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Why have you abandoned us like this, O God? Will you be angry with your own people forever?
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Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago, whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe. Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.
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Walk over these total ruins; our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.
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Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple; they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.
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They looked like woodsmen cutting down trees with their axes.
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They smashed all the wooden panels with their axes and sledge hammers.
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They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire; they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.
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They wanted to crush us completely; they burned down every holy place in the land.
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All our sacred symbols are gone; there are no prophets left, and no one knows how long this will last.
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How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you? Will they insult your name forever?
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Why have you refused to help us? Why do you keep your hands behind you?
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But you have been our king from the beginning, O God; you have saved us many times.
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With your mighty strength you divided the sea and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;
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you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan and fed his body to desert animals.
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You made springs and fountains flow; you dried up large rivers.
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You created the day and the night; you set the sun and the moon in their places;
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you set the limits of the earth; you made summer and winter.
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But remember, O LORD, that your enemies laugh at you, that they are godless and despise you.
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Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies; don't forget your persecuted people!
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Remember the covenant you made with us. There is violence in every dark corner of the land.
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Don't let the oppressed be put to shame; let those poor and needy people praise you.
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Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause! Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.
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Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies, the continuous noise made by your foes.
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While I was still in prison in the courtyard, the LORD's message came to me again.
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The LORD, who made the earth, who formed it and set it in place, spoke to me. He whose name is the LORD said,
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"Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things that you know nothing about.
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I, the LORD, the God of Israel, say that the houses of Jerusalem and the royal palace of Judah will be torn down as a result of the siege and the attack.
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Some will fight against the Babylonians, who will fill the houses with the corpses of those whom I am going to strike down in my anger and fury. I have turned away from this city because of the evil things that its people have done.
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But I will heal this city and its people and restore them to health. I will show them abundant peace and security.
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I will make Judah and Israel prosperous, and I will rebuild them as they were before.
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I will purify them from the sins that they have committed against me, and I will forgive their sins and their rebellion.
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Jerusalem will be a source of joy, honor, and pride to me; and every nation in the world will fear and tremble when they hear about the good things that I do for the people of Jerusalem and about the prosperity that I bring to the city."
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The LORD said, "People are saying that this place is like a desert, that it has no people or animals living in it. And they are right; the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are empty; no people or animals live there. But in these places you will hear again
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the shouts of gladness and joy and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. You will hear people sing as they bring thank offerings to my Temple; they will say, 'Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, because he is good and his love is eternal.' I will make this land as prosperous as it was before. I, the LORD, have spoken."
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The LORD Almighty said, "In this land that is like a desert and where no people or animals live, there will once again be pastures where shepherds can take their sheep.
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In the towns in the hill country, in the foothills, and in southern Judah, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, shepherds will once again count their sheep. I, the LORD, have spoken."
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The LORD said, "The time is coming when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
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At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will do what is right and just throughout the land.
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The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.'
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I, the LORD, promise that there will always be a descendant of David to be king of Israel
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and that there will always be priests from the tribe of Levi to serve me and to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices."
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"I have made a covenant with the day and with the night, so that they always come at their proper times; and that covenant can never be broken.
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In the same way I have made a covenant with my servant David that he would always have a descendant to be king, and I have made a covenant with the priests from the tribe of Levi that they would always serve me; and those covenants can never be broken.
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I will increase the number of descendants of my servant David and the number of priests from the tribe of Levi, so that it will be as impossible to count them as it is to count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore."
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"Have you noticed how people are saying that I have rejected Israel and Judah, the two families that I chose? And so they look with contempt on my people and no longer consider them a nation.
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But I, the LORD, have a covenant with day and night, and I have made the laws that control earth and sky.
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And just as surely as I have done this, so I will maintain my covenant with Jacob's descendants and with my servant David. I will choose one of David's descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will be merciful to my people and make them prosperous again."
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The LORD spoke to me when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army, supported by troops from all the nations and races that were subject to him, were attacking Jerusalem and its nearby towns.
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The LORD, the God of Israel, told me to go and say to King Zedekiah of Judah, "I, the LORD, will hand this city over to the king of Babylonia, and he will burn it down.
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You will not escape; you will be captured and handed over to him. You will see him face-to-face and talk to him in person; then you will go to Babylonia.
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Zedekiah, listen to what I say about you. You will not be killed in battle.
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You will die in peace, and as people burned incense when they buried your ancestors, who were kings before you, in the same way they will burn incense for you. They will mourn over you and say, 'Our king is dead!' I, the LORD, have spoken."
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Then I gave this message to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem
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while the army of the king of Babylonia was attacking the city. The army was also attacking Lachish and Azekah, the only other fortified cities left in Judah.
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King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem had made an agreement to set free
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their Hebrew slaves, both male and female, so that no one would have an Israelite as a slave.
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All the people and their leaders agreed to free their slaves and never to enslave them again. They did set them free,
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but later they changed their minds, took them back, and forced them to become slaves again.
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the God of Israel, told me to say to the people: "I made a covenant with your ancestors when I rescued them from Egypt and set them free from slavery. I told them that
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every seven years they were to set free any Hebrew slave who had served them for six years. But your ancestors would not pay any attention to me or listen to what I said.
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Just a few days ago you changed your minds and did what pleased me. All of you agreed to set all Israelites free, and you made a covenant in my presence, in the Temple where I am worshiped.
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But then you changed your minds again and dishonored me. All of you took back the slaves whom you had set free as they desired, and you forced them into slavery again.
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So now, I, the LORD, say that you have disobeyed me; you have not given all Israelites their freedom. Very well, then, I will give you freedom: the freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation. I will make every nation in the world horrified at what I do to you.
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The officials of Judah and of Jerusalem, together with the palace officials, the priests, and all the leaders, made a covenant with me by walking between the two halves of a bull that they had cut in two. But they broke the covenant and did not keep its terms. So I will do to these people what they did to the bull.
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I will hand them over to their enemies, who want to kill them, and their corpses will be eaten by birds and wild animals.
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I will also hand over King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials to those who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the Babylonian army, which has stopped its attack against you.
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I will give the order, and they will return to this city. They will attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make the towns of Judah like a desert where no one lives. I, the LORD, have spoken."
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Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is a child of God; and whoever loves a father loves his child also.
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This is how we know that we love God's children: it is by loving God and obeying his commands.
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For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us,
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because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith.
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Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
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Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water, but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true, because the Spirit is truth.
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There are three witnesses:
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the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and all three give the same testimony.
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We believe human testimony; but God's testimony is much stronger, and he has given this testimony about his Son.
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So those who believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart; but those who do not believe God, have made a liar of him, because they have not believed what God has said about his Son.
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The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son.
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Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
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I am writing this to you so that you may know that you have eternal life---you that believe in the Son of God.
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We have courage in God's presence, because we are sure that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will.
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He hears us whenever we ask him; and since we know this is true, we know also that he gives us what we ask from him.
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If you see a believer commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray to God, who will give that person life. This applies to those whose sins do not lead to death. But there is sin which leads to death, and I do not say that you should pray to God about that.
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All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which does not lead to death.
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We know that no children of God keep on sinning, for the Son of God keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot harm them.
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We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.
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We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God---in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.
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My children, keep yourselves safe from false gods!
