The Gospel of Mark (Part Six)

The Story of the Bible

A Christian Christmas

How to Practice Gratitude in the Midst of Waiting by Wycliffe Bible Translators

Grace With a Taste of Cinnamon

Does the Devil Know Your Name? A 10-Day Brave Coaches Journey

The Advent of HOPE and the Object of Our Faith.

Hidden: A Devotional for Teen Girls

Decide to Be Bold: A 10-Day Brave Coaches Journey

Light Has Come

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Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">35</div><div class="s1">The Rekabites</div><div class="p"> 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2&#8220;Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons&#8212;the whole family of the Rekabites. 4I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. 5Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, &#8220;Drink some wine.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6But they replied, &#8220;We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab#35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant of Jehonadab; here and often in this chapter son of Rekab gave us this command: &#8216;Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. 7Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.&#8217; 8We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. 10We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. 11But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, &#8216;Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian#35:11 Or Chaldean and Aramean armies.&#8217; So we have remained in Jerusalem.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13&#8220;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, &#8216;Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?&#8217; declares the Lord. 14&#8216;Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather&#8217;s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, &#8220;Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.&#8221; But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, &#8220;This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.&#8217; 19Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
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 <div class="label">36</div><div class="s1">Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah&#8217;s Scroll</div><div class="p"> 1In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2&#8220;Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5Then Jeremiah told Baruch, &#8220;I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord&#8217;s temple. 6So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord&#8217;s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. 9In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. 10From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord&#8217;s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.</div><div class="p"> 11When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12he went down to the secretary&#8217;s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, 14all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, &#8220;Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.&#8221; So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. 15They said to him, &#8220;Sit down, please, and read it to us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So Baruch read it to them. 16When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, &#8220;We must report all these words to the king.&#8221; 17Then they asked Baruch, &#8220;Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Baruch replied, &#8220;he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Then the officials said to Baruch, &#8220;You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don&#8217;t let anyone know where you are.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. 21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe&#8217;s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.</div><div class="p"> 27After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah&#8217;s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28&#8220;Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. 29Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, &#8220;Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?&#8221; 30Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJER">
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 <div class="label">37</div><div class="s1">Jeremiah in Prison</div><div class="p"> 1Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin#37:1 Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.</div><div class="p"> 3King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: &#8220;Please pray to the Lord our God for us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5Pharaoh&#8217;s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians#37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14 who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.</div><div class="p"> 6Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7&#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, &#8216;Pharaoh&#8217;s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. 8Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, &#8216;The Babylonians will surely leave us.&#8217; They will not! 10Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian#37:10 Or Chaldean; also in verse 11 army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh&#8217;s army, 12Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. 13But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, &#8220;You are deserting to the Babylonians!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;That&#8217;s not true!&#8221; Jeremiah said. &#8220;I am not deserting to the Babylonians.&#8221; But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.</div><div class="p"> 16Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. 17Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, &#8220;Is there any word from the Lord?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Jeremiah replied, &#8220;you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, &#8220;What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, &#8216;The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land&#8217;? 20But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">38</div><div class="s1">Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern</div><div class="p"> 1Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal#38:1 Hebrew Jukal, a variant of Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2&#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians#38:2 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 18, 19 and 23 will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.&#8217; 3And this is what the Lord says: &#8216;This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Then the officials said to the king, &#8220;This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;He is in your hands,&#8221; King Zedekiah answered. &#8220;The king can do nothing to oppose you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king&#8217;s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.</div><div class="p"> 7But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite,#38:7 Probably from the upper Nile region an official#38:7 Or a eunuch in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, 9&#8220;My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, &#8220;Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, &#8220;Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.&#8221; Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.