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Jeremiah 50:1-23

50:1The word the Lord spoke about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say: Babylon is captured;
Bel is put to shame;
Marduk is devastated;
her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3For a nation from the north will come against her;
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it-
both man and beast will escape.
4In those days and at that time-

this is the Lord's declaration-
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.
5They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6My people are lost sheep;
their shepherds have led them astray,
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
7All who found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, "We're not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,
the hope of their ancestors, the Lord."
8Escape from Babylon;
depart from the Chaldeans' land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon's plunderers will be fully satisfied.

This is the Lord's declaration.
11Because you rejoice,
because you sing in triumph-
you who plundered My inheritance-
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,
12your mother will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all the nations-
a dry land, a wilderness, an Arabah.
13Because of the Lord's wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be horrified
and scoff because of all her wounds.
14Line up in battle formation around Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.
Since this is the Lord's vengeance,
take out your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
16Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor's sword,
each will turn to his own people,
each will flee to his own land.
17Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last one who crushed his bones
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
18Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19I will return Israel to his grazing land,
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.
20In those days and at that time-

this is the Lord's declaration-
one will search for Israel's guilt,
but there will be none,
and for Judah's sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive those I leave as a remnant.
21"Go against the land of Merathaim,
and against those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them-

this is the Lord's declaration-
do everything I have commanded you.
22The sound of war is in the land-
a great destruction.
23How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!

John 3

Chapter 3

3:1There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This man came to Him at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him."
3Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4"But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him. "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?"
5Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9"How can these things be?" asked Nicodemus.
10"Are you a teacher of Israel and don't know these things?" Jesus replied. 11"I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. 12If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven-the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.
16"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.
19"This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God."
22After this, Jesus and His disciples went to the Judean countryside, where He spent time with them and baptized. 23John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, 24since John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25Then a dispute arose between John's disciples and a Jew about purification. 26So they came to John and told him, "Rabbi, the One you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing-and everyone is flocking to Him."
27John responded, "No one can receive a single thing unless it's given to him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of Him.' 29He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom's friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom's voice. So this joy of mine is complete. 30He must increase, but I must decrease."
31The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms. The One who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. 33The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true. 34For God sent Him, and He speaks God's words, since He gives the Spirit without measure. 35The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands. 36The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Jeremiah 50:1-23

Jeremiah 50:1-23

John 3

Chapter 3

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