The Daily Audio Bible
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11 The Lord said to me: Don’t pray for the safety of these people. 12 When they fast, I won’t pay attention to their pleas, and when they offer entirely burned offerings and grain offerings, I won’t accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.
13 I replied, “Lord God, the prophets are telling them: ‘You won’t see war or famine, for I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”
14 Then the Lord said to me: The prophets are telling lies in my name. I haven’t sent them. I haven’t commanded them. I haven’t spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, worthless predictions, and deceit they have made up on their own. 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord proclaims concerning the prophets who are speaking in my name when I didn’t send them, and who are telling you that war or famine will never come to this land: Those very prophets will die in war and by famine! 16 And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one to bury them or their wives and children. I will pour out on them their own wickedness.
17 So deliver this word to them:
My eyes well up with tears;
I can’t stop weeping—day and night,
because my virgin daughter, my people,
has suffered a crushing blow
and is mortally wounded.
18 If I go into the fields,
I see only the slain in battle.
If I enter the city,
I see only those suffering from famine.
Even both prophet and priest
wander about aimlessly in ignorance.
19 Have you completely rejected Judah?
Do you hate Zion?
Why then have you mortally wounded us?
We look for peace,
but nothing good comes of it;
for a time of healing,
only to be terrorized.
20 We acknowledge our sin, Lord,
the wrongdoing of our ancestors,
because we have sinned against you.
21 For your name’s sake, don’t reject us,
don’t scorn your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us;
don’t break it.
22 Can any of the false gods of the nations make it rain?
Can the sky by itself bring showers?
Aren’t you the Lord, our God?
You are our hope,
since only you can do such things.
Lamenting Jerusalem’s dire circumstances
15 The Lord said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, I wouldn’t change my mind about these people. Send them away from me. Let them go! 2 And if they say, “Go where?” tell them, This is what the Lord proclaims:
Those marked for death—to death,
those marked for war—to war,
those marked for famine—to famine, and those marked for exile—to exile.
3 I will appoint over them four agents[a] of death, declares the Lord: soldiers to kill, dogs to drag off, and vultures and wild animals to devour and destroy. 4 Because of what Judah’s King Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, has done in Jerusalem, I will make them an object of horror to all nations on earth.
5 Who will pity you, Jerusalem?
Who will shed tears over you?
Who will stop and ask how you’re doing?
6 You have deserted me,
declares the Lord.
You have turned your back on me.
So I will turn my hand against you
and destroy you.
I’m tired of holding back.
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the gates of their country.
I will bereave and destroy my people
because they haven’t changed their ways.
8 Their widows will outnumber
the sand on the shore.
I will bring a destroyer in broad daylight
against the mothers of young men.[b]
Suddenly I will bring distress
and terror upon them.
9 The mother of seven
will grow weak and gasp for air;
her sun will set while it is yet day;
she will be ashamed and disgraced.
I will deliver the survivors to the sword,
to the power of their enemies,
declares the Lord.
10 I wish I had never been born! I have become a source of conflict and dissension in my own country. Even though I haven’t lent or borrowed, still everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said:
Haven’t I taken care of you?
Haven’t I helped you with your enemies
in time of trouble and distress?[c]
12 Can a person shatter iron,
iron from the north, or bronze?
13 Your wealth and belongings
I will deliver as plunder,
without a fee,
because of all your sins
throughout your territory.
14 I will make you serve your enemies
in a land you don’t know,
for my anger blazes like a fire
that won’t go out.
15 You understand, Lord!
Remember me and act on my behalf.
Bring judgment on those who torment me.
In your mercy, spare my life.[d]
Consider how I’m insulted on your account.
16 When your words turned up, I feasted on them;
and they became my joy, the delight of my heart,
because I belong to you,
Lord God of heavenly forces.
17 I didn’t join the festive occasions;
I took no delight in them.
I sat alone
because your hand was upon me
and you had filled me with curses.
18 Why am I always in pain?
Why is my wound incurable,
so far beyond healing?
You have become for me as unreliable
as a spring gone dry!
19 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
If you return to me, I will take you back
and let you stand before me.
If you utter what is worthwhile,
not what is worthless,
you will be my spokesman.
They will turn to you,
not you to them!
20 I will make you a sturdy bronze wall
against these people.
They will attack you,
but they won’t triumph,
because I am with you
to protect and rescue you,
declares the Lord.
21 I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked;
I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.
Loss of hope
16 The Lord’s word came to me: 2 Don’t marry or have children in this place. 3 This is what the Lord proclaims concerning children who are born in this place and their mothers and fathers who give birth to them in this place:
4 They will die of horrible diseases.
No one will mourn for them or bury them.
They will be like refuse lying on the ground.
They will die from the sword and by famine,
and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals.
5 This is what the Lord says:
Don’t enter a house where there is mourning;
don’t grieve or lament for them,
for I have taken away my blessing, kindness, and mercy from this people,
declares the Lord.
6 From the least to the greatest,
all will die in this land,
and there will be no funerals or time of mourning.
No one will gash themselves in grief
or shave their heads in sorrow.
7 No one will bring food[e] for the mourner
as comfort for the dead.
No one will offer a cup of consolation
for the loss of father or mother.
8 Don’t enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
Before your very eyes and in your own lifetime, I will silence in this place the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride.
10 When you proclaim all these things to the people, and they ask you, “Why has the Lord pronounced such massive devastation against us? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against the Lord our God?” 11 then you should tell them: It’s because your ancestors have deserted me and followed other gods, declares the Lord. They have served and worshipped them, while abandoning me and refusing to keep my Instruction. 12 And you, you have acted worse than your ancestors, each of you following your own willful, evil hearts and paying no attention to me. 13 So I will banish you from this land to a place that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.
14 But the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt”; 15 instead, they will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them.” I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.
9 You remember, brothers and sisters, our efforts and hard work. We preached God’s good news to you, while we worked night and day so we wouldn’t be a burden on any of you. 10 You and God are witnesses of how holy, just, and blameless we were toward you believers. 11 Likewise, you know how we treated each of you like a father treats his own children. 12 We appealed to you, encouraged you, and pleaded with you to live lives worthy of the God who is calling you into his own kingdom and glory.
How the Thessalonians received God’s message
13 We also thank God constantly for this: when you accepted God’s word that you heard from us, you welcomed it for what it truly is. Instead of accepting it as a human message, you accepted it as God’s message, and it continues to work in you who are believers. 14 Brothers and sisters, you became imitators of the churches of God in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus. This was because you also suffered the same things from your own people as they did from the Jews. 15 They killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They don’t please God, and they are hostile to the entire human race 16 when they try to stop us from speaking to the Gentiles so they can be saved. Their sins are constantly pushing the limit.[a] God’s wrath has caught up with them in the end.
Paul’s desire to visit
17 Brothers and sisters, we were separated from you for a while physically but not in our hearts. We made every effort in our desire to see you again face-to-face. 18 We wanted to come to you—I, Paul, tried over and over again—and Satan stopped us. 19 What is our hope, joy, or crown that we can brag about in front of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Isn’t it all of you? 20 You are our glory and joy!
3 So when we couldn’t stand it any longer, we thought it was a good idea to stay on in Athens by ourselves, 2 and we sent you Timothy, who is our brother and God’s coworker in the good news about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faithfulness. 3 We didn’t want any of you to be shaken by these problems. You know very well that we were meant to go through this. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept on predicting that we were going to face problems exactly like what happened, as you know. 5 That’s why I sent Timothy to find out about your faithfulness when I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was worried that the tempter might have tempted you so that our work would have been a waste of time.
Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians
6 Now Timothy has returned to us from you and has given us good news about your faithfulness and love! He says that you always have good memories about us and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you. 7 Because of this, brothers and sisters, we were encouraged in all our distress and trouble through your faithfulness. 8 For now we are alive if you are standing your ground in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you, given all the joy we have because of you before our God? 10 Night and day, we pray more than ever to see all of you in person and to complete whatever you still need for your faith. 11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus guide us on our way back to you. 12 May the Lord cause you to increase and enrich your love for each other and for everyone in the same way as we also love you. 13 May the love cause your hearts to be strengthened, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his people. Amen.
Psalm 80
For the music leader. According to “Lotus Blossoms.” A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen!
You, the one who leads Joseph as if he were a sheep.
You, who are enthroned upon the winged heavenly creatures.
Show yourself 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh!
Wake up your power!
Come to save us!
3 Restore us, God!
Make your face shine so that we can be saved!
4 Lord God of heavenly forces,
how long will you fume against your people’s prayer?
5 You’ve fed them bread made of tears;
you’ve given them tears to drink three times over!
6 You’ve put us at odds with our neighbors;
our enemies make fun of us.
7 Restore us, God of heavenly forces!
Make your face shine so that we can be saved!
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt.
You drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
then it planted its roots deep, filling the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shade;
the mighty cedars were covered by its branches.
11 It sent its branches all the way to the sea;
its shoots went all the way to the Euphrates River.[a]
12 So why have you now torn down its walls
so that all who come along can pluck its fruit,
13 so that any boar from the forest can tear it up,
so that the bugs can feed on it?
14 Please come back, God of heavenly forces!
Look down from heaven and perceive it!
Attend to this vine,
15 this root that you planted with your strong hand,
this son whom you secured as your very own.
16 It is burned with fire. It is chopped down.
They die at the rebuke coming from you.
17 Let your hand be with the one on your right side—
with the one whom you secured as your own—
18 then we will not turn away from you!
Revive us so that we can call on your name.
19 Restore us, Lord God of heavenly forces!
Make your face shine so that we can be saved!
More proverbs of Solomon
25 These are also proverbs of Solomon, copied by the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah:
2 It is the glory of God to hide something
and the glory of kings to discover something.
3 Like the high heavens and the depths of the earth,
so the mind of a king is unsearchable.
4 Remove the dross from the silver,
and a vessel will come out for the refiner.
5 Remove the wicked from the king’s presence,
and his throne will be established in righteousness.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible