Bible Readings for October 13, 2015

Today our passages are Jeremiah 22:1–23:20; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12; Psalm 83:1-18; and Proverbs 25:11-14. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal. 

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Jeremiah 22-23:20 (Contemporary English Version)

Jeremiah 22

The LORD Will Punish the King of Judah

 ^1-3The LORD sent me to the palace of the king of Judah to speak to the king, his officials, and everyone else who was there. The LORD told me to say:    I am the LORD, so pay attention! You have been allowing people to cheat, rob, and take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners who live here. Innocent people have become victims of violence, and some of them have even been killed. But now I command you to do what is right and see that justice is done. Rescue everyone who has suffered from injustice.
    ⁴If you obey me, the kings from David's family will continue to rule Judah from this palace. They and their officials will ride in and out on their horses or in their chariots. ⁵But if you ignore me, I promise in my own name that this palace will lie in ruins. ⁶Listen to what I think about it:
   The palace of Judah's king
   is as glorious as Gilead
   or Lebanon's highest peaks.
   But it will be as empty
   as a ghost-town
   when I'm through with it.
    ⁷I'll send troops to tear it apart,
   and its beautiful cedar beams
   will be used for firewood.
    ⁸People from different nations will pass by and ask, "Why did the LORD do this to such a great city as Jerusalem?" ⁹Others will answer, "It's because the people worshiped foreign gods and broke the agreement that the LORD their God had made with them."
   
   

King Jehoahaz

The LORD said:

 ¹⁰King Josiah is dead,    so don't cry for him. ^[a] Instead, cry for his son
   King Jehoahaz, ^[b] dragged off to another country,
   never to return.
    ^11-12Jehoahaz ^[c] became king of Judah after his father King Josiah died. But Jehoahaz was taken as a prisoner to a foreign country. Now I, the LORD, promise that he will die there without ever seeing his own land again.
   

King Jehoiakim

The LORD told me to say:

 ¹³King Jehoiakim, ^[d] you are doomed! You built a palace    with large rooms upstairs.
    ¹⁴You put in big windows
   and used cedar paneling
   and red paint.
   But you were unfair
   and forced the builders to work
   without pay.
    ¹⁵More cedar in your palace
   doesn't make you a better king
   than your father Josiah.
   He always did right--
   he gave justice to the poor
   and was honest.
    ¹⁶That's what it means
   to truly know me.
   So he lived a comfortable life
   and always had enough
   to eat and drink.
    ¹⁷But all you think about
   is how to cheat
   or abuse or murder
   some innocent victim.
    ¹⁸Jehoiakim, no one will cry
   at your funeral.
   They won't turn to each other
   and ask,
   "Why did our great king
   have to die?"
    ¹⁹You will be given a burial
   fit for a donkey;
   your body will be dragged
   outside the city gates
   and tossed in the dirt.
   I, the LORD, have spoken.
   
   

King Jehoiachin and the People of Jerusalem

The LORD told me to say:

 ²⁰People of Jerusalem,    the nations ^[e] you trusted have been crushed.
   Go to Lebanon and weep;
   cry in the land of Bashan
   and in Moab.
    ²¹When times were good,
   I warned you.
   But you ignored me,
   just as you have done
   since Israel was young.
    ²²Now you will be disgraced
   because of your sins.
   Your leaders will be swept away
   by the wind,
   and the nations you trusted
   will be captured
   and dragged
   to a foreign country.
    ²³Those who live in the palace
   paneled with cedar ^[f] will groan with pain
   like women giving birth.
    ²⁴King Jehoiachin, ^[g] son of Jehoiakim, ^[h] even if you were the ring I wear as the sign of my royal power, I would still pull you from my finger. ²⁵I would hand you over to the enemy you fear, to King Nebuchadnezzar ^[i] and his army, who want to kill you. ²⁶You and your mother ^[j] were born in Judah, but I will throw both of you into a foreign country, where you will die, ²⁷longing to return home. ²⁸Jehoiachin, you are unwanted
   like a broken clay pot.
   So you and your children
   will be thrown
   into a country
   you know nothing about.
    ²⁹Land of Judah, I am the LORD.
   Now listen to what I say!
    ³⁰Erase the names
   of Jehoiachin's children
   from the royal records.
   He is a complete failure,
   and so none of them
   will ever be king.
   I, the LORD, have spoken.
   

