Jeremiah 51:1-53
51 This is what Yahweh says:
I will stir up a destructive wind against Babylon
and against the people who live in Leb Kamai.
2 I will send people to winnow[a] Babylon,
to winnow it and strip its land bare.
They will attack it from every direction on the day of trouble.
3 Have the archers bend their bows.
Have them put on their armor.
Don’t spare Babylon’s young men.
Completely destroy its whole army.
4 Babylon’s soldiers will fall down badly wounded in their streets.
They will lie dead in their own land.
5 Israel and Judah haven’t been abandoned by their Elohim, Yahweh Tsebaoth, although their land is guilty of abandoning Qedosh Yisrael.
6 Run away from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
You shouldn’t die because of Babylon’s crimes.
This is the time for the vengeance of Yahweh.
He will pay the people of Babylon back for what they have done.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand.
It made the whole world drunk.
The nations drank its wine.
That is why the nations have gone insane.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be shattered.
Cry for it.
Bring medicine for its pain.
Maybe it can be healed.
9 We wanted to heal Babylon, but it couldn’t be healed.
Let’s abandon it and go to our own land.
Yahweh has judged Babylon.
Its judgment is complete.
10 Yahweh has brought about our victory.
Let’s announce in Zion what Yahweh our Elohim has done.
11 Sharpen the arrows; fill the quivers.
Yahweh will stir up the spirit of the kings of the Medes
because his plan is to destroy Babylon.
Yahweh will avenge his temple.
12 Raise your battle flag in front of the walls of Babylon.
Strengthen the guards.
Station watchmen.
Prepare ambushes.
Yahweh will carry out his plans
against the people who live in Babylon.
13 Babylon, you live beside many rivers and are rich with treasures,
but your end has come.
The thread of your life has been cut off.
14 Yahweh Tsebaoth has taken an oath on himself:
“I will certainly fill you with many enemy armies.
They will swarm like locusts.
People will shout their victory over you.”
15 Yahweh made the earth by his power.
He set up the world by his wisdom.
He stretched out heaven by his understanding.
16 When he thunders, the water in the sky roars.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain.
He brings wind out of his storehouses.
17 Everyone is stupid and ignorant.
Metalsmiths are put to shame by their idols.
Their statues are false gods.
18 They can’t breathe.
They are worthless jokes.
When they are punished, they will disappear.
19 Jacob’s God isn’t like them.
He made everything,
and Israel is the tribe that belongs to him.
His name is Yahweh Tsebaoth.
20 “You are my war club and my weapon for battle.
I will use you to crush nations.
I will use you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I will use you to crush horses and their riders.
I will use you to crush chariots and their drivers.
22 I will use you to crush men and women.
I will use you to crush the old and the young.
I will use you to crush young men and women.
23 I will use you to crush shepherds and their flocks.
I will use you to crush farmers and their oxen.
I will use you to crush governors and officials.
24 “In your presence I will pay back Babylon
and all the people who live in Babylon
for all the evil things that they did in Zion,”
declares Yahweh.
25 “I am against you, Babylon, you destructive mountain.
You have destroyed the whole earth,” declares Yahweh.
“I will use my power against you,
roll you off the cliffs,
and make you a scorched mountain.
26 People won’t find any stones in you to use as a cornerstone.
They won’t find any stones in you to use for a foundation.
You will become permanent ruins,” declares Yahweh.
27 Raise your battle flag throughout the world.
Blow the ram’s horn among the nations.
Prepare nations to attack Babylon.
Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack it.
Appoint a commander to lead the attack.
Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.
28 Prepare nations to attack Babylon.
Prepare the king of the Medes, their governors, all their deputies,
and all the countries that they rule.
29 The earth trembles and writhes in pain.
Yahweh carries out his plans against Babylon
to make Babylon a wasteland so that no one will live there.
30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting.
They stay in their fortified cities.
Their strength has failed. They have become women.
Their buildings are set on fire.
The bars across their gates are broken.
31 Runners run to meet runners.
Messengers follow messengers.
They inform the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured.
32 The river crossings have been taken.
The enemy has burned its marshes,
and its soldiers are terrified.
33 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says:
The people of Babylon are like a threshing floor[b]
at the time it is trampled.
Their harvest time will come soon.
34 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured us.
He has thrown us into confusion.
He has turned us into empty jars.
He has swallowed us like a monster.
He has filled his belly with our delicacies.
Then he spit us out.
35 The people who live in Zion say,
“May the violence done to us be done to Babylon.”
Jerusalem says,
“May the people of Babylon be held responsible for our deaths.”
36 This is what Yahweh says:
I am going to take up your cause and get revenge for you.
I will dry up Babylon’s sea and make its springs dry.
37 Babylon will become piles of rubble.
It will become a dwelling place for jackals,
something horrible, and an object of contempt,
where no one lives.
38 Its people are like roaring lions and growling lion cubs.
39 When they are excited,
I will prepare a feast for them
and make them drunk so that they will shout and laugh.
They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up again,
declares Yahweh.
40 I will take them to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.
41 “Sheshach has been captured.
Babylon, the city that the whole world praised, has been taken captive.
42 What a horrifying sight Babylon will be to the nations!
The sea will rise over Babylon,
and its roaring waves will cover it.
43 Its cities will be ruined.
It will become a desert, a land where no one lives
and where no human travels.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon.
I will make Bel spit out everything that it has swallowed.
Nations will no longer stream to Babylon,
and its walls will fall.
45 “Leave it, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the burning anger of Yahweh.
46 Don’t lose courage or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land.
One rumor comes one year; another rumor comes the next year.
Rumors of violence are in the land.
Rumors that one ruler will fight against another are in the land.
47 That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s idols.
The whole country will be put to shame,
and all its soldiers will lie dead.
48 Then heaven and earth and everything in them will rejoice over Babylon,
because destroyers from the north will attack it,”
declares Yahweh.
49 Because the people of Babylon have killed many Israelites
and because they have killed many people throughout the earth,
Babylon must fall.
50 You people who escaped from the sword, leave!
Don’t just stand there.
Remember Yahweh in a distant land, and think about Jerusalem.
51 We have been put to shame, and we have been disgraced.
Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have gone
into the holy places of Yahweh’s temple.
52 “That is why the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,
“when I will punish their idols,
and those who are wounded will moan everywhere in the land.
53 The people of Babylon might go up to heaven.
They might fortify their strongholds.
But destroyers will still come from me against them,”
declares Yahweh.
Footnotes:
- Jeremiah 51:2 Winnowing is the process of separating husks from grain.
- Jeremiah 51:33 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
Titus 2
Guidelines for Christian Living
2 Tell believers to live the kind of life that goes along with accurate teachings. 2 Tell older men to be sober. Tell them to be men of good character, to use good judgment, and to be well-grounded in faith, love, and endurance.
3 Tell older women to live their lives in a way that shows they are dedicated to God. Tell them not to be gossips or addicted to alcohol, but to be examples of virtue. 4 In this way they will teach young women to show love to their husbands and children, 5 to use good judgment, and to be morally pure. Also, tell them to teach young women to be homemakers, to be kind, and to place themselves under their husbands’ authority. Then no one can speak evil of God’s word.
6 Encourage young men to use good judgment. 7 Always set an example by doing good things. When you teach, be an example of moral purity and dignity. 8 Speak an accurate message that cannot be condemned. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed because they cannot say anything bad about us.
9 Tell slaves who are believers to place themselves under their masters’ authority in everything they do. Tell them to please their masters, not to argue with them 10 or steal from them. Instead, tell slaves to show their masters how good and completely loyal they can be. Then they will show the beauty of the teachings about God our Savior in everything they do.
11 After all, God’s saving kindness[a] has appeared for the benefit of all people. 12 It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. 13 At the same time we can expect what we hope for—the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Yeshua Christ. 14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.
15 Tell these things to the believers. Encourage and correct them, using your full authority. Don’t let anyone ignore you.
Footnotes:
- Titus 2:11 Or “grace.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
Psalm 99
Psalm 99
1 Yahweh rules as king.
Let the people tremble.
He is enthroned over the angels.[a]
Let the earth quake.
2 Yahweh is mighty in Zion.
He is high above all people.
3 Let them give thanks to your great and fearful name.
He is holy!
4 The king’s strength is that he loves justice.
You have established fairness.
You have done what is fair and right for Jacob.
5 Highly honor Yahweh our Elohim.
Bow down at his footstool.
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests.
Samuel was among those who prayed to him.
They called to Yahweh, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from a column of smoke.
They obeyed his written instructions and the laws that he gave them.
8 O Yahweh, our Elohim, you answered them.
You showed them that you are a forgiving El
and that you are an El who punishes their sinful deeds.
9 Highly honor Yahweh our Elohim.
Bow at his holy mountain.
Yahweh our Elohim is holy!
Footnotes:
- Psalm 99:1 Or “cherubim.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
Proverbs 26:17
17 Like grabbing a dog by the ears,
so is a bystander who gets involved in someone else’s quarrel.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.