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Old Testament:  Jeremiah 50

Jeremiah 50

A Message about Babylon
 1  The LORD gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. [1]   2  This is what the LORD says:

"Tell the whole world,
  and keep nothing back.
Raise a signal flag
  to tell everyone that Babylon will fall!
Her images and idols [2]  will be shattered.
  Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced.
 3  For a nation will attack her from the north
  and bring such destruction that no one will live there again.
Everything will be gone;
  both people and animals will flee.

Hope for Israel and Judah
 4  "In those coming days,"
  says the LORD,
"the people of Israel will return home
  together with the people of Judah.
They will come weeping
  and seeking the LORD their God.
 5  They will ask the way to Jerusalem [5] 
  and will start back home again.
They will bind themselves to the LORD
  with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.

 6  "My people have been lost sheep.
  Their shepherds have led them astray
  and turned them loose in the mountains.
They have lost their way
  and can't remember how to get back to the sheepfold.
 7  All who found them devoured them.
  Their enemies said,
`We did nothing wrong in attacking them,
  for they sinned against the LORD,
their true place of rest,
  and the hope of their ancestors.'

 8  "But now, flee from Babylon!
  Leave the land of the Babylonians.
Like male goats at the head of the flock,
  lead my people home again.
 9  For I am raising up an army
  of great nations from the north.
They will join forces to attack Babylon,
  and she will be captured.
The enemies' arrows will go straight to the mark;
  they will not miss!
 10  Babylonia [10]  will be looted
  until the attackers are glutted with loot.
  I, the LORD, have spoken!

Babylon's Sure Fall
 11  "You rejoice and are glad,
  you who plundered my chosen people.
You frisk about like a calf in a meadow
  and neigh like a stallion.
 12  But your homeland [12]  will be overwhelmed
  with shame and disgrace.
You will become the least of nations—
  a wilderness, a dry and desolate land.
 13  Because of the LORD's anger,
  Babylon will become a deserted wasteland.
All who pass by will be horrified
  and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

 14  "Yes, prepare to attack Babylon,
  all you surrounding nations.
Let your archers shoot at her; spare no arrows.
  For she has sinned against the LORD.
 15  Shout war cries against her from every side.
  Look! She surrenders!
  Her walls have fallen.
It is the LORD's vengeance,
  so take vengeance on her.
  Do to her as she has done to others!
 16  Take from Babylon all those who plant crops;
  send all the harvesters away.
Because of the sword of the enemy,
  everyone will run away and rush back to their own lands.

Hope for God's People
 17  "The Israelites are like sheep
  that have been scattered by lions.
First the king of Assyria ate them up.
  Then King Nebuchadnezzar [17]  of Babylon cracked their bones."
 18  Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies,
  the God of Israel, says:
"Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
  just as I punished the king of Assyria.
 19  And I will bring Israel home again to its own land,
  to feed in the fields of Carmel and Bashan,
and to be satisfied once more
  in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.
 20  In those days," says the LORD,
  "no sin will be found in Israel or in Judah,
  for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.

The LORD's Judgment on Babylon
 21  "Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim
  and against the people of Pekod.
Pursue, kill, and completely destroy [21]  them,
  as I have commanded you," says the LORD.
 22  "Let the battle cry be heard in the land,
  a shout of great destruction.
 23  Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth,
  lies broken and shattered.
  Babylon is desolate among the nations!
 24  Listen, Babylon, for I have set a trap for you.
  You are caught, for you have fought against the LORD.
 25  The LORD has opened his armory
  and brought out weapons to vent his fury.
The terror that falls upon the Babylonians
  will be the work of the Sovereign LORD of Heaven's Armies.
 26  Yes, come against her from distant lands.
  Break open her granaries.
Crush her walls and houses into heaps of rubble.
  Destroy her completely, and leave nothing!
 27  Destroy even her young bulls—
  it will be terrible for them, too!
Slaughter them all!
  For Babylon's day of reckoning has come.
 28  Listen to the people who have escaped from Babylon,
  as they tell in Jerusalem
how the LORD our God has taken vengeance
  against those who destroyed his Temple.

