the sea?

33 When your wares came forth from the seas, you met the desire, the demand, and the necessities of many people; you enriched the kings of the earth with your abundant wealth and merchandise.
34 Now you are shattered by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew have gone down with you.

35 All the inhabitants of the isles and coastlands are astonished and appalled at you, and their kings are horribly frightened and shudder greatly; their faces quiver.
36 The merchants among the people hiss over you [with malicious joy]; you have become a horror and a source of terrors. You shall be no more [forever].

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 24
Jer. 37:3–39:10; 52:4–30; 2 Kings 25:2–21; 2 Chron. 36:17–21


Jeremiah 37:3–39:10
3 Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah with Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the Lord our God for us.

4 Now Jeremiah was coming in and going out among the people, for they had not [yet] put him in prison.
5 And Pharaoh’s army had come forth out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem and departed.

6 Then came the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah:
7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come forth to help you, will return to Egypt, to their own land.

8 And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city, and they shall take it and burn it with fire.
9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans will surely stay away from us—for they will not stay away.

10 For though you should defeat the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only the wounded and men stricken through among them, every man confined to his tent, yet they would rise up and burn this city with fire.

11 And when the army of the Chaldeans had departed from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s approaching army,
12 Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin [to slip away during the brief lull in the Chaldean invasion] to receive [the title to] his portion [of land, which the Lord had promised would eventually be valuable] there among the people.

13 And when he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a sentry was [on guard] there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are deserting to the Chaldeans.
14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But the sentry would not listen to him. So Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.

15 Therefore the princes were enraged with Jeremiah and beat him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe—for they had made that the prison.

16 When Jeremiah had come into the cells in the dungeon and had remained there many days,
17 Zedekiah the king sent and brought him out; and the king asked him secretly in his house, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is! And he said also, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
18 Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, In what have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

19 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you or against this land?
20 Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king. Let my supplication, I pray you, come before you and be acceptable, that you do not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, and a round loaf of bread from the bakers’ street was given to him daily until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained [imprisoned] in the court of the guard.

CHAPTER 38

NOW SHEPHATIAH son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal [also called Jehucal] son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,
2 Thus says the Lord: He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as his only booty [as a prize of war], and he shall live. [Jer. 21:9.]

3 Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
4 Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech you, let this man [Jeremiah] be put to death; for [talking] thus he weakens the hands of the soldiers who remain in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of these people, but [to do them] harm.

5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hands; for the king is in no position to do anything against you.
6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon or cistern pit [in the charge] of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down [into the pit] with ropes. And in the dungeon or cistern pit there was no water, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian [a Cushite], one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon or cistern pit; and while the king was then sitting in the Gate of Benjamin,
8 Ebed-melech went out of 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 dungeon or cistern pit; and he is liable to die of hunger and is [as good as] dead in the place where he is, for there is no more bread left in the city.

10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you and raise Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon or cistern pit before he dies.

11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king [to a room] under the treasury, and took along from there old rags and worn-out garments and let them down by ropes into the dungeon or cistern pit to Jeremiah.
12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these old rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so.

13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the ropes and took him up out of the dungeon or cistern pit; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, I am going to ask you something; hide nothing from me.
15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.

16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, As the Lord lives, Who made our lives, I will not put you to death or give you into the hands of these men who seek your life.
17 Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will go forth and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then you will live and this city will not be burned with fire; and you will live—you and your house.

18 But if you will not go forth and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hands of the Chaldeans and they will burn it with fire; and you will not escape out of their hands.
19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the enemy deliver me into their [these former subjects’] hands and they mock me and abuse me.

20 But Jeremiah said, They will not deliver you [to them]. Obey, I beg of you, the voice of the Lord, Who speaks to you through me. Then it will be well with you, and you will live.

21 But if you refuse to go forth and surrender to them, this is the word [the vision] that the Lord has shown me:
22 Behold, [in it] all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes and will say [to you, King Zedekiah], Your friends have prevailed against your better judgment and have deceived you. Now when your feet are sunk in the mire [of trouble], they have turned their backs.

23 All your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you [yourself] will not escape out of their hands, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city [Jerusalem] to be burned with fire.
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of this conversation and you will not die.

25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; hide it not from us and we will not put you to death,
26 Then you shall say to them, I was presenting to the king my humble plea that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.

27 Then came all the princes to Jeremiah and asked him [just what King Zedekiah had anticipated they would ask], and he told them all that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for what the conversation [with the king] had been was not discovered.

28 So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken [by the Chaldeans].


CHAPTER 39

IN THE ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. [Jer. 52:4–27.]

2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, they broke into the city.
3 [When Jerusalem was taken] all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim [the Rabsaris] a chief of the eunuchs, and Nergal-sharezer [II, the Rabmag] a chief of the magicians, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

4 And when Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled and went forth out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and [the king] went out toward the Arabah (the Jordan Valley).
5 But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the [Syrian] land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence upon him.

6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.

7 Moreover, he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with shackles to take him to Babylon. [Ezek. 12:13.]
8 And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Then Nebuzaradan the [chief executioner and] captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, along with those who deserted to him, and the remainder of the [so-called better class of] people who were left.

10 But Nebuzaradan the [Babylonian] captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor of the people who had nothing, giving them vineyards and fields at the same time.
Je 37:3–39:10.

Jeremiah 52:4–30
4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they pitched against it and built moveable towers and siege mounds against it round about. [Jer. 39:1–10.]

5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. [II Chron. 36:11-13.]
6 And in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no bread for the people of the land.

7 Then the city [wall] was broken through, so that all the men of war might flee, and they went forth out of the city by night [as Ezekiel had foretold] by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. And they [the Jewish soldiers fled] by way of the Arabah (the Jordan Valley). [Ezek. 12:12.]

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the [Syrian] land of Hamath [on the northern border of Israel], where he pronounced sentence upon him.

10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah at Riblah.
11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with shackles and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison [mill] till the day of his death. [Ezek. 12:13.]

12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, there came to Jerusalem Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who stood and served before the king of Babylon.
13 And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he consumed with fire.

14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls round about Jerusalem.
15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and those who were left in the city [at the time it was captured], along with those who went out to the king of Babylon [during the siege] and the remnant of the multitude [the country’s working people].

16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.
17 Also the pillars of bronze that belonged to the house of the Lord, and the bronze bases or pedestals [which supported the ten basins] and the bronze Sea or huge laver that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon.

18 The pots [for carrying away ashes] also and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service they took away.

19 Also the small bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the incense cups and the bowls for the drink offerings—whatever was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and whatever was of silver as silver.
20 The two pillars, one Sea or huge laver, and twelve bronze bulls or oxen under the Sea, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these things was beyond weighing.

21 Concerning the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (twenty-seven feet), and an ornamental molding of twelve cubits (eighteen feet) went around its circumference; it was four fingers thick, and it [the pillar] was hollow.

22 An upper part or capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of one capital was five cubits (seven and one-half feet), with a network and pomegranates around it, all of bronze. The second pillar also, with its pomegranates, was similar to these.
23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.

24 And the captain of the guard took [as prisoners] Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door.

25 He took also out of the city a court officer who had been overseer of the soldiers, and seven men of them who were next to the king [as advisers] and saw his face, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the prince or captain 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.
26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 And the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

28 This is the number of people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons;
30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the [Babylonian] guard carried away captive of the Jews 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600.
Je 52:4–30.

2 Kings 25:2–21
2 The city was besieged [nearly two years] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was complete in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.
4 Then the city was broken through; the king and all the warriors fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. [The king] went by the way toward the Arabah (the plain).

5 The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.

6 So they captured Zedekiah and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and sentence was passed on him.
7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in double fetters [hands and feet] and carried him to Babylon. [Foretold in Jer. 34:3; Ezek. 12:13.]

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the Babylonian king’s guard, came to Jerusalem.

9 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.
10 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the [Babylonian] guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11 Now the rest of the people left in the city and the deserters who fell away to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.

12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and soil tillers.
13 The bronze pillars in the Lord’s house and [its] bases and the bronze Sea the Chaldeans smashed and carried the bronze to Babylon.

14 And they took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes for incense, all the bronze vessels used in the temple service,
15 The firepans, and bowls. Such things as were of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver [he took away] as silver.

16 The two pillars, the one Sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable.

17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates round about the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

18 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
19 And out of the city he took an officer who was in command of the men of war and five men of the king’s personal advisors, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land and sixty men of the people who were found in the city.

20 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 The king of Babylon smote and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile.
2 Ki 25:2–21


2 Chronicles 36:17–23
17 Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed; He gave them all into his hand.
18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s house, of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.
19 And they burned God’s house and broke down Jerusalem’s wall and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its choice vessels.

20 Those who had escaped from the sword he took away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia was established there,
21 To fulfill the Lord’s word by Jeremiah, till the land had enjoyed its sabbaths; for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath to fulfill seventy years. [Lev. 25:4; 26:43; Jer. 25:11; 29:10.]

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem].
2 Ch 36:17–23.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 25
2 Kings 25:22; Jer. 39:11–40:6; Lam. 1–3

22 Over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah he appointed as governor Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan
2 Kings25:22


Jer. 39:11–40:6
11 Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
12 Take him and look after him well; do him no harm but deal with him as he may ask of you.

13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushasban [the Rabsaris] a chief of the eunuchs, Nergal-sharezer [II, the Rabmag] a chief of the magicians, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon
14 Sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard and entrusted him to Gedaliah [a prominent man whose father had once saved the prophet’s life] son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home [with him to Mizpah]. So Jeremiah was released and dwelt among the people. [Jer. 26:24.]

15 Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was [still] shut up in the court of the guard, saying,
16 Go and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring to pass My words against this city for evil and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you on that day.

17 But I will deliver you [Ebed-melech] on that day, says the Lord, and you will not be given into the hands of the men of whom you are afraid. [Jer. 38:7-13.]

18 For I will surely deliver you; and you will not fall by the sword, but your life will be [as your only booty and] as a reward of battle to you, because you have put your trust in Me, says the Lord.

CHAPTER 40

THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were taken as exiles to Babylon.

2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, The Lord your God pronounced evil upon this place.
3 Now the Lord has brought it about and has done as He said: [It is] because you [of Judah] have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.

4 Now, see, I am freeing you today [Jeremiah] from the chains upon your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will keep an eye on you and look after you well. But if it seems bad to you to come with me to Babylon, then do not do it. Behold, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good, right, and convenient for you to go, go there.

5 While [Jeremiah] was hesitating, [the captain of the guard] said, Go back then to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right for you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present and let him go.

6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land
Jeremiah 39:11–40:6

Lamentations 1–3:66
HOW SOLITARY and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] that was [once] full of people! How like a widow has she become! She who was great among the nations and princess among the provinces has become a tributary [in servitude]!
2 She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks. Among all her lovers (allies) she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. [Jer. 3:1; 4:30.]

3 Judah has gone into exile [to escape] from the affliction and laborious servitude [of the homeland]. She dwells among the [heathen] nations, but she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her amid the [dire] straits [of her distress].
4 The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly or the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh and groan, her maidens are grieved and vexed, and she herself is in bitterness.

5 Her adversaries have become the head; her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her young children have gone into captivity before the enemy. [Jer. 30:14, 15; 52:28; Dan. 9:7-14.]
6 From the Daughter of Zion all her beauty and majesty have departed. Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture; they have fled without strength before the pursuer.

7 Jerusalem [earnestly] remembers in the days of her affliction, in the days of her [compulsory] wanderings and her bitterness, all the pleasant and precious things that she had from the days of old. When her people fell into and at the hands of the adversary, and there was none to help her, the enemy [gloated as they] looked at her, and they mocked at her desolations and downfall.

8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become an unclean thing and has been removed. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yes, she herself groans and sighs and turns [her face] away.
9 Her filthiness was in and on her skirts; she did not [seriously and earnestly] consider her final end. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] singularly and astonishingly; she has no comforter. O Lord [cries Jerusalem], look at my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]!

10 The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her precious and desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary [of the temple]—when You commanded that they should not even enter Your congregation [in the outer courts]. [Deut. 23:3; Jer. 51:51; Ezek. 44:7, 9.]
11 All her people groan and sigh, seeking for bread; they have given their desirable and precious things [in exchange] for food to revive their strength and bring back life. See, O Lord, and consider how wretched and lightly esteemed, how vile and abominable, I have become!

12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was dealt out to me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger!

13 From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed against them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back. He has made me hopelessly miserable and faint all the day long.
14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they were twined together; they were set upon my neck. He has made my strength fail and [me to] stumble; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those I am unable to resist or withstand. [Deut. 28:48.]

15 The Lord has made of no account all my [Jerusalem’s] mighty men in the midst of me; He has proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden as in a winepress the Virgin Daughter of Judah.
16 For these things I weep; my eyes overflow with tears, because a comforter, one who could refresh and restore my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate and perishing, for the enemy has prevailed. [Lam. 1:21.]

17 Zion stretches forth her hands, but there is no comforter for her. The Lord has commanded concerning and against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them [an object of contempt].
18 The Lord is righteous (just and in the right); for I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear, I pray you, all you peoples, and look at my sorrow and suffering; my maidens and my young men have gone into captivity.
19 I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers [allies], but they deceived me. My priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food to save their lives.

20 Behold, O Lord, how distressed I am! My vital parts (emotions) are in tumult and are deeply disturbed; my heart cannot rest and is violently agitated within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the house the sword bereaves, at home there is [famine, pestilence] death!
21 [My foes] have heard that I [Jerusalem] sigh and groan, that I have no comforter [in You]. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad [O Lord] that You have done it. You will bring the day [of Judah’s punishment] that you have foretold and proclaimed; [it involves also my foes’ punishment] and they will become like me. [Isa. 14:5, 6; Jer. 30:16.]
22 Let all their wickedness come before You; and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my sighs and groans are many and my heart is faint.


CHAPTER 2

HOW THE Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty and splendor of Israel and has not [earnestly] remembered His footstool in the day of His anger!
2 The Lord has swallowed up all the country places and habitations of Jacob and has spared not nor pitied; He has demolished in His wrath the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. He has cast down to the ground the kingdom and its rulers, polluting them and depriving them of their sanctity.

3 He has broken off in His fierce anger every horn (means of defense) of Israel. He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy. And He has burned amidst Jacob like a flaming fire consuming all around.
4 He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has stood with His right hand set like a foe and has slain all the delights and pride of the eye; on and in the tent of the Daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy; He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its palaces, has laid in ruins its strongholds, and has multiplied in the Daughter of Judah groaning and moaning and lamentation.

6 And He has violently broken down His temple like a booth or hedge of a garden; He has destroyed the place of His appointed assembly. The Lord has caused the solemn appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and has spurned and rejected in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.

7 The Lord has scorned, rejected, and cast off His altar; He has abhorred and disowned His sanctuary. He has given into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces [and high buildings]; they have raised a clamor in the house of the Lord as on a day of a solemn appointed feast.

8 The Lord purposed to lay in ruins the [city] wall of the Daughter of Zion. He marked it off by measuring line; He restrained not His hand from destroying. He made rampart and wall lament; they languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are [exiled] among the nations; the law is no more; her prophets also obtain no vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground keeping silent; they have cast dust on their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth. The maidens of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground [says Jeremiah].
11 My eyes fail from weeping, my emotions are deeply disturbed, my heart is poured out upon the ground [in grief] because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and nurslings faint in the streets of the city.
12 They keep crying to their mothers, Where is corn and wine [food and drink]? as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away on their mothers’ bosom.

13 What [example of suffering in the past] is sufficient for me to remind you for your [comfort]? To what shall I liken you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? With what shall I compare you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your ruin is as measureless as the sea! Who can heal you? [Lam. 1:12; Dan. 9:12.]

14 Your prophets have predicted for you falsehood and delusion and foolish things; and they have not exposed your iniquity and guilt to avert your captivity [by causing you to repent]. But they have divined and declared to you false and deceptive prophecies, worthless and misleading.

15 All who pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city which was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?

16 All your enemies have opened wide their mouths against you; they scornfully hiss and gnash their teeth. They cry, We have swallowed her up! Certainly this is the day we have looked for; we have it, we see it!

17 The Lord has done what He planned; He has carried out and finished His word which He threatened and decreed in the days of old. He has demolished without pity; He has made the enemy rejoice over you and has exalted the might of your foes. [Lev. 26:14-39; Deut. 28:15-68.]

18 The hearts [of the inhabitants of Jerusalem] cried to the Lord. [Then to the congregation, I, Jeremiah, cried, addressing the wall as its symbol] O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no rest, let not your eyes stop [shedding tears].

19 Arise [from your bed], cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward Him for the lives of your young children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street. [Ps. 62:8.]

