Bible Browser

Judgement on Egypt

46The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.

2 Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
³ Prepare buckler and shield,
   and advance for battle!
⁴ Harness the horses;
   mount the steeds!
Take your stations with your helmets,
   whet your lances,
   put on your coats of mail!
⁵ Why do I see them terrified?
   They have fallen back;
their warriors are beaten down,
   and have fled in haste.
They do not look back—
   terror is all around!

says the Lord.
⁶ The swift cannot flee away,
   nor can the warrior escape;
in the north by the river Euphrates
   they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷ Who is this, rising like the Nile,
   like rivers whose waters surge?
⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
   like rivers whose waters surge.
It said, Let me rise, let me cover the earth,
   let me destroy cities and their inhabitants.
⁹ Advance, O horses,
   and dash madly, O chariots!
Let the warriors go forth:
   Ethiopia^* and Put who carry the shield,
   the Ludim, who draw^* the bow.
¹⁰ That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
   a day of retribution,
   to gain vindication from his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated,
   and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice
   in the land of the north by the river Euphrates.
¹¹ Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
   O virgin daughter Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
   there is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard of your shame,
   and the earth is full of your cry;
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
   both have fallen together.

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:
¹⁴ Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
   proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Take your stations and be ready,
   for the sword shall devour those around you.’
¹⁵ Why has Apis fled?^*
   Why did your bull not stand?
   —because the Lord thrust him down.
¹⁶ Your multitude stumbled^* and fell,
   and one said to another,^*
‘Come, let us go back to our own people
   and to the land of our birth,
   because of the destroying sword.’
¹⁷ Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
   ‘Braggart who missed his chance.’

¹⁸ As I live, says the King,
   whose name is the Lord of hosts,
one is coming
   like Tabor among the mountains,
   and like Carmel by the sea.
¹⁹ Pack your bags for exile,
   sheltered daughter Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
   a ruin, without inhabitant.

²⁰ A beautiful heifer is Egypt—
   a gadfly from the north lights upon her.
²¹ Even her mercenaries in her midst
   are like fatted calves;
they too have turned and fled together,
   they did not stand;
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
   the time of their punishment.

²² She makes a sound like a snake gliding away;
   for her enemies march in force,
and come against her with axes,
   like those who fell trees.
²³ They shall cut down her forest,

says the Lord,
   though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous
   than locusts;
   they are without number.
²⁴ Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame;
   she shall be handed over to a people from the north.

25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: See, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶I will hand them over to those who seek their life, to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and his officers. Afterwards Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord.

God Will Save Israel

²⁷ But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
   and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
   and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
   and no one shall make him afraid.
²⁸ As for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,

says the Lord,
   for I am with you.
I will make an end of all the nations
   among which I have banished you,
   but I will not make an end of you!
I will chastise you in just measure,
   and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

Judgement on the Philistines

47The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:
² Thus says the Lord:
See, waters are rising out of the north
   and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
   the city and those who live in it.
People shall cry out,
   and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
³ At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
   at the clatter of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
parents do not turn back for children,
   so feeble are their hands,
⁴ because of the day that is coming
   to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
   every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
   the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
⁵ Baldness has come upon Gaza,
   Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of their power!^*
   How long will you gash yourselves?
⁶ Ah, sword of the Lord!
   How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard,
   rest and be still!
⁷ How can it^* be quiet,
   when the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—
   there he has appointed it.

Psalm 63

Comfort and Assurance in God’s Presence

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
¹ O God, you are my God, I seek you,
   my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
   beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life,
   my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;
   I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

⁵ My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,^*
   and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
⁶ when I think of you on my bed,
   and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷ for you have been my help,
   and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
⁸ My soul clings to you;
   your right hand upholds me.

⁹ But those who seek to destroy my life
   shall go down into the depths of the earth;
¹⁰ they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
   they shall be prey for jackals.
¹¹ But the king shall rejoice in God;
   all who swear by him shall exult,
   for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

THE FIRST LETTER OF

Peter

Salutation

1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

A Living Hope

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you rejoice,^* even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, ⁷so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, ¹¹inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated, when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory. ¹²It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look!

A Call to Holy Living

13 Therefore prepare your minds for action;^* discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. ¹⁴Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. ¹⁵Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; ¹⁶for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’

17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. ¹⁸You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. ²⁰He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. ²¹Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth^* so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply^* from the heart.^{* 23}You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.^{* 24}For
‘All flesh is like grass
   and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
   and the flower falls,
²⁵ but the word of the Lord endures for ever.’
That word is the good news that was announced to you.