 29  "Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon.
  Surround the city so none can escape.
Do to her as she has done to others,
  for she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
 30  Her young men will fall in the streets and die.
  Her soldiers will all be killed,"
  says the LORD.

 31  "See, I am your enemy, you arrogant people,"
  says the Lord, the LORD of Heaven's Armies.
"Your day of reckoning has arrived—
  the day when I will punish you.
 32  O land of arrogance, you will stumble and fall,
  and no one will raise you up.
For I will light a fire in the cities of Babylon
  that will burn up everything around them."

 33  This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies says:
"The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged.
  Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.
 34  But the one who redeems them is strong.
  His name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies.
He will defend them
  and give them rest again in Israel.
But for the people of Babylon
  there will be no rest!

 35  "The sword of destruction will strike the Babylonians,"
  says the LORD.
"It will strike the people of Babylon—
  her officials and wise men, too.
 36  The sword will strike her wise counselors,
  and they will become fools.
The sword will strike her mightiest warriors,
  and panic will seize them.
 37  The sword will strike her horses and chariots
  and her allies from other lands,
  and they will all become like women.
The sword will strike her treasures,
  and they all will be plundered.
 38  The sword will even strike her water supply,
  causing it to dry up.
And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols,
  and the people are madly in love with them.

 39  "Soon Babylon will be inhabited by desert animals and hyenas.
  It will be a home for owls.
Never again will people live there;
  it will lie desolate forever.
 40  I will destroy it as I [40]  destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
  and their neighboring towns," says the LORD.
"No one will live there;
  no one will inhabit it.

 41  "Look! A great army is coming from the north.
  A great nation and many kings
  are rising against you from far-off lands.
 42  They are armed with bows and spears.
  They are cruel and show no mercy.
As they ride forward on horses,
  they sound like a roaring sea.
They are coming in battle formation,
  planning to destroy you, Babylon.
 43  The king of Babylon has heard reports about the enemy,
  and he is weak with fright.
Pangs of anguish have gripped him,
  like those of a woman in labor.

 44  "I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan,
  leaping on the sheep in the pasture.
I will chase Babylon from its land,
  and I will appoint the leader of my choice.
For who is like me, and who can challenge me?
  What ruler can oppose my will?"

 45  Listen to the LORD's plans against Babylon
  and the land of the Babylonians.
Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep,
  and their homes will be destroyed.
 46  The earth will shake with the shout, "Babylon has been taken!"
  and its cry of despair will be heard around the world.
<<  50:1 Or Chaldeans; also in 50:8, 25, 35, 45.
<<  50:2 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
<<  50:5 Hebrew Zion; also in 50:28.
<<  50:10 Or Chaldea.
<<  50:12 Hebrew your mother.
<<  50:17 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
<<  50:21 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the L<%=ftSC%>ORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
<<  50:40 Hebrew as God.

New Testament:  Hebrews 8

Hebrews 8

Christ Is Our High Priest
 1  Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.  2  There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, [2]  the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.
   3  And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.  4  If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.  5  They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: "Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain." [5] 
   6  But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.    7  If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.  8  But when God found fault with the people, he said:

"The day is coming, says the LORD,
  when I will make a new covenant
  with the people of Israel and Judah.
 9  This covenant will not be like the one
  I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
  and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
  so I turned my back on them, says the LORD.
 10  "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."  11  And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
  nor will they need to teach their relatives, [11] 
  saying, `You should know the LORD.'
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
  will know me already.
 12  "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."  13  When God speaks of a "new" covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.
<<  8:2 Or tent; also in 8:5.
<<  8:5 Exod 25:40; 26:30.
<<  8:10 Greek after those days.
<<  8:11 Greek their brother.
<<  8:8-12 Jer 31:31-34.

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