I will give them one heart and one purpose, that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them. Jeremiah 32:39

Jeremiah 32-33

Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah Buys Hanamel’s Field

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house.

³ Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘The LORD says: I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ⁴ Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon and will speak with him face to face and eye to eye. ⁵ He will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him, says the LORD. If you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.’ ”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying: Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for in the right of redemption, it is yours to buy.’ ⁸ So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for you have the legal right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ ”

Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

⁹ I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son and weighed out the money–seventeen pieces of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the money to him in the balances.

¹¹ Then I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open, ¹² and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.

¹³ I commanded Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴ ‘The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel says, Take these deeds, this deed of purchase which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may be preserved. ¹⁵ For the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel says: Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Prayer

¹⁶ Now after I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying, ¹⁷ “O LORD God! You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

¹⁸ You show loving kindness to thousands and repay the sins of the fathers upon their children after them. The great, the mighty God, the LORD of Hosts is your name: ¹⁹ great in counsel and mighty in work, whose eyes are open to all the ways of mankind, to give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

²⁰ You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men and made yourself a name, as it is today.

²¹ You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, with wonders, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, ²² and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They came in and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice and did not walk in your law. They have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this disaster to come upon them.

²⁴ Look at the siege ramps! They have come to the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. What you have spoken has happened. You see it. ²⁵ You have said to me, LORD God, ‘Buy the field for money and call witnesses,’ whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”

Jerusalem’s Fall Confirmed

²⁶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷ “I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore the LORD says: I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. ²⁹ The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

³⁰ For from their youth, the Israelites and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight, for the Israelites have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD. ³¹ This city has been the provocation of my anger and wrath from the day that they built it to this day, so that I should remove it from before my face ³² because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger: they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³ They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. Although I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴ But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵ They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through fire to Molech, which I did not command them. It did not even enter my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”

A Promise of Restoration

³⁶ “Now therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning this city, about which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, ³⁷ I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger and wrath and indignation, and I will bring them back to this place. I will cause them to dwell safely.

³⁸ Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart and one purpose, that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them.

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do good for them. I will put fear of me in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. ⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice over them to do good for them, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.’

⁴² For the LORD says, ‘Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say: It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,’ says the LORD.”

Jeremiah 33

Restoration Promised Again

¹ Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying, ² “The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says this, ³ ‘Call to me, and I will answer you and will show you great and difficult things, which you do not know.’

⁴ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the palaces of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword, ⁵ ‘The men coming to fight with the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the dead bodies of the people whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath. For all their wickedness, I have hidden my face from this city.

⁶ Nevertheless I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them, and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. ⁷ I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and will build them, as at the first. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me.

⁹ This city will be to me a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say: It is waste, without man and without animal, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal. ¹¹ The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say:

Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts,
for the LORD is good.
His loving kindness endures forever,
who bring thanksgiving
into the house of the LORD.

For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as it was at first,’ says the LORD.”

¹² The LORD of Hosts says, “Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal and in all its cities, a place for shepherds and their flocks to lie down. ¹³ In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the LORD.”

The Covenant with David

¹⁴ “The days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will fulfill the good which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.

¹⁵ In those days and at that time,
I will cause a Branch of righteousness
to sprout up for David.
He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will dwell safely.
This is the name by which she will be called:
God our righteousness.’

¹⁷ For the LORD says: David will never lack having a man sit on the throne of the house of Israel. ¹⁸ The Levitical priests will not lack a man to offer burnt offerings before me, to burn grain offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.”

¹⁹ The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “The LORD says: ‘If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night at their appointed time, ²¹ then may my covenant also be broken with David my servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. ²² As heavens’ armies cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ”

²³ The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Do not consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has the LORD cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should no longer be a nation before them.”

²⁵ The LORD says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob and of David my servant so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them and will have compassion on them.”

1 Timothy 3

Qualifications for Overseers

¹ This is a faithful saying: someone who wants to be an overseer desires good work. ² The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching. ³ He must not be a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not covetous. ⁴ He must be one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence, ⁵ (how could someone who does not know how to rule one’s own house take care of the assembly of God?). ⁶ He must not be a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. ⁷ Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons

⁸ Deacons, in the same way, must be reverent, honest, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money, ⁹ holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. ¹⁰ Let them also first be tested, then let them serve if they are blameless. ¹¹ Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and faithful in all things. ¹² Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. ¹³ For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Godliness

¹⁴ These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly, ¹⁵ but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of the Lord, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. ¹⁶ Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great:

God was revealed in the flesh,
justified in the spirit,
seen by angels,
preached among the nations,
believed on in the world,
and received up in glory.

Psalm 88

I Have Cried Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Suffering of Affliction.” A contemplation by Heman, the Ezrahite.

¹ O LORD, the God of my salvation,
I have cried day and night before you.
² Let my prayer enter into your presence.
Turn your ear to my cry.
³ For my soul is full of troubles.
My life draws near to the grave.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down into the pit.
I am like a man who has no help,
⁵ cast away among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more.
They are cut off from your hand.

⁶ You have laid me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me.
You have afflicted me with all your waves.

Selah.

⁸ You have taken my friends from me.
You have made me an abomination to them.
I am confined, and I cannot escape.
⁹ My eyes are weak from grief.
I have called on you daily, LORD.
I have spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show wonders to the dead?
Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you?

Selah.

¹¹ Is your loving kindness declared in the grave?
Or your faithfulness in Destruction?
¹² Are your wonders made known in the dark?
Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But to you, LORD, I have cried.
In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ LORD, why do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth, I have been afflicted and ready to die.
While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has gone over me.
Your terrors have cut me off.
¹⁷ They came around me like water all day long.
They completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have put lover and friend far from me,
and my friends into darkness.

Proverbs 25:20-22

²⁰ Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart
is like one who takes away a garment in cold weather,
or pours vinegar on soda.

²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat.
If he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
²² for you will heap coals of fire on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.

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