</div><div class="s1">Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again</div><div class="p"> 14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. &#8220;I am going to ask you something,&#8221; the king said to Jeremiah. &#8220;Do not hide anything from me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, &#8220;If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: &#8220;As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, &#8220;This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. 18But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;They will not hand you over,&#8221; Jeremiah replied. &#8220;Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: 22All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;They misled you and overcame you&#8212;</div><div class="q2">those trusted friends of yours.</div><div class="q1">Your feet are sunk in the mud;</div><div class="q2">your friends have deserted you.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 23&#8220;All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will#38:23 Or and you will cause this city to be burned down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, &#8220;Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. 25If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, &#8216;Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,&#8217; 26then tell them, &#8216;I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan&#8217;s house to die there.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.</div><div class="p"> 28And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.</div><div class="s1">The Fall of Jerusalem</div><div class="p">This is how Jerusalem was taken:</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">45</div><div class="s1">A Message to Baruch</div><div class="p"> 1When Baruch son of Neriah wrote on a scroll the words Jeremiah the prophet dictated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah said this to Baruch: 2&#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: 3You said, &#8216;Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.&#8217; 4But the Lord has told me to say to you, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. 5Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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 <div class="label">46</div><div class="s1">A Message About Egypt</div><div class="p"> 1This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2Concerning Egypt:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:</div><div class="q1"> 3&#8220;Prepare your shields, both large and small,</div><div class="q2">and march out for battle!</div><div class="q1"> 4Harness the horses,</div><div class="q2">mount the steeds!</div><div class="q1">Take your positions</div><div class="q2">with helmets on!</div><div class="q1">Polish your spears,</div><div class="q2">put on your armor!</div><div class="q1"> 5What do I see?</div><div class="q2">They are terrified,</div><div class="q1">they are retreating,</div><div class="q2">their warriors are defeated.</div><div class="q1">They flee in haste</div><div class="q2">without looking back,</div><div class="q2">and there is terror on every side,&#8221;</div><div class="q4">declares the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 6&#8220;The swift cannot flee</div><div class="q2">nor the strong escape.</div><div class="q1">In the north by the River Euphrates</div><div class="q2">they stumble and fall.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 7&#8220;Who is this that rises like the Nile,</div><div class="q2">like rivers of surging waters?</div><div class="q1"> 8Egypt rises like the Nile,</div><div class="q2">like rivers of surging waters.</div><div class="q1">She says, &#8216;I will rise and cover the earth;</div><div class="q2">I will destroy cities and their people.&#8217;</div><div class="q1"> 9Charge, you horses!</div><div class="q2">Drive furiously, you charioteers!</div><div class="q1">March on, you warriors&#8212;men of Cush#46:9 That is, the upper Nile region and Put who carry shields,</div><div class="q2">men of Lydia who draw the bow.</div><div class="q1"> 10But that day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty&#8212;</div><div class="q2">a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes.</div><div class="q1">The sword will devour till it is satisfied,</div><div class="q2">till it has quenched its thirst with blood.</div><div class="q1">For the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will offer sacrifice</div><div class="q2">in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 11&#8220;Go up to Gilead and get balm,</div><div class="q2">Virgin Daughter Egypt.</div><div class="q1">But you try many medicines in vain;</div><div class="q2">there is no healing for you.</div><div class="q1"> 12The nations will hear of your shame;</div><div class="q2">your cries will fill the earth.</div><div class="q1">One warrior will stumble over another;</div><div class="q2">both will fall down together.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt:</div><div class="q1"> 14&#8220;Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;</div><div class="q2">proclaim it also in Memphis and Tahpanhes:</div><div class="q1">&#8216;Take your positions and get ready,</div><div class="q2">for the sword devours those around you.&#8217;</div><div class="q1"> 15Why will your warriors be laid low?</div><div class="q2">They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down.</div><div class="q1"> 16They will stumble repeatedly;</div><div class="q2">they will fall over each other.</div><div class="q1">They will say, &#8216;Get up, let us go back</div><div class="q2">to our own people and our native lands,</div><div class="q2">away from the sword of the oppressor.&#8217;</div><div class="q1"> 17There they will exclaim,</div><div class="q2">&#8216;Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise;</div><div class="q2">he has missed his opportunity.&#8217;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 18&#8220;As surely as I live,&#8221; declares the King,</div><div class="q2">whose name is the Lord Almighty,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains,</div><div class="q2">like Carmel by the sea.</div><div class="q1"> 19Pack your belongings for exile,</div><div class="q2">you who live in Egypt,</div><div class="q1">for Memphis will be laid waste</div><div class="q2">and lie in ruins without inhabitant.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 20&#8220;Egypt is a beautiful heifer,</div><div class="q2">but a gadfly is coming</div><div class="q2">against her from the north.</div><div class="q1"> 21The mercenaries in her ranks</div><div class="q2">are like fattened calves.</div><div class="q1">They too will turn and flee together,</div><div class="q2">they will not stand their ground,</div><div class="q1">for the day of disaster is coming upon them,</div><div class="q2">the time for them to be punished.</div><div class="q1"> 22Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent</div><div class="q2">as the enemy advances in force;</div><div class="q1">they will come against her with axes,</div><div class="q2">like men who cut down trees.</div><div class="q1"> 23They will chop down her forest,&#8221;</div><div class="q4">declares the Lord,</div><div class="q2">&#8220;dense though it be.</div><div class="q1">They are more numerous than locusts,</div><div class="q2">they cannot be counted.</div><div class="q1"> 24Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,</div><div class="q2">given into the hands of the people of the north.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: &#8220;I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh. 26I will give them into the hands of those who want to kill them&#8212;Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 27&#8220;Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;</div><div class="q2">do not be dismayed, Israel.</div><div class="q1">I will surely save you out of a distant place,</div><div class="q2">your descendants from the land of their exile.</div><div class="q1">Jacob will again have peace and security,</div><div class="q2">and no one will make him afraid.</div><div class="q1"> 28Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant,</div><div class="q2">for I am with you,&#8221; declares the Lord.</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Though I completely destroy all the nations</div><div class="q2">among which I scatter you,</div><div class="q2">I will not completely destroy you.</div><div class="q1">I will discipline you but only in due measure;</div><div class="q2">I will not let you go entirely unpunished.&#8221;</div>