Jeremiah 23

A Message of Hope

The LORD said:

 ¹You leaders of my people are like shepherds that kill and scatter the sheep. ²You were supposed to take care of my people, but instead you chased them away. So now I'll really take care of you, and believe me, you will pay for your crimes!     ³I will bring the rest of my people home from the lands where I have scattered them, and they will grow into a mighty nation. ⁴I promise to choose leaders who will care for them like real shepherds. All of my people will be there, and they will never again be frightened.
    ⁵Someday I will appoint
   an honest king
   from the family of David,
   a king who will be wise
   and rule with justice.
    ⁶As long as he is king,
   Israel will have peace,
   and Judah will be safe.
   The name of this king will be
   "The LORD Gives Justice."
    ⁷A time will come when you will again worship me. But you will no longer call me the Living God who rescued Israel from Egypt. ⁸Instead, you will call me the Living God who rescued you from the land in the north and from all the other countries where I had forced you to go. And you will once again live in your own land.
   

Jeremiah Thinks about Unfaithful Prophets

 ⁹When I think of the prophets,    I am shocked, and I tremble ^[k] like someone drunk,
   because of the LORD
   and his sacred words.
    ¹⁰Those unfaithful prophets
   misuse their power
   all over the country.
   So God turned the pasturelands
   into scorching deserts. ^[l]

The LORD Will Punish Unfaithful Prophets

 ¹¹The LORD told me to say:    You prophets and priests
   think so little of me, the LORD,
   that you even sin
   in my own temple!
    ¹²Now I will punish you
   with disaster,
   and you will slip and fall
   in the darkness.
   I, the LORD, have spoken.
    ¹³The prophets in Samaria
   were disgusting to me,
   because they preached
   in the name of Baal
   and led my people astray.
    ¹⁴And you prophets in Jerusalem
   are even worse.
   You're unfaithful in marriage ^[m] and never tell the truth. ^[n] You even lead others to sin
   instead of helping them
   turn back to me.
   You and the people of Jerusalem
   are evil
   like Sodom
   and Gomorrah. ^{[o] 15}You prophets in Jerusalem
   have spread evil everywhere.
   That's why I, the LORD, promise
   to give you bitter poison
   to eat and drink.
   
   

The LORD Gives a Warning

The LORD said:

 ¹⁶Don't listen to the lies    of these false prophets,
   you people of Judah!
   The message they preach
   is something they imagined;
   it did not come from me,
   the LORD All-Powerful.
    ¹⁷These prophets go to people
   who refuse to respect me
   and who are stubborn
   and do whatever they want.
   The prophets tell them,
   "The LORD has promised
   everything will be fine."
    ¹⁸But I, the LORD, tell you
   that these prophets
   have never attended a meeting
   of my council in heaven ^[p] or heard me speak.
    ¹⁹They are evil! So in my anger
   I will strike them
   like a violent storm.
    ²⁰I won't calm down,
   until I have finished
   what I have decided to do.
   Someday you will understand
   exactly what I mean.
   

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 22:10 King Josiah. . . him: The Hebrew text has "don't cry for the dead one," meaning King Josiah, who ruled 640-609 B.C.
2. Jeremiah 22:10 his son, King Jehoahaz. . . country: The Hebrew text has "the one who was dragged off to another country," meaning King Jehoahaz, who ruled for three months in 609 B.C.
3. Jeremiah 22:11 Jehoahaz: The Hebrew text has "Shallum," another name for Jehoahaz.
4. Jeremiah 22:13 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3.
5. Jeremiah 22:20 nations: Or "gods."
6. Jeremiah 22:23 who live in the palace paneled with cedar: The Hebrew text has "who live in Lebanon and who nest among the cedars," which probably means Forest Hall in the royal palace at Jerusalem, which was paneled with cedar and had cedar columns and a cedar ceiling, all from Lebanon (see 1 Kings 7.2,3).
7. Jeremiah 22:24 Jehoiachin: The Hebrew text has "Coniah," another form of Jehoiachin's name; he ruled for three months in 598 B.C.
8. Jeremiah 22:24 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3.
9. Jeremiah 22:25 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
10. Jeremiah 22:26 mother: See the note at 13.18.
11. Jeremiah 23:9 tremble: Or "become weak."
12. Jeremiah 23:10 deserts: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
13. Jeremiah 23:14 in marriage: Or "to me."
14. Jeremiah 23:14 never tell the truth: Or "worship other gods."
15. Jeremiah 23:14 Sodom and Gomorrah: Two cities that the LORD destroyed because their people were so evil (see Genesis 18.16--19.29).
16. Jeremiah 23:18 a meeting of my council in heaven: Sometimes, prophets had visions of the LORD meeting with his angels (see 1 Kings 22.19-23).

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2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 (Contemporary English Version)

2 Thessalonians 1

 ¹From Paul, Silas, ^[a] and Timothy. To the church in Thessalonica, the people of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.     ²I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
   

When Christ Returns

 ³My dear friends, we always have good reason to thank God for you, because your faith in God and your love for each other keep growing all the time. ⁴That's why we brag about you to all of God's churches. We tell them how patient you are and how you keep on having faith, even though you are going through a lot of trouble and suffering.     ⁵All of this shows that God judges fairly and that he is making you fit to share in his kingdom for which you are suffering. ⁶It is only right for God to punish everyone who is causing you trouble, ⁷but he will give you relief from your troubles. He will do the same for us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with his powerful angels ⁸and with a flaming fire.
   Our Lord Jesus will punish anyone who doesn't know God and won't obey his message. ⁹Their punishment will be eternal destruction, and they will be kept far from the presence of our Lord and his glorious strength. ¹⁰This will happen on that day when the Lord returns to be praised and honored by all who have faith in him and belong to him. This includes you, because you believed what we said.
    ¹¹God chose you, and we keep praying that God will make you worthy of being his people. We pray for God's power to help you do all the good things that you hope to do and that your faith makes you want to do. ¹²Then, because God and our Lord Jesus Christ are so kind, you will bring honor to the name of our Lord Jesus, and he will bring honor to you.
   

Footnotes:

1. 2 Thessalonians 1:1 Silas: The Greek text has "Silvanus," which is another form of the name Silas.

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Psalm 83:1-18 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 83

(A song and a psalm by Asaph.)

God Rules All the Earth

 ¹Our God, don't just sit there,    silently doing nothing!
    ²Your hateful enemies
   are turning against you
   and rebelling.
    ³They are sly, and they plot
   against those you treasure.
    ⁴They say, "Let's wipe out
   the nation of Israel
   and make sure that no one
   remembers its name!"
    ⁵All of them fully agree
   in their plans against you,
   and among them are
    ⁶Edom and the Ishmaelites;
   Moab and the Hagrites;
    ⁷Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
   Philistia and Phoenicia. ^{[a] 8}Even Assyria has joined forces
   with Moab and Ammon. ^{[b] 9}Our Lord, punish all of them
   as you punished Midian.
   Destroy them, as you destroyed
   Sisera and Jabin
   at Kishon Creek ¹⁰near Endor,
   and let their bodies rot.
    ¹¹Treat their leaders as you did
   Oreb and Zeeb,
   Zebah and Zalmunna.
    ¹²All of them said, "We'll take
   God's valuable land!"
    ¹³Our God, scatter them around
   like dust in a whirlwind.
    ¹⁴Just as flames destroy forests
   on the mountains,
    ¹⁵pursue and terrify them
   with storms of your own.
    ¹⁶Make them blush with shame,
   until they turn and worship
   you, our LORD.
    ¹⁷Let them be forever ashamed
   and confused.
   Let them die in disgrace.
    ¹⁸Make them realize that you
   are the LORD Most High,
   the only ruler of earth!
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 83:7 Phoenicia: The Hebrew text has " Tyre," the main city in Phoenicia.
2. Psalm 83:8 Moab and Ammon: The Hebrew text has " the descendants of Lot," whose older daughter was the mother of the Moabites and whose younger daughter was the mother of the Ammonites (see Genesis 19.30-38).

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Proverbs 25:11-14 (Contemporary English Version)

¹¹The right word
   at the right time
   is like precious gold
   set in silver.
    ¹²Listening to good advice
   is worth much more
   than jewelry made of gold.
    ¹³A messenger you can trust
   is just as refreshing
   as cool water in summer.
    ¹⁴Broken promises
   are worse than rain clouds
   that don't bring rain.

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Verse of the Day

“I will bless you with a future filled with hope--a future of success, not of suffering.” - Jeremiah 29:11

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, William Penn wrote, “Avoid popularity; it has many snares, and no real benefit.”