Today's Reading

¹The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

²Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

³"Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!

⁴Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

⁵Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled in haste, and do not look back: terror is on every side," says the Lord.

⁶"Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

⁷Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?

⁸Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he says, 'I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.'

⁹Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰For that day is of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, the Lord of hosts, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

¹¹Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.

¹²The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together."

¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴"Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, 'Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.'

¹⁵Why are your strong ones swept away? They did not stand, because the Lord pushed them.

¹⁶He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, 'Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.'

¹⁷They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.'"

¹⁸"As I live," says the King, "whose name is the Lord of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

¹⁹You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.

²⁰Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come, it has come.

²¹Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.

²²The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.

²³They shall cut down her forest, says the Lord, though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.

²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be disappointed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north."

²⁵"The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him:

²⁶and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old,' says the Lord.

²⁷'But do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

²⁸Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant,' says the Lord; 'for I am with you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.'"

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza.

²"Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.

³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers do not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;

⁴because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains: for the Lord will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?

⁶You sword of the Lord, "how long will it be before you be quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard; rest, and be still."

⁷How can you be quiet, since the Lord has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there has he appointed it.'"

¹Of Moab. "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disappointed, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down.

²The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: "Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation." You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you.

³The sound of a cry from Horonaim, "desolation and great destruction!"

⁴Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

⁵For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

⁶"Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness."

⁷For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

⁸The destroyer shall come on every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as the Lord has spoken.

⁹Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.'

¹⁰Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.

¹¹'Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.

¹²Therefore behold, the days come,' says the Lord, 'that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.

¹³Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.

¹⁴How can you say, "We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?"

¹⁵Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter,' says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.

¹⁷All you who are around him, bemoan him, and all you who know his name; say, "How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!"

¹⁸You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, "What has been done?"

²⁰"Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste."

²¹Judgment has come on the plain country, on Holon, and on Jahzah, and on Mephaath,

²²and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth Diblathaim,

²³and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth Gamul, and on Beth Meon,

²⁴and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,' says the Lord.

²⁶'Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against the Lord: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

²⁷For wasn't Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.

²⁸You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his wrath,' says the Lord, 'that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing.

³¹Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn.

³²With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen.

³³Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting.

³⁴From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.

³⁵Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,' says the Lord, 'him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.

³⁶Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished.

³⁷For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth.

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights,' says the Lord.

³⁹How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.'

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord: 'Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

⁴²Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the Lord.

⁴³Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord.

⁴⁴He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation,' says the Lord.

⁴⁵'Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days,' says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab."

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,

²and to Apphia our sister, to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

⁵hearing of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints;

⁶that the fellowship of your faith may become effective, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us in Christ.

⁷For I have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

⁸Therefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate,

⁹yet for love's sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

¹⁰I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,

¹¹who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.

¹²I am sending back to you, him who is my very heart,

¹³whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.

¹⁴But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.

¹⁵For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever,

¹⁶no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.

¹⁸But if he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, put that to my account.

¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides).

²⁰Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say.

²²Also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,

²⁴as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.