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 <div class="label">47</div><div class="s1">A Message About the Philistines</div><div class="p"> 1This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2This is what the Lord says:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;See how the waters are rising in the north;</div><div class="q2">they will become an overflowing torrent.</div><div class="q1">They will overflow the land and everything in it,</div><div class="q2">the towns and those who live in them.</div><div class="q1">The people will cry out;</div><div class="q2">all who dwell in the land will wail</div><div class="q1"> 3at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,</div><div class="q2">at the noise of enemy chariots</div><div class="q2">and the rumble of their wheels.</div><div class="q1">Parents will not turn to help their children;</div><div class="q2">their hands will hang limp.</div><div class="q1"> 4For the day has come</div><div class="q2">to destroy all the Philistines</div><div class="q1">and to remove all survivors</div><div class="q2">who could help Tyre and Sidon.</div><div class="q1">The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,</div><div class="q2">the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.#47:4 That is, Crete</div><div class="q1"> 5Gaza will shave her head in mourning;</div><div class="q2">Ashkelon will be silenced.</div><div class="q1">You remnant on the plain,</div><div class="q2">how long will you cut yourselves?</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 6&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Alas, sword of the Lord,</div><div class="q2">how long till you rest?</div><div class="q1">Return to your sheath;</div><div class="q2">cease and be still.&#8217;</div><div class="q1"> 7But how can it rest</div><div class="q2">when the Lord has commanded it,</div><div class="q1">when he has ordered it</div><div class="q2">to attack Ashkelon and the coast?&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="EZK.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">Ezekiel&#8217;s Inaugural Vision</div><div class="p"> 1In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.</div><div class="p"> 2On the fifth of the month&#8212;it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin&#8212; 3the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians.#1:3 Or Chaldeans There the hand of the Lord was on him.</div><div class="p"> 4I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north&#8212;an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.</div><div class="p"> 10Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.</div><div class="p"> 15As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.</div><div class="p"> 19When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.</div><div class="p"> 22Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. 23Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty,#1:24 Hebrew Shaddai like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.</div><div class="p"> 25Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.</div><div class="p">This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="EZK.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Ezekiel&#8217;s Call to Be a Prophet</div><div class="p"> 1He said to me, &#8220;Son of man,#2:1 The Hebrew phrase ben adam means human being. The phrase son of man is retained as a form of address here and throughout Ezekiel because of its possible association with &#8220;Son of Man&#8221; in the New Testament. stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.&#8221; 2As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.</div><div class="p"> 3He said: &#8220;Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says.&#8217; 5And whether they listen or fail to listen&#8212;for they are a rebellious people&#8212;they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. 7You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="EZK.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p"> 1And he said to me, &#8220;Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.&#8221; 2So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.</div><div class="p"> 3Then he said to me, &#8220;Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.&#8221; So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.</div><div class="p"> 4He then said to me: &#8220;Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. 5You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel&#8212; 6not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. 8But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 9I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10And he said to me, &#8220;Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. 11Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says,&#8217; whether they listen or fail to listen.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.#3:12 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text sound&#8212;may the glory of the Lord be praised from his place 13It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. 14The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. 15I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days&#8212;deeply distressed.</div><div class="s1">Ezekiel&#8217;s Task as Watchman</div><div class="p"> 16At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: 17&#8220;Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18When I say to a wicked person, &#8216;You will surely die,&#8217; and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for#3:18 Or in; also in verses 19 and 20 their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 21But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, &#8220;Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.&#8221; 23So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.</div><div class="p"> 24Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: &#8220;Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. 26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. 27But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says.&#8217; Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="EZK.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized</div><div class="p"> 1&#8220;Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.#4:4 Or upon your side You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. 7Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10Weigh out twenty shekels#4:10 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11Also measure out a sixth of a hin#4:11 That is, about 2/3 quart or about 0.6 liter of water and drink it at set times. 12Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.&#8221; 13The Lord said, &#8220;In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Then I said, &#8220;Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Very well,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16He then said to me: &#8220;Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, 17for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of#4:17 Or away in their sin.</div>
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