20 Behold, O Lord, and consider [carefully] to whom You have done this. Should and shall women eat the fruit of their own bodies, the children whom they have tended and swaddled with their hands? Should and shall priest and prophet be slain in the place set apart [for the worship] of the Lord?
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; my maidens and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, slaughtering them without pity.

22 You [Lord] called together, as on an appointed feast day of solemn assembly, my terrors (dangers) from every side. And there was not one in the day of God’s wrath who escaped or survived; those I have nursed and brought up, my enemy has destroyed.


CHAPTER 3

I AM [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath.
2 He has led me and brought me into darkness and not light.
3 Surely He has turned away from me; His hand is against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin has He worn out and made old; He has shattered my bones.
5 He has built up [siege mounds] against me and surrounded me with bitterness, tribulation, and anguish.
6 He has caused me to dwell in dark places like those long dead.
7 He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain.
8 Even when I cry and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, and like a lion [hiding] in secret places.
11 He has turned me off my ways and pulled me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my heart [the seat of my affections and desires].
14 I have become a derision to all my people, and [the subject of] their singsong all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood [bitterness].
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel (stones); He has covered me with ashes.
17 And You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are.
18 And I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord.
19 [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall.

20 My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:
22 It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. [Mal. 3:6.]

23 They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. [Isa. 33:2.]
24 The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him. [Num. 18:20.]

25 The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word].
26 It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit]. [Rom. 8:28.]

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust [in abject recognition of his unworthiness]—there may yet be hope. [Mic. 7:17.]
30 Let him give his cheek to the One Who smites him [even through His human agents]; let him be filled [full] with [men’s] reproach [in meekness].

31 For the Lord will not cast off forever! [Ps. 94:14.]
32 But though He causes grief, yet will He be moved to compassion according to the multitude of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.

33 For He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men. [Ezek. 18:23, 32; Hos. 11:8; Heb. 12:5-10; II Pet. 3:9.]

34 To trample and crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside and deprive a man of his rights before the face of the Most High or a superior [acting as God’s representative],
36 To subvert a man in his cause—[of these things] the Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it?
38 Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed [adversity and prosperity, physical evil or misfortune and physical good or happiness]?

39 Why does a living man sigh [one who is still in this life’s school of discipline]? [And why does] a man complain for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [and then with them mount up in prayer] to God in heaven:
42 We have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with wrath and pursued and afflicted us; You have slain without pity.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us offscouring and refuse among the nations.
46 All our enemies have gaped at us and railed against us.
47 Fear and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
48 My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow continually and will not cease
50 Until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.

51 My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens [and the daughter-towns] of my city [Jerusalem].
52 I have been hunted down like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause.
53 They [thought they had] destroyed my life in the dungeon (pit) and cast a stone [over it] above me. [Jer. 38.]
54 The waters ran down on my head; I said, I am gone.

55 I called upon Your name, O Lord, out of the depths [of the mire] of the dungeon. [Jer. 38:6.]
56 You heard my voice [then]: [Oh] hide not Your ear [now] at my prayer for relief.
57 You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, Fear not. [James 4:8.]
58 O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul [You have managed my affairs and You have protected my person and my rights]; You have rescued and redeemed my life!

59 O Lord, You have seen my wrong [done to me]; judge and maintain my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
61 You have heard their reproach and revilings, O Lord, and all their devices against me—
62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all day long.
63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up [their movements, doings, and secret counsels]; I am their singsong [the subject of their derision and merriment]. [Ps. 139:2; Isa. 37:28.]

64 Render to them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them hardness and blindness of heart; Your curse will be upon them.
66 You will pursue and afflict them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 26
Lamentations 4–5:22; The Book of Obadiah


CHAPTER 4

HOW THE gold has become dim! How the most pure gold has changed! The hallowed stones [of the temple] are poured out at the head of every street.
2 The noble and precious sons of Zion, [once] worth their weight in fine gold—how they are esteemed [merely] as earthen pots or pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! [Isa. 30:14; Jer. 19:11; II Cor. 4:7.]
3 Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones, but the daughter of my people has become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness [that desert their young].
4 The tongue of the nursing babe cleaves to the roof of its mouth because of thirst; the young children beg for food, but no one gives it to them.
5 Those who feasted on dainties are perishing in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie cleaving to refuse and ash heaps.
6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands had come against her or been laid on her. [Gen. 19:25.]
7 [In physical appearance] her princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies or corals, their shapely figures [suggested a carefully cut] sapphire.
8 [Prolonged famine has made] them look blacker than soot and darkness; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones; it is withered and it has become [dry] like a stick.
9 Those who are slain with the sword are more fortunate than those who are the victims of hunger [slain by the famine]; for they [the hungry] pine and ebb away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of [heretofore] compassionate women have boiled their own children; they were their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people [Judah].
11 The Lord has fulfilled His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger and has kindled a fire in Zion that has consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the earth, that the oppressor and enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 [But this happened] because of the sins of her [false] prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the just and righteous in the midst of her.
14 [The false prophets and priests] wandered [staggering] in the streets as if blind; they had so polluted themselves with blood it was not [lawful] for men to touch their garments.
15 [People] cried to them, Go away! Unclean! Depart! Depart! Touch not! When they fled away, then they wandered [as fugitives]; men said among the nations, They shall not stay here any longer.
16 The anger of the Lord has scattered [and divided them among the nations]; He will no longer look after them. They did not respect the persons of the priests; they did not favor the elders.
17 As for us, our eyes yet failed and wasted away in looking for our worthless help. In our watching [on our watchtower] we have watched and waited expectantly for a nation [Egypt or some other one to come to our rescue] that could not save us. [Ezek. 29:16.]
18 [The missiles of the enemy] dog our steps, so that we cannot go into our streets; our end is near, our days are fulfilled—yes, our end has come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord [our king], was taken in their snares—he of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.
21 Rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. But the cup [of the wine of God’s wrath] also shall pass to you; you shall become drunk and make yourself naked. [Jer. 25:17.]
22 The punishment of your iniquity will be accomplished and completed, O Daughter of Zion; [the Lord] will no more carry you away or keep you in exile. But He will inspect and punish your iniquity and guilt, O Daughter of Edom; He will uncover your sins. [Ps. 137:7.]


CHAPTER 5

O LORD, [earnestly] remember what has come upon us! Look down and see our reproach (our national disgrace)!
2 Our inheritance has fallen over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
4 We have had to pay money to drink the water that belongs to us; our [own] wood is sold to us.
5 Our pursuers are upon our necks [like a yoke]; we are weary and are allowed no rest.
6 We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians [merely] to get food to satisfy [our hunger].
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we have borne their iniquities. [Isa. 65:7; Jer. 16:11–12; 31:29; Ezek. 18:2–4.]
8 Servants and slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands. [Neh. 5:15.]
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness [the wild Arabs, who may attack if we venture into the fields to reap our harvests].
10 Our skin glows and is parched as from [the heat of] an oven because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 They hung princes by their hands; the persons of elders were not respected.
13 Young men carried millstones, and boys fell [staggering] under [burdens of] wood.
14 The elders have ceased from [congregating at] the city’s gate, the young men from their music.
15 Ceased is the joy of our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is brought to the dust]! Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint and sick; because of these things our eyes are dim and see darkly.
18 As for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, the jackals prowl over it!
19 But You, O Lord, remain and reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to [all] generations.
20 Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?
21 Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned and restored! Renew our days as of old!—
22 Or have You utterly rejected us? Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?



THE BOOK OF
OBADIAH

THE VISION of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard tidings from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent forth among the nations [saying], Arise, and let us rise up against [Edom] for battle! [Ps. 137:7; Isa. 34:1–15; 63:1–6; Jer. 49:7–22; Ezek. 25:8–14.]
2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations [Edom]; you shall be despised exceedingly. [Ezek. 35.]
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you dweller in the refuges of the rock [Petra, Edom’s capital], whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, Who can bring me down to the ground?
4 Though you mount on high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
5 If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—how you are brought to nothing!—would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some grapes for gleaning? [But this ravaging was done by God, not men.] [Jer. 49:9.]
6 How are the things of Esau [Edom] searched out! How are his hidden treasures sought out!
7 All the men of your confederacy (your allies) have brought you on your way, even to the border; the men who were at peace with you have deceived you and prevailed against you; they who eat your bread have laid a snare under you. There is no understanding [in Edom, or] of it.
8 Will not I in that day, says the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom and [men of] understanding out of Mount Esau [Idumea, a mountainous region]?
9 And your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
10 For the violence you did against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
11 On the day that you stood aloof [from your brother Jacob]—on the day that strangers took captive his forces and carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem—you were even as one of them. [Num. 20:18-20; Amos 1:11, 12.]
12 But you should not have gloated over your brother’s day, the day when his misfortune came and he was made a stranger; you should not have rejoiced over the sons of Judah in the day of their ruin; you should not have spoken arrogantly in the day of their distress.
13 You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity and ruin; yes, you should not have looked [with delight] on their misery in the day of their calamity and ruin, and not have reached after their army and their possessions in the day of their calamity and ruin.
14 And you should not have stood at the crossway to cut off those of Judah who escaped, neither should you have delivered up those [of Judah] who remained in the day of distress.
15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head. [Isa. 2:10-22; Zeph. 3:8-20; Zech. 12:1-14; Rev. 19:11-21.]
16 For as you [Edom] have drunk upon the mountain of My holiness [desecrating it in the wild revelry of the destroyers], so shall all the nations drink continually [in turn, of My wrath]; yes, they shall drink, talk foolishly, and swallow down [the full measure of punishment] and they shall be [destroyed] as though they had not been. [Rev. 16:14-16.]
17 But on Mount Zion [in Jerusalem] there shall be deliverance [for those who escape], and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess its [own former] possessions. [Ezek. 36; Joel 2:32.]
18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle and burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken it. [Ezek. 25:12-14.]
19 They of the South (the Negeb) shall possess Mount Esau, and they of the lowland the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead [across the Jordan River]. [Amos 9:12; Zeph. 2:7.]
20 And the exiles of this host of the children of Israel who are among the Canaanites shall possess [Phoenicia] as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the South (the Negeb).
21 And deliverers shall go up on Mount Zion to rule and judge Mount Esau, and the kingdom and the kingship shall be the Lord’s. [Zech. 12:8, 9; Mal. 1:2-5; Matt. 24:27-30; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 15:14-17.]

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 27
Jeremiah 40:7–44:30; 2 Kings 25:23–26


7 Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the open country [of Judah] and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah son of Ahikam governor in the land [of Judah] and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon,
8 They went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

9 And Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans; dwell in [this] land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

10 As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah to stand [for you] before the Chaldeans who come to us [ministering to them and looking after the king’s interests]; but as for you, gather the juice [of the grape], summer fruits and oil, and store them in your utensils [chosen for such purposes], and dwell in your cities that you have seized.

11 Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab and among the people of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had set over them [as governor] Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,
12 Then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered a great abundance of juice [of the grape] and summer fruits.

13 Moreover, Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
14 And said to him, Do you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life? But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray you, and I will slay Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no man will know it. Why should he slay you and cause all the Jews who are gathered to you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?

16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely of Ishmael.


CHAPTER 41

NOW IN the seventh month [of that year] Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal descendants and one of the princes of the king, came [at the instigation of the Ammonites] with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam in Mizpah. As they were eating a meal together there in Mizpah,
2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him, the one whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. [II Kings 25:25.]

3 Ishmael [manipulated by the Ammonites] also slew all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who were found there.

4 And the second day after the slaying of Gedaliah, before anyone knew about it,
5 There came eighty men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, having their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and having cut themselves, bringing cereal offerings and incense, going up [to Jerusalem] to present them in the house of the Lord.

6 And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all the way as he went. As he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.
7 And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the [city] cistern pit—he and the men with him.

8 But ten men were among them who said to Ishmael, Do not kill us! For we have stores hidden in the field—of wheat and barley and oil and honey. So he refrained and did not slay them with their brethren.

9 Now the cistern pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain in addition to Gedaliah was the one which Asa the king [of Judah] had once made for fear of Baasha king of Israel [should Baasha lay siege to Mizpah]. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.
10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah—even the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to cross over [the Jordan] to the Ammonites.

11 But when Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,
12 They took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah and found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon.
13 Now when all the people who were [captives] with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him, they were glad.

14 So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan son of Kareah.

15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.
16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah all the remainder of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after he had slain Gedaliah son of Ahikam: [they were] the soldiers, the women, the children, and the eunuchs whom [Johanan] had brought back from Gibeon.
17 And they departed and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, [intending] to go to Egypt

18 Because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land [and whose death the king could avenge without much discrimination].


CHAPTER 42

THEN ALL the captains of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah [Azariah] son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest came near
2 And said to Jeremiah the prophet, We beseech you that you will let our supplication be presented before you and that you will pray to the Lord your God for us, even for all this remnant [of the people of Judah]; for whereas we were once many, there are but a few of us left, as you see with your [own] eyes.

3 [Pray] that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words; and it will be that whatever thing the Lord will answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do according to all the things that the Lord your God sends you to tell us.

6 Whether it is good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to Whom we are sending you [to inquire], that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.
7 And after ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

8 Then he called Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 And said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to Whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him:
10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pull you up; for I will relent and comfort and ease Myself concerning the evil that [in chastisement] I have done to you [and I will substitute mercy and loving-kindness for judgment]. [Jer. 31:4, 28.]

11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are fearful [with the profound and reverent dread inspired by deity]; be not afraid of him, says the Lord, for [he is a mere man, while I am the all-wise, all-powerful, and ever-present God] I [the Lord] am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will grant mercy to you, that he may have mercy on you and permit you to remain in your own land.

13 But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, and so disobey the voice of the Lord your God,
14 Saying, No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,
15 Then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are fully determined to go to Egypt and you do go to dwell there temporarily,
16 Then the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt and in it, and there you shall die.

17 So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there temporarily; they will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; none of them will remain or survive the evil that I will bring upon them.
18 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and My wrath have been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My wrath be poured forth upon you when you enter Egypt. You shall be a detested thing, an astonishment and horror, a curse, a thing lightly esteemed and a taunt and a reproach; you shall see this place no more.

19 The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt. Know for a certainty that I [Jeremiah] have warned and testified to you this day
20 That you have dealt deceitfully against your own lives; for you sent me [Jeremiah] to the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, declare it to us and we will do it.
21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything that He sent me to tell you.
22 Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place [Egypt] where you desire to go to dwell temporarily.




CHAPTER 43

AND WHEN Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God—everything for which the Lord their God had sent him to them—
2 Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the proud and insolent men said to Jeremiah, You are not telling the truth! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, Do not go into Egypt to dwell there temporarily.
3 But Baruch son of Neriah is setting you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, so they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.

4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to remain in the land of Judah.
5 But Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven—
6 Even men, women, and children, the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; also he took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.
7 So they came into the land of Egypt—for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord. And they came to Tahpanhes.
8 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 Take large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the pavement of brick which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
10 And say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant [because he works for Me], and I [through him] will set his throne upon these stones that I have hidden; and his [glittering, royal] canopy will be stretched over them. [Ezek. 29:19, 20.]

11 And he shall come and smite the land of Egypt, giving such as are [destined] for death, to death, and such as are [destined] for captivity, to captivity, and such as are [destined] for the sword, to the sword.
12 And I [through him] will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt; and he will burn [the houses] and carry [the people] away captive. And he will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment [as he wills and when he chooses]; and he will go away from there in peace.
13 [Nebuchadrezzar] shall break also the images and obelisks of Heliopolis [called On or Beth-shemesh—house of the sun] in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.



CHAPTER 44

THE WORD that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who were dwelling in the land of Egypt—at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis—and in the country of Pathros, saying,
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and see, this day they are a desolation and no man dwells in them
3 Because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods that they did not know—neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

4 Yet I sent to you all My servants the prophets earnestly and persistently, saying, Oh, do not do this loathsome and shamefully vile thing that I hate and abhor!
5 But they did not listen and obey or submit and consent to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods.
6 Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and were kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became wasted and desolate, as it is this day.

7 Therefore now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves that will cut off from you man and woman, infant and weaned child, out of Judah, to leave yourselves with none remaining?
8 Why do you provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) of your own hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you [of your own accord] have come to dwell temporarily, that you might be cut off and become a curse and a reproach (an object of reviling and taunts) among all the nations of the earth?

9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives [who clung to their foreign gods], your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives [who imitated their queens], which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

10 They are not humbled (contrite, penitent, and bruised for their guilt and iniquities) even to this day, neither have they feared and revered [Me] nor walked in My law or My statutes which I set before you and before your fathers. [Jer. 6:15; 26:4-6; 44:23.]
11 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil—even to cut off all Judah [from the land].

12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come into the land of Egypt to dwell here temporarily [fleeing to Egypt instead of surrendering to the Chaldeans as directed by the Lord through Jeremiah], and they will all be consumed and will fall in the land of Egypt; they will be consumed by the sword and by famine. From the least even to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine. And they will be a detestable thing, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach (an object of horror, reviling, and taunts).

13 For I will punish all the inhabitants of the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem—by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence—
14 So that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to dwell temporarily shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire and lift up their souls to return to dwell there; for none shall return except [a few] fugitives.

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by—a great assembly—even all the people who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:
16 As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to or obey you.

17 But we will certainly perform every word of the vows we have made: to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her as we have done—we and our fathers, our kings and our princes—in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and prosperous and saw no evil.

18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.

19 [And the wives said] When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes [in the shape of a star] to represent and honor her and pour out drink offerings to her without [the knowledge and approval of] our husbands?

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people—to the men and to the women and to all the people who had given him that answer—
21 The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land—did not the Lord [earnestly] remember [your idolatrous wickedness] and did it not come into His mind?

22 The Lord could no longer endure the evil of your doings and the abominations which you have committed; because of them therefore has your land become a desolation and an [astonishing] waste and a curse, without inhabitants, as it is this day.
23 Because you have burned incense [to idols] and because you have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law and in His statutes and in His testimonies, therefore this evil has fallen upon you, as it is this day.
24 Moreover, Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt,
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have both declared with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her. [Surely] then confirm your vows and [surely] perform your vows! [If you will defy all My warnings to you, then, by all means, go ahead!]

26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all [you people of] Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says the Lord, that My name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord God lives.

27 Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine until there is an end of them and they are all destroyed.
28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to dwell temporarily shall know whose words shall stand, Mine or theirs.
29 And this will be the sign to you, says the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for evil.

30 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies and into the hands of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.


2 Kings 25:23–26

23 And when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
25 But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [so having a claim to be governor], came with ten men and smote and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 28
Ezekiel 33:21–36:38

21 In the twelfth year of our captivity [in Babylon], in the tenth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month, a man who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me [Ezekiel], saying, The city [Jerusalem] is taken.

22 Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before this one who had escaped came, and He had opened my mouth [in readiness for the fugitives] coming to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened and I was no longer dumb.
23 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
24 Son of man, those [back in Palestine] who inhabit those wastes of the ground of Israel are saying, Abraham was only one man and he inherited the land, but we are many; the land is surely given to us to possess as our inheritance.

25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat meat with the blood [as an idolatrous rite] and lift up your eyes to your [filthy] idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? [Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; 7:27; Acts 15:28, 29.]
26 You stand upon your sword [as your dependence]; you commit abominations and each of you defiles your neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land?

27 Say this to them, Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence.
28 And I will make the land [of Israel] a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through them.

29 Then shall they know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.

30 As for you, son of man, your people who talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses say one to another, every one to his brother, Come and hear what the word is that comes forth from the Lord.
31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear the words you say, but they will not do them; for with their mouths they show much love, but their hearts go after and are set on their [idolatrous greed for] gain.

32 Behold, you are to them as a very lovely [love] song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, for they hear your words but do not do them.
33 When this comes to pass—for behold, it will come!—then shall they know, understand, and realize that a prophet has been among them.


Ezekiel Chapter 34

AND THE word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, even to the [spiritual] shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?
3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.

4 The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them.

5 And they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts of the field.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yes, My sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth and no one searched or sought for them. [Matt. 9:36.]

7 Therefore, you [spiritual] shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
8 As I live, says the Lord God, surely because My sheep became a prey, and My sheep became food for every beast of the field because there was no shepherd—neither did My shepherds search for My sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not My sheep—
9 Therefore, O you [spiritual] shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
10 Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hand and cause them to cease feeding the sheep, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more. I will rescue My sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

11 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I Myself, will search for My sheep and will seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his sheep in the day that he is among his flock that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep; and I will rescue them out of all places where they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick darkness.
13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

15 I will feed My sheep and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God.
16 I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which has strayed, and I will bandage the hurt and the crippled and will strengthen the weak and the sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong [who have become hardhearted and perverse]; I will feed them with judgment and punishment. [Luke 19:10.]

17 And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the great he-goats [the malicious and the tyrants of the pasture].
18 Is it too little for you that you feed on the best pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? And to have drunk of the waters clarified by subsiding, but you must foul the rest of the water with your feet?
19 And My flock, must they feed on what your feet have trodden and drink what your feet have fouled?

20 Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I Myself, will judge between fat sheep and impoverished sheep, or fat goats and lean goats.

21 Because you push with side and with shoulder and thrust with your horns all those that have become weak and diseased, till you have scattered them abroad,
22 Therefore will I rescue My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
23 And I will raise up over them one Shepherd and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd. [Ezek. 37:24; John 10:14–18.]
24 And I the Lord will be their God and My Servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.
25 And I will confirm with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and [My people] shall dwell safely in the wilderness, desert, or pastureland and sleep [confidently] in the woods. [Ps. 127:2b; Isa. 11:6-9; John 14:27; 16:33.]

26 And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing, and I will cause the showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing [of good insured by God’s favor].
27 And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit and the earth shall yield its increase; and [My people] shall be secure in their land, and they shall be confident and know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
28 And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the earth devour them, but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid [in the day of the Messiah’s reign]. [Isa. 60:21; 61:3.]
29 And I will raise up for them a planting of crops for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land nor bear the reproach of the nations any longer.

30 Then shall they know [positively] that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord God,
31 And that you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are [only] men and I am your God, says the Lord God.


Ezekiel Chapter 35

MOREOVER, THE word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face against the mountain [range of] Seir [in Edom] and prophesy against it,
3 And say to it, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you and I will make you a desolation and an astonishment.
4 I will lay your cities waste and you shall be desolate, and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

5 Because you [of Esau] have had a perpetual enmity [for Jacob] and you gave over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when they were suffering their final punishment [the Babylonian conquest], [Ezek. 25:12-14; 36:5.]
6 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will expose you to slaughter and slaughter shall pursue you; since you could not bear to live without bloodshed, therefore bloodshed shall pursue you.
7 Thus will I make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation, and I will cut off from it him who passes through it and him who returns [that way].

8 And I will fill [Edom’s] mountains with his slain men; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines shall those fall who are slain with the sword.

9 I will make you a perpetual desolation and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

10 Because you [Edom] said, These two nations [Israel and Judah] and these two countries shall be mine and we will take possession of them—although the Lord was there,
11 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy you showed because of your enmity for them, and I will make Myself known among them [as He Who will judge and punish] when I judge and punish you.

12 And you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], and that I have heard all your revilings and scornful speeches that you have uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid waste and desolate; they are given to us to devour.

13 Thus you have boasted and magnified yourselves against Me with your mouth, multiplying your words against Me; I have heard it.
14 Thus says the Lord God: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a waste and desolation.
15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you; you shall be a waste and desolation, O Mount Seir and all Edom, all of it. Then they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].




Ezekiel Chapter 36

ALSO YOU, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.
2 Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy has said over you, Aha! and, The ancient heights have become our possession,

3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God: Because, yes, because they made you a desolation, and they snapped after and crushed you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people,
4 Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate wastes and the cities that are forsaken, that have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations that are round about;
5 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely in the fire of My hot jealousy have I spoken against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who have given to themselves My land with wholehearted joy and with uttermost contempt, that they might empty it out and possess it for a prey and a spoil.

6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have suffered the shame and reproach of the nations;
7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I have lifted up My hand and sworn, Surely the nations that are round about you shall themselves suffer shame and reproach.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are soon to come [home].

9 For behold, I am for you and I will turn to you; and you shall be tilled and sown,
10 And I will multiply men upon you, the whole house of Israel, even all of it; the cities shall be inhabited and the waste places shall be rebuilt,
11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited according to your former estate and I will do better for you than at your beginnings; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

12 Yes, [O mountains of Israel] I will cause men to walk upon you, even My people Israel, and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance; and you shall no more after this bereave them of children [for idol sacrifices].
13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, You [O land] are a devourer of men and have bereaved your nation of children [offered to idols],
14 Therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nation or cause it to stumble any more, says the Lord God.
15 Neither will I let you hear any more the reproach of the nations, nor shall you suffer the dishonor of the peoples any more, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble and fall any more [through idolatry], says the Lord God.

16 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by [doing] their [own] way and by their [idolatrous] doings. Their conduct before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman during her [physical] impurity.
18 So I poured out My wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for their idols with which they had defiled it.

