Month: January 2024

“Lord, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed. We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive. Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but given no rest. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive. Our ancestors sinned, but they have died – and we are suffering for the punishment they deserved! ” (vv. 1-7, NLT)

“But Lord, You remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation. Why do You continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long? Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to You again! Give us back the joys we once had! Or have You utterly rejected us? Are You still angry with us still?” (vv. 19-22, NLT)

“Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we, mere humans complain when we are punished for our sins?

Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, ‘We have sinned and rebelled, and You have not forgiven us.'” (vv. 37-42, NLT)

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful tie, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!’

The Lord is good to those who search for Him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of His discipline:

Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.” (vv. 19-30, NLT)

“The Lord is right,” Jerusalem says, “for I rebelled against Him. Listen, people everywhere; look upon my anguish and despair, for my sons and daughters have been taken captive to distant lands.

I begged my allies for help, but they betrayed me. My priests and leaders starved to death in the city, even as they searched for food to save their lives.

Lord, see my anguish! My heart is broken and my soul despairs, for I have rebelled against You. In the streets the sword kills, and a thom there is only death.” (vv. 18-20, NLT)

“Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the Lord’s fierce anger. But do not panic; don’t be afraid when. you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For the rumors will keep coming year by year. Violence will erupt in the land as the leaders fight against each other. For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols. Her whole land will be disgraced, and her dead will lie in the streets. Then the heavens will rejoice, for our of the north will come destroying armies against Babylon,” says the Lord.”

“Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel and others throughout the world, so must her people be killed. Get out, all of you who have escaped the sword! Do not stand and watch – flee while you can! Remember the Lord, though you are in a far-off land, and think about your home in Jerusalem.” (vv 45-50, NLT)

“In those coming days,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel will return home together with the people of Judah. They will come weeping and seeking the Lord, their God. The will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the Lord with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.” (vv. 4-5, NLT)

“The Lord gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. This is what the Lord says:

‘Tell the whole world, and keep nothing back. Raise a signal flag to tell everyone that Babylon will fall! Her images and idols will be shattered. Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced. For a nation will attack her from the north and bring such destruction that no one will live there again. Everything will be gone; both people and animals will flee.” (vv. 1-3, NLT)

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel says: ‘I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too and all who trust in him. I will hand them over to those who want them killed – to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. But afterward the land will recover from the rages of war. I, the Lord, have spoken!

‘But do not be afraid Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them. Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, for I am with you,’says the Lord. ‘I will completely destroy the nations to which I have exiled you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.'” (vv 25-28, NLT)

“The prophet Jeremiah gave a message to Baruch sone of Neriah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, after Baruch had written down everything Jeremiah had dictated to him. He said,’This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says to you, Baruch: You have said, ‘I am overwhelmed with trouble! Haven’t I had enough pain already? And now the Lord has added more! I am worn out from sighing and can find on rest.’

Baruch, this is what the Lord says:’I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted. Are you seeking great thing for yourself? Don’t do it! I will bring great disaster upon all these people; but I will give you your life as a reward wherever you go. I, the Lord, has spoken.'”

“When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the Lord their God to all the people, Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, ‘You lie! The Lord our God hasn’t forbidden us to go to Egypt! Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, because he wants to stay in Judah. Johanan and thd other leaders took with them all the people who had returned from the nearby countries to which they had fled. In the crowd were men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah. The prophet, Jeremiah and Baruch were also included. The people refused to obey the lord and went to Egypt, going as far as the city of Taphanhes.” (vv 1-7, NLT)