The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday October 21, 2019 (NIV)

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

37 ^(A)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, ^(B)whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^(C)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. ^2 (D)But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

³ King Zedekiah sent ^(E)Jehucal the son of ^(F)Shelemiah, and ^(G)Zephaniah the priest, the son of ^(H)Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please ^(I)pray for us to the Lord our God.” ^4 (J)Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, ^(K)for he had not yet been put in prison. ^5 (L)The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when ^(M)the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, ^(N)they withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who ^(O)sent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, ^(P)Pharaoh's army that came to help you is about to ^(Q)return to Egypt, to its own land. ⁸ And ^(R)the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^(S)They shall capture it and burn it with fire. ⁹ Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. ^10 (T)For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^(U)burn this city with fire.’”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹ Now when ^(V)the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh's army, ¹² Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to ^(W)the land of Benjamin ^(X)to receive his portion there ^(Y)among the people. ¹³ When he was at ^(Z)the Benjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of ^(AA)Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ^(AB)“You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” ¹⁴ And Jeremiah said, “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to ^(AC)the officials. ¹⁵ And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him ^(AD)and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.

^16 (AE)When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, ¹⁷ King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him ^(AF)secretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, ^(AG)“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸ Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, ^(AH)that you have put me in prison? ^19 (AI)Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? ²⁰ Now hear, please, O my lord the king: ^(AJ)let my humble plea come before you and ^(AK)do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there.” ²¹ So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to ^(AL)the court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers' street, ^(AM)until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in ^(AN)the court of the guard.

Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(AO)Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^(AP)Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(AQ)He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(AR)but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(AS)This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” ⁴ Then the officials said to the king, ^(AT)“Let this man be put to death, ^(AU)for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking ^(AV)the welfare of this people, but their harm.” ⁵ King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, ^(AW)for the king can do nothing against you.” ⁶ So they took Jeremiah ^(AX)and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in ^(AY)the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down ^(AZ)by ropes. ^(BA)And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and ^(BB)Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern

⁷ When ^(BC)Ebed-melech ^(BD)the Ethiopian, ^(BE)a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting ^(BF)in the Benjamin Gate— ^8 (BG)Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king, ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of ^(BH)hunger, ^(BI)for there is no bread left in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded ^(BJ)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So ^(BK)Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern ^(BL)by ropes. ¹² Then ^(BM)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and ^(BN)the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. ¹³ Then they drew Jeremiah up with ^(BO)ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the ^(BP)court of the guard.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” ¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ Then King Zedekiah swore ^(BQ)secretly to Jeremiah, ^(BR)“As the Lord lives, ^(BS)who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of ^(BT)these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BU)If you will surrender to ^(BV)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(BW)then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not surrender to ^(BX)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(BY)then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(BZ)and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” ¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^(CA)who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” ²⁰ Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, ^(CB)and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^(CC)surrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me: ²² Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,

²³ All your wives and ^(CE)your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ If ^(CF)the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(CG)‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ And Jeremiah remained ^(CH)in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

6 ^(A)Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants^[a] regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, ^(B)so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. ² Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are ^(C)brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.

False Teachers and True Contentment

^(D)Teach and urge these things. ³ If anyone ^(E)teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with ^(F)the sound^[b] words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching ^(G)that accords with godliness, ^4 (H)he is puffed up with conceit and ^(I)understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for ^(J)controversy and for ^(K)quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant friction among people ^(L)who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, ^(M)imagining that godliness is a means of gain. ⁶ But ^(N)godliness ^(O)with contentment is great gain, ⁷ for ^(P)we brought nothing into the world, and^[c] we cannot take anything out of the world. ⁸ But ^(Q)if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. ⁹ But ^(R)those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, ^(S)into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that ^(T)plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of ^(U)all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

¹¹ But as for you, ^(V)O man of God, ^(W)flee these things. ^(X)Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. ^12 (Y)Fight the good fight of the faith. ^(Z)Take hold of the eternal life ^(AA)to which you were called and about which you made ^(AB)the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ^13 (AC)I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, ^(AD)who in his testimony before^[d] Pontius Pilate made ^(AE)the good confession, ¹⁴ to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until ^(AF)the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which he will display ^(AG)at the proper time—he who is ^(AH)the blessed and only Sovereign, ^(AI)the King of kings and Lord of lords, ^16 (AJ)who alone has immortality, ^(AK)who dwells in ^(AL)unapproachable light, ^(AM)whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

¹⁷ As for the rich in ^(AN)this present age, charge them ^(AO)not to be haughty, nor ^(AP)to set their hopes on ^(AQ)the uncertainty of riches, but on God, ^(AR)who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ They are to do good, ^(AS)to be rich in good works, to be generous and ^(AT)ready to share, ¹⁹ thus ^(AU)storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may ^(AV)take hold of ^(AW)that which is truly life.

²⁰ O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. ^(AX)Avoid the ^(AY)irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” ²¹ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

^(AZ)Grace be with you.^[e]