19 And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their conduct and their [idolatrous] deeds I judged and punished them.
20 And when they came to the nations to which they went, they profaned My holy name in that men said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go forth out of His land.
21 But I had regard, concern, and compassion for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they went.

22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I do not do this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations to which you went.
23 And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name and separate it for its holy purpose from all that defiles it—My name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them—and the nations will know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], when I shall be set apart by you and My holiness vindicated in you before their eyes and yours.
24 For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness; and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.
28 And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will call forth the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine on you.

30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may no more suffer the reproach and disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 Then you shall [earnestly] remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominable deeds.
32 Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your [own] wicked ways, O house of Israel!

33 Thus says the Lord God: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities I will [also] cause [Israel’s] cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt.
34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, that which had lain desolate in the sight of all who passed by.
35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.

36 Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 Thus says the Lord God: For this also I will let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do it for them; I will increase their men like a flock.

38 Like the flock of holy things for sacrifice, like the flock of Jerusalem in her [solemn] appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 29
Ezekiel 37–39:29


CHAPTER 37

THE HAND of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

2 And He caused me to pass round about among them, and behold, there were very many [human bones] in the open valley or plain, and behold, they were very dry.

3 And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, You know! [I Cor. 15:35.]
4 Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. [John 5:28.]
5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live;
6 And I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you, and you [dry bones] shall live; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [thundering] noise and behold, a shaking and trembling and a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8 And I looked and behold, there were sinews upon [the bones] and flesh came upon them and skin covered them over, but there was no breath or spirit in them.

9 Then said He to me, Prophesy to the breath and spirit, son of man, and say to the breath and spirit, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath and spirit, and breathe upon these slain that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath and spirit came into [the bones], and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great host. [Rev. 11:11.]

11 Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost; we are completely cut off.

12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you [back home] to the land of Israel. [Hos. 13:14.]
13 And you shall know that I am the Lord [your Sovereign Ruler], when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people.

14 And I shall put My Spirit in you and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then you shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord.

15 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,
16 Son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his companions;
17 And join them together into one stick that they may become one in your hand.

18 And when your people say to you, Will you not show us what you mean by these?

19 Say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph—which is in the hand of Ephraim—and the tribes of Israel his associates, and will join with it the stick of Judah and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand.
20 When the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes,
21 Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.

22 And I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be King over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, neither be divided into two kingdoms any more. [Jer. 50:4.]

23 They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things or with any of their transgressions, but I will save them out of all their dwelling places and from all their backslidings in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. So shall they be My people, and I will be their God.

24 And David My Servant shall be King over them, and they all shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in My ordinances and heed My statutes and do them.

25 They shall dwell in the land in which your fathers dwelt, that I gave to My servant Jacob, and they shall dwell there, they and their children and their children’s children, forever; and My Servant David shall be their Prince forever. [Isa. 60:21; Joel 3:20; Amos 9:15.]

26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will give blessings to them and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore.

27 My tabernacle or dwelling place also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
28 Then the nations shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord do set apart and consecrate Israel for holy use, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forevermore.


CHAPTER 38

AND THE word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (ruler) of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubal.
4 And I will turn you back and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords—
5 Persia, Cush, and Put or Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet,
6 Gomer and all his hordes, the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north and all his hordes—many people are with you.

7 You [Gog] be prepared; yes, prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and you be a guard and a commander for them.

8 After many days you shall be visited and mustered [for service]; in the latter years you shall go against the land that is restored from the ravages of the sword, where people are gathered out of many nations upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste; but its [people] are brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell securely, all of them. [Isa. 24:22.]

9 You shall ascend and come like a storm; you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your hosts and many people with you.
10 Thus says the Lord God: At the same time thoughts shall come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

11 And you will say, I will go up against an open country [the land of unwalled villages]; I will fall upon those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take spoil and prey, to turn your hand upon the desolate places now inhabited and assail the people gathered out of the nations, who have obtained livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth [Palestine].

13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish, with all their lionlike cubs [or satellite areas], shall say to you, Have you come to take spoil? Have you gathered your hosts to take the prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take a great spoil?

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: In that day when My people Israel dwell securely, will you not know it and be aroused?

15 And you will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army.

16 And you shall come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. In the latter days I will bring you against My land, that the nations may know, understand, and realize Me when My holiness shall be vindicated through you [vindicated and honored in your overwhelming destruction], O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I have spoken in olden times by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you [Gog] against them?

18 But in that day when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, My wrath shall come up into My nostrils.

19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I said, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking or cosmic catastrophe in the land of Israel,
20 So that the fishes of the sea and the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall tremble and shake at My presence; and the mountains shall be thrown down and the steep places shall fall and every wall [natural or artificial] shall fall to the ground.

21 And I will call for a sword against [Gog] throughout all My mountains, says the Lord God, every man’s sword shall be against his brother [over the dividing of booty].

22 And with pestilence and with bloodshed will I enter into judgment with [Gog], and I will rain upon him and upon his hordes and upon the many peoples that are with him torrents of rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. [Ps. 11:6.]
23 Thus will I demonstrate My greatness and My holiness, and I will be recognized, understood, and known in the eyes of many nations; yes, they shall know that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].


CHAPTER 39

AND YOU, son of man, prophesy against Gog, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (ruler) of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubal.

2 And I will turn you about and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north and will lead you against the mountains of Israel;
3 And I will smite your bow from your left hand and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.

4 You shall fall [dead] upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your hosts and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

5 You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken [it], says the Lord God.
6 I will send fire on Magog and upon those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

7 And I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name any more; and the nations shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
8 Behold, it is coming and it will be done, says the Lord God; that is the day of which I have spoken.

9 And [when you, Gog, are no longer] they who dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and shall set on fire and burn the battle gear, the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, the handspikes or riding whips and the spears; and they shall burn them as fuel for seven years,
10 So that My people shall take no firewood out of the field or cut down any out of the forests, for they shall make their fires of the weapons. And they shall despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.

11 And in that day, I will give to Gog a place for burial there in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east side in front of the [Dead] Sea [the highway between Syria, Petra, and Egypt], and it will delay and stop those who pass through. And there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it the Valley of Hamon-gog [multitude of Gog].

12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yes, all the people of the land will bury them, and it shall bring them renown in the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God.

14 And they shall set apart men to work continually who shall pass through the land, men commissioned to bury, with the help of those who are passing by, those bodies that lie unburied on the face of the ground, in order to cleanse the land. After the end of seven months they shall make their search.

15 And when these pass through the land and anyone sees a human bone, he shall set up a marker by it as a sign to the buriers, until they have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog or of Gog’s multitude.

16 And Hamonah [multitude] shall also be the name of the city [of the dead]. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Say to the birds of prey of every sort and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves and come, gather from every side to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, even a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel at which you may eat flesh and drink blood.

18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, of goats, and of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan [east of the Jordan].

19 And you shall eat fat till you are filled and drink blood till you are drunk at the sacrificial feast which I am preparing for you.
20 And you shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men, and with soldiers of every kind, says the Lord God.

21 And I will manifest My honor and glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgment and justice [in the punishment] which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know, understand, and realize beyond all question that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.

23 And the nations shall know, understand, and realize positively that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against Me; and I hid My face from them. So I gave them into the hand of their enemies and they all fell [into captivity or were slain] by the power of the sword. [Deut. 31:17.]

24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them and hid My face from them.
25 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now will I reverse the captivity of Jacob and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel and will be jealous for My holy name.

26 They shall forget their shame and self-reproach and all their treachery and unfaithfulness in which they have transgressed against Me, when they dwell securely in their land and there is none who makes them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and My justice and holiness are set apart and vindicated through them in the sight of many nations,
28 Then shall they know, understand, and realize positively that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into captivity and exile among the nations and then gathered them to their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations any more [in the latter days]. 29 Neither will I hide My face any more then from them, when I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 30
Ezek. 32:1–33:20; Dan. 3


Ezek. Chapter 32

IN THE twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile by the king of Babylon], in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him, You have likened [yourself] to a young lion, leader of the nations, but you are like a [monster] dragon in the seas; you break forth in your rivers and trouble the waters with your feet, and you make foul their rivers [the sources of their prosperity]
.
3 Thus says the Lord God: I will therefore throw out My net over you with a host of many peoples, and they shall bring you up in My dragnet.

4 Then I will leave you [Egypt] upon the shore; I will cast you on the open field and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle upon you, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5 And I will scatter your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your high heap of corpses and their worms.
6 I will also water with your flowing blood the land, even to the mountains, and the hollows and water channels shall be full of you.

