Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

1Thus says the Lord, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word 2and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. 3Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. 5But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.” ’ ” 6For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like Gilead to Me,

Like the summit of Lebanon;

Yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness,

Like cities which are not inhabited.

7For I will set apart destroyers against you,

Each with his weapons;

And they will cut down your choicest cedars

And throw them on the fire.

8“Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?’ 9Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ”

10Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him,

But weep continually for the one who goes away;

For he will never return

Or see his native land.

11For thus says the Lord in regard to Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there; 12but in the place where they led him captive, there he will die and not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

13“Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness

And his upper rooms without justice,

Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay

And does not give him his wages,

14Who says, ‘I will build myself a roomy house

With spacious upper rooms,

And cut out its windows,

Paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.’

15Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

And do justice and righteousness?

Then it was well with him.

16He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;

Then it was well.

Is not that what it means to know Me?”

Declares the Lord.

17“But your eyes and your heart

Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain,

And on shedding innocent blood

And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

18Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,

“They will not lament for him:

‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’

They will not lament for him:

‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’

19He will be buried with a donkey’s burial,

Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And lift up your voice in Bashan;

Cry out also from Abarim,

For all your lovers have been crushed.

21I spoke to you in your prosperity;

But you said, ‘I will not listen!’

This has been your practice from your youth,

That you have not obeyed My voice.

22The wind will sweep away all your shepherds,

And your lovers will go into captivity;

Then you will surely be ashamed and humiliated

Because of all your wickedness.

23You who dwell in Lebanon,

Nested in the cedars,

How you will groan when pangs come upon you,

Pain like a woman in childbirth!

24“As I live,” declares the Lord, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; 25and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. 27But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it.

28Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?

Or is he an undesirable vessel?

Why have he and his descendants been hurled out

And cast into a land that they had not known?

29O land, land, land,

Hear the word of the Lord!

30Thus says the Lord,

‘Write this man down childless,

A man who will not prosper in his days;

For no man of his descendants will prosper

Sitting on the throne of David

Or ruling again in Judah.’ ”

The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

1“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord. 3“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

5“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and act wisely

And do justice and righteousness in the land.

6In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell securely;

And this is His name by which He will be called,

‘The Lord our righteousness.’

7“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Denounced

9As for the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of the Lord

And because of His holy words.

10For the land is full of adulterers;

For the land mourns because of the curse.

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil

And their might is not right.

11“For both prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.

12“Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them,

They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it;

For I will bring calamity upon them,

The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

13“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

14Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:

The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;

And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood

And make them drink poisonous water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’ ”

16Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are leading you into futility;

They speak a vision of their own imagination,

Not from the mouth of the Lord.

17They keep saying to those who despise Me,

‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace” ’;

And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

18But who has stood in the council of the Lord,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given heed to His word and listened?

19Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling tempest;

It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

20The anger of the Lord will not turn back

Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;

In the last days you will clearly understand it.

Thanksgiving for Faith and Perseverance

1Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; 4therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed. 11To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, 12so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

PSALM 83

God Implored to Confound His Enemies.

A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.

1O God, do not remain quiet;

Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.

2For behold, Your enemies make an uproar,

And those who hate You have exalted themselves.

3They make shrewd plans against Your people,

And conspire together against Your treasured ones.

4They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation,

That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

5For they have conspired together with one mind;

Against You they make a covenant:

6The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites;

7Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

8Assyria also has joined with them;

They have become a help to the children of Lot. Selah.

9Deal with them as with Midian,

As with Sisera and Jabin at the torrent of Kishon,

10Who were destroyed at En-dor,

Who became as dung for the ground.

11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb

And all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12Who said, “Let us possess for ourselves

The pastures of God.”

13O my God, make them like the whirling dust,

Like chaff before the wind.

14Like fire that burns the forest

And like a flame that sets the mountains on fire,

15So pursue them with Your tempest

And terrify them with Your storm.

16Fill their faces with dishonor,

That they may seek Your name, O Lord.

17Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever,

And let them be humiliated and perish,

18That they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord,

Are the Most High over all the earth.

11Like apples of gold in settings of silver

Is a word spoken in right circumstances.

12Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold

Is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

13Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest

Is a faithful messenger to those who send him,

For he refreshes the soul of his masters.

14Like clouds and wind without rain

Is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely.