Today's Reading

¹Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

²But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of the Lord, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

³Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Pray now to the Lord our God for us."

⁴Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people; for they had not put him into prison.

⁵Pharaoh's army had come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke up from Jerusalem.

⁶Then came the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

⁷"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: "Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.

⁸The Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; and they shall take it, and burn it with fire."

⁹Thus says the Lord, "Do not deceive yourselves, saying, 'The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us'; for they shall not depart.

¹⁰For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yes would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire."'"

¹¹It happened that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,

¹²then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the midst of the people.

¹³When he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are falling away to the Chaldeans."

¹⁴Then Jeremiah said, "It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans." But he did not listen to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.

¹⁵The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.

¹⁶When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;

¹⁷Then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the Lord?" Jeremiah said, "There is." He said also, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."

¹⁸Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, "Wherein have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

¹⁹Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?

²⁰Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there."

²¹Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

¹Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, 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 the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live.'

³Thus 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.'"

⁴Then the princes said to the king, "Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn't seek the welfare of this people, but the hurt."

⁵Zedekiah the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you."

⁶Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

⁷Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),

⁸Ebedmelech went forth 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; and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city."

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies."

¹¹So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

¹²Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Put now these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords." Jeremiah did so.

¹³So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

¹⁴Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord: and the king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me."

¹⁵Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."

¹⁶So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, "As the Lord lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life."

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: 'If you will go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, and your house.

¹⁸But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape out of their hand.'"

¹⁹Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me."

²⁰But Jeremiah said, "They shall not deliver you. Obey, I beg you, the voice of the Lord, in that which I speak to you: so it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.

²¹But if you refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord has shown me:

²²behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, 'Your familiar friends have set you on, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away back.'

²³They shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans; and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire."

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no man know of these words, and you shall not die.

²⁵But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, 'Declare to us now what you have said to the king; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you':

²⁶then you shall tell them, 'I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.'"

²⁷Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.

²⁸So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

¹It happened when Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it;

²in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city),

³that all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

⁴It happened that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.

⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment on him.

⁶Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah.

⁷Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

⁸The Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the residue of the people who remained.

¹⁰But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Jeremiah, saying,

¹²"Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do to him even as he shall tell you."

¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rabsaris, and Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon;

¹⁴they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he lived among the people.

¹⁵Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

¹⁶"Go, and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will bring my words on this city for disaster, and not for prosperity; and they shall be fulfilled before you in that day.

¹⁷But I will deliver you in that day, says the Lord; and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

¹⁸For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life will be given to you as a reward; because you have put your trust in me,"' says the Lord."

¹Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

²in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began;

³but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;

⁴to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

⁵I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;

⁶if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.

⁷For the overseer must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

⁸but given to hospitality, as a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;

⁹holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.

¹⁰For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

¹¹whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain's sake.

¹²One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons."

¹³This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

¹⁴not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

¹⁶They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.

³The Lord's eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit.

⁵A fool despises his father's correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.

⁶In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but the income of the wicked brings trouble.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.

⁸The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who follows after righteousness.

¹⁰There is stern discipline for one who forsakes the way: whoever hates reproof shall die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddon are before the Lord- how much more then the hearts of the children of men!

¹²A scoffer doesn't love to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful face; but an aching heart breaks the spirit.

¹⁴The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the afflicted are wretched, but one who has a cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast.

¹⁶Better is little, with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.

¹⁷Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.

¹⁸A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.

¹⁹The way of the sluggard is like a thorn patch, but the path of the upright is a highway.

²⁰A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding keeps his way straight.

²²Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established.

²³Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth. How good is a word at the right time!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the wise, to keep him from going downward to Sheol.

²⁵The Lord will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow's borders intact.

²⁶The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the thoughts of the pure are pleasing.

²⁷He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil.

²⁹The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news gives health to the bones.

³¹The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise.

³²He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.

³³The fear of the Lord teaches wisdom. Before honor is humility.