7 And when I have extinguished you, I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you and set darkness upon your land, says the Lord God.
9 I will also trouble and vex the hearts of many peoples when I bring your breaking and trembling and destruction and carry you captive among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.

10 I will make many peoples amazed and appalled at you [Egypt], and their kings shall shudder and be horribly afraid because of you when I brandish My sword before them; they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your downfall.

11 For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.
12 I will cause your multitude, your tumult, and your store [of wealth, strength, and glory] to fall by the swords of the mighty—the most terrible among the nations are they all. And they shall bring to nothing the pomp and pride of Egypt, and all its multitude [with its activity and its wealth in every sphere] shall be destroyed.

13 I will destroy also all its beasts from beside many and great waters, and no foot of man shall trouble them any more, nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14 Then will I make their waters sink down (subside, be quiet, and become clear); their rivers I will cause to run [slowly and smoothly] like oil, says the Lord God.

15 When I make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country is stripped and destitute of all that of which it was full when I smite all those who dwell in it, then will they know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who requires and calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

16 This is the lamentation with which they shall intone or chant the lament for her; the daughters of the nations shall chant their lament with it; over Egypt and over all her multitude, her tumult, and her wealth in every sphere shall they chant it, says the Lord God.
17 In the twelfth year [after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken into exile], on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous and majestic nations, to the netherworld, with those who go down to the pit;
19 Whom [among them] do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised (the heathen).

20 They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword; she [Egypt] is delivered to the sword; they draw her down [to her judgment], and all her multitudes [with their noise and stores].
21 The strong among the mighty shall speak of [Pharaoh] out of the midst of Sheol (the place of the dead, the netherworld) with those who helped him; they are gone down; they lie still, even the uncircumcised (the heathen) slain by the sword.

22 Assyria is there and all her company; their graves are round about her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
23 Whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit and whose company is round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror to spread in the land of the living.

24 Elam [an auxiliary of Assyria] is there and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the netherworld, who caused their terror to spread in the land of the living and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.

25 They have set her a bed (a sepulcher) among the slain with all her multitude—their graves round about her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living, and they henceforth bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are laid in the midst of the slain.

26 Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are round about [Pharaoh], all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for they caused their terror to be spread in the land of the living.
27 And they shall not lie with the mighty who have fallen of the uncircumcised [and] who have gone down to Sheol (the place of the dead, the netherworld) with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid [with honors] under their heads and whose iniquities are upon their bones, for they caused their terror to spread in the land of the living.

28 But you [Meshech and Tubal] shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and shall lie [without honors] with those who are slain with the sword.

29 Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who were slain by the sword; they shall lie with the uncircumcised (the heathen) and with those who go down to the pit.

30 The princes of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; for all the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame, and they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword and henceforth bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

31 When Pharaoh sees them, he will comfort himself for all his multitude—even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, says the Lord God.
32 For I have put his and My terror in the land of the living, and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised (the heathen) with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God. [Isa. 19; Jer. 46; Zech. 14:18, 19.]




Ezek. Chapter 33:1-20

AND THE word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak to your people [the Israelite captives in Babylon] and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman,
3 If when he sees the sword coming upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people,
4 Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning shall save his life.
6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, he is taken away in and for his perversity and iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

7 So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth and give them warning from Me.

8 When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his perversity and iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.
9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his evil way and he does not turn from his evil way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

10 And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: Truly our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?
11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

12 And you, son of man, say to your people, The uprightness and justice of the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wicked lawlessness of the wicked lawless, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, neither shall the rigidly upright and just be able to live because of his past righteousness in the day that he sins and misses the mark [in keeping in harmony and right standing with God].

13 When I shall say to the [uncompromisingly] righteous that he shall surely live, and he trusts to his own righteousness [to save him] and commits iniquity (heinous sin), all his righteous deeds shall not be [seriously] remembered; but for his perversity and iniquity that he has committed he shall die.

14 Again, when I have said to the wicked, You shall surely die, if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right—
15 If the wicked restores [what he took in] pledge, gives back what he had taken in robbery, walks in the statutes of life [right relationship with God], without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

16 None of his sins that he has committed shall be [seriously] remembered against him; he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
17 Yet your people say, The way of the Lord is not perfect or even just; but as for them, it is their own way that is not perfect or even just.

18 When the righteous turns back from his [uncompromising] righteousness and commits perverseness and iniquity, he shall even die in and because of it.

19 But if the wicked turns back from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.
20 Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not perfect or [even] just. O you house of Israel, I will judge you, every one according to his own ways!


Daniel Chapter 3

NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE king [caused to be] made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits or ninety feet and its breadth six cubits or nine feet. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, the governors, the judges and chief stargazers, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and lawyers, and all the chief officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had [caused to be] set up.

3 Then the satraps, the deputies, the governors, the judges and chief stargazers, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and lawyers, and all the chief officials of the provinces were gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4 Then the herald cried aloud, You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,
5 That when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer or bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall that very hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
7 Therefore, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, dulcimer or bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
8 Therefore at that time certain men of Chaldean descent came near and brought [malicious] accusations against the Jews.
9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever!

10 You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer or bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image,
11 And that whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed and set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and these men were brought before the king.

14 [Then] Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I have set up?

15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer or bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, very good. But if you do not worship, you shall be cast at once into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that god who can deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, it is not necessary for us to answer you on this point.

17 If our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up! [Job 13:15; Acts 4:19, 20.]

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and his facial expression was changed [to antagonism] against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was usually heated.
20 And he commanded the strongest men in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

21 Then these [three] men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics or undergarments, their turbans, and their other clothing, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame and sparks from the fire killed those men who handled Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king [saw and] was astounded, and he jumped up and said to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered, True, O king.

25 He answered, Behold, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt! And the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods! [Phil. 2:5-8.]

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the midst of the fire.

27 And the satraps, the deputies, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered around together and saw these men—that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed; neither were their garments scorched or changed in color or condition, nor had even the smell of smoke clung to them.

28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who believed in, trusted in, and relied on Him! And they set aside the king’s command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, and language that speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghill, for there is no other God who can deliver in this way!
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / August​

August 31
Ezekiel 40–42

Ezekiel Chapter 40

IN THE twenty-fifth year of our captivity [by Babylon], in the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city [of Jerusalem] was taken, on the very same day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me to that place.

2 In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me down upon a very high mountain, on the south side of which there was what seemed to be the structure of a city.
3 He brought me there, and behold, there was a man [an angel] whose appearance was like bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring reed in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.

4 And the man said to me, Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and set your heart and mind on all that I will show you, for you are brought here that I may show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.
5 And behold, there was a wall all around the outside area of the house [of the Lord], and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six long cubits in length, each cubit being longer [than the usual one] by a handbreadth; so he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed, and the height, one reed.

6 Then he came to the gate which faced the east and went up its [seven] steps and measured the threshold of the gateway, one reed broad, and the other threshold of the gateway [inside the thick wall], one reed broad.

7 And every room for the guards was one reed long and one reed broad, and the space between the guardrooms or lodges was five cubits. And the threshold of the gate by the porch or vestibule of the gateway within was one reed.
8 He measured also the porch or vestibule of the gate toward the house [of the Lord], one reed.

9 Then he measured the porch or vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and its posts or jambs, two cubits. And the porch or vestibule of the gate was inside [toward the house of the Lord].
10 And the guardrooms or lodges of the east gateway were three on this side and three on that side; the three were the same size, and the posts or jambs were the same size on either side.

11 And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gateway, ten cubits, and the length of the gateway, thirteen cubits.
12 And a border or barrier before the guardrooms was one cubit on this side, and a border or barrier, one cubit on that side. And the guardrooms or lodges were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side.
13 And the man [an angel] measured the gate from the outer wall of one chamber or guardroom to the outer wall of another—a breadth of twenty-five cubits from door to door.

14 And the open part of the porch or vestibule of the gateway on the outside was twenty cubits, the chambers or guardrooms of the gate being round about.
15 And including this porch or vestibule of the gate on the outside and the porch or vestibule on the inside, the extent was fifty cubits.
16 And there were closed windows to the guardrooms or chambers and to their posts or pillars within the gate round about, and likewise to the archway or vestibule; and windows were round about facing into the court, and upon each post or pillar were palm tree [decorations].

17 Then he brought me into the outward court, and behold, there were chambers and a pavement round about the court; thirty chambers fronted on the pavement.
18 And the pavement was along by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gateways; this was the lower pavement.
19 Then the man measured the distance from the inner front before the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, a hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north.

20 And the gate of the outward court which faced the north, of it he measured both the length and the breadth.
21 And its guardrooms or lodges, three on this side and three on that side, and its posts or pillars and archway or vestibule were the same size as those of the first gate; the length was fifty cubits and the breadth twenty-five cubits.

22 And its windows and its archway or vestibule and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faces toward the east. It was reached by going up seven steps, and the archway of its vestibule was on the inner side.

23 Opposite the gate on the north and on the east was a gate to the inner court, and he [the man with the measuring rod of reed] measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.
24 After that the man brought me toward the south, and behold, there was a gate on the south, and he measured its posts or pillars and its archway or vestibule; they measured as the others did.

25 And there were windows round about in it and in its archway or vestibule, like those windows in the other gateways; its length was fifty cubits and its breadth twenty-five cubits.
26 And there were seven steps going up to the gate, and its archway or vestibule was on the inside. And it had palm trees, one on this side and another on that side, carved on its posts or pillars.
27 And there was a gate to the inner court on the south, and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, a hundred cubits.

28 And the man [an angel] brought me into the inner court by the south gate, and he measured the south gate; its measurements were the same as those of the other gateways.
29 And its guardrooms or chambers and its posts or pillars and its archway or vestibule measured as did the others. And there were windows in the gateway and in its archway or vestibule round about; its length was fifty cubits and its breadth twenty-five cubits.

30 And there was an archway or a vestibule round about, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide.
31 And its [arched] vestibule faced the outer court; and palm trees were carved upon its posts or pillars, and the steps going up to it were eight.

32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east and he measured the gate; it measured the same as the others.
33 And its guardrooms or chambers and its posts or pillars and its archway or vestibule measured as did the others. And there were windows in it and in its [arched] vestibule round about; the gateway was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
34 And its [arched] vestibule faced the outer court; and palm trees were carved upon its posts or pillars on either side, and the steps leading to it were eight.

35 And the man [an angel] brought me to the north gate and measured it; the measurements were the same as those of the other gates.

36 Its guardrooms or chambers, its posts or pillars, its [arched] vestibule, and the windows to it round about [were of the same size as the others]. The length of the gateway was fifty cubits and the width was twenty-five cubits.
37 And its posts or pillars were toward the outer court, and palm trees were carved upon them on either side. And the approach to it had eight steps.

38 There was an attached chamber with its door beside the posts or pillars of the gates where the burnt offering was to be washed.
39 And in the porch or vestibule of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to slay the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass or guilt offering.
40 And on the one side without, as one goes up to the entrance of the gate to the north, were two tables; and on the other side at the vestibule of the gate were two tables.

41 Four tables were on the inside and four tables on the outside of the side of the gate, eight tables upon which the sacrifices were to be slain.

42 Moreover, there were four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high. Upon them were to be laid the instruments with which were slain the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
43 And slabs or hooks a handbreadth long were fastened within [the room] round about. Upon the tables was to be placed the flesh of the offering.

44 Then the man [an angel] led me [from without] into the inner court, and behold, there were two chambers in the inner court: one beside the north gate but facing the south, and one beside the south gate but looking toward the north.
45 And the man [an angel who was guiding me] said, This chamber with its view to the south is for the priests who have charge of the house [of the Lord],

46 And the chamber with its view to the north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who alone among the sons of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to Him.
47 And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was in front of the house [of the Lord].

48 Then he brought me to the porch or vestibule of the temple proper, and he measured each post or pillar of the porch, five cubits on either side. And the width of the gate was three cubits for this [leaf] and three cubits for that one.
49 And the length of the porch or vestibule was twenty cubits and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps by which it was reached, and there were two pillars standing on the posts [as bases] or beside them, one on either side of the entrance.


Ezekiel Chapter 41

AND the man [an angel] brought me to [the Holy Place of] the temple and measured the wall pillars, six cubits broad on one side [of the ten-cubit door] and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle or tent [later called the temple].

2 And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits, and the leaves of the door were five cubits on the one side and five cubits on the other side; and he measured its length, forty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits.

3 Then the man [being an angel, and unrestricted] went inside [the inner room, but went alone] and measured each post of the door, two cubits, the doorway, six cubits, and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits. [Heb. 9:6, 7; 10:19-25.]
4 And he measured the length [of the interior of the second room] in the temple proper, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits; and he [came out and] said to me, This is the Most Holy Place (the Holy of Holies).

5 Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick [to accommodate side chambers]; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the temple proper on every side.

6 These side chambers were three stories high, one over another and thirty in each story; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold of the wall [of the house], but they did not have hold of the wall of the temple.

7 And the side rooms became broader as they encompassed the temple higher and higher, for the encircling of the house went higher and higher round about the temple; therefore the breadth of the house continued upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the highest one by way of the middle story [on a winding stairway].
8 I saw also that the temple had an elevation or foundation platform round about it. The foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed measure of six long cubits.

9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side chamber was five cubits, as was the width of that part of the foundation that was left free of the side chambers that belonged to the house.
10 And between [the free space of the foundation platform and] the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits round about the temple on every side.

11 And the doors of the attached side chambers opened on the free space that was left, one door toward the north and another door toward the south; and the breadth of the space on the foundation platform that was left free was five cubits round about.
12 And the building that faced the temple yard on the west side was seventy cubits broad, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and its length ninety cubits.

13 And the man [an angel in my vision] measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; and the yard and the building with its walls, a hundred cubits long;
14 Also the breadth of the east front of the temple and the yard, a hundred cubits.
15 Then the man [an angel] measured the length of the building on the west side of the yard with its walls on either side, a hundred cubits. The Holy Place of the temple, the inner Holy of Holies, and the outer vestibule.

16 Were roofed over, and all three had latticed windows all around. The inside walls of the temple were paneled with wood round about from the floor up to the windows and from the windows to the roof,
17 Including the space above the door leading to the inner room, inside and out. And on the walls round about in the inner room and the Holy Place were carvings,
18 With figures of cherubim and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces,
19 So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made this way through all the house round about.

20 From the floor to above the entrance were cherubim and palm trees made, and also on the wall of the temple [the Holy Place].
21 The door frames of the temple were squared, and in front [outside of the sanctuary or Holy of Holies] was what appeared to be
22 An altar of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long [and wide]; and its corners, its base, and its sides were of wood. And the man [an angel] said to me, This is the table that is before the Lord.

23 And the temple or Holy Place and the sanctuary or Holy of Holies, had two doors [one for each of them].
24 And the doors had two leaves apiece, two folding leaves—two leaves for the one door and two leaves for the other door.
25 And there were carved on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like those carved upon the walls; and there was also a canopy of wood in front of the porch outside.

26 And there were recessed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side of the porch. Thus were the side chambers and the canopies of the house.


Ezekiel Chapter 42

THEN the man [an angel] brought me forth into the outer court northward, and he brought me to the attached chambers that were opposite the temple yard and were opposite the building on the north.
2 Before the long side of one hundred cubits was the door toward the north, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
3 Adjoining the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was balcony facing balcony in three stories.

4 And before the attached chambers was a walk inward of ten cubits breadth and a hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north.
5 Now the upper chambers were shorter, for the balconies took off from these more than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.

6 For they were in three stories, but did not have pillars as the pillars of the [outer] court; therefore the upper chambers were set back more than the lower and the middle ones from the ground.

7 And the wall or fence that was outside, opposite and parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, was fifty cubits long,
8 For the length of the [combined] chambers that were on the outer court was fifty cubits, while [the length] of those opposite the temple was a hundred cubits.

9 And under these chambers was the entrance on the east side, as one approached them from the outer court.
10 In the breadth of the wall of the court going toward the east, before the yard and before the building, were the chambers
11 With a passage before them that gave the appearance of the attached chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with similar exits and arrangements and doors.

12 And like the doors of the chambers that were toward the south there was an entrance at the head of the way, the way before the dividing wall toward the east, as one enters them.

13 Then said the man [an angel] to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are opposite the yard, are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings; there shall they lay the most holy things—the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass or guilt offering—for the place is holy.

14 When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court unless they lay aside there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy, separate, and set apart. They shall put on other garments before they approach that which is for the people.

15 Now when he had finished measuring the inner temple area, he brought me forth toward the gate which faces east and measured it [the outer area] round about.

16 He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.
17 He measured the north side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.
18 He measured the south side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

19 He turned about to the west side and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
20 He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall round about, the length five hundred reeds and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy [the temple proper] and that which was common [the outer area].