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Psalm 46

1  God is our refuge and strength, ♦︎
   a very present help in trouble;
2  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, ♦︎
   and though the mountains tremble in the heart of the sea;
3  Though the waters rage and swell, ♦︎
   and though the mountains quake at the towering seas.
4  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, ♦︎
   the holy place of the dwelling of the Most High.
5  God is in the midst of her;
      therefore shall she not be removed; ♦︎
   God shall help her at the break of day.
6  The nations are in uproar and the kingdoms are shaken, ♦︎
   but God utters his voice and the earth shall melt away.
7  The Lord of hosts is with us; ♦︎
   the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
8  Come and behold the works of the Lord, ♦︎
   what destruction he has wrought upon the earth.
9  He makes wars to cease in all the world; ♦︎
   he shatters the bow and snaps the spear
      and burns the chariots in the fire.
10  ‘Be still, and know that I am God; ♦︎
   I will be exalted among the nations;
      I will be exalted in the earth.’
11  The Lord of hosts is with us; ♦︎
   the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
They shall not lament for him, saying,
   ‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
   ‘Alas, lord!’ or ‘Alas, his majesty!’
¹⁹ With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried—
   dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
   and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
   for all your lovers are crushed.
²¹ I spoke to you in your prosperity,
   but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
This has been your way from your youth,
   for you have not obeyed my voice.
²² The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
   and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and dismayed
   because of all your wickedness.
²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon,
   nested among the cedars,
how you will groan^* when pangs come upon you,
   pain as of a woman in labour!

Judgement on Coniah (Jehoiachin)

24 As I live, says the Lord, even if King Coniah son of Jehoiakim of Judah were the signet ring on my right hand, even from there I would tear you off ²⁵and give you into the hands of those who seek your life, into the hands of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans. ²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. ²⁷But they shall not return to the land to which they long to return.
²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised broken pot,
   a vessel no one wants?
Why are he and his offspring hurled out
   and cast away in a land that they do not know?
²⁹ O land, land, land,
   hear the word of the Lord!
³⁰ Thus says the Lord:
Record this man as childless,
   a man who shall not succeed in his days;
for none of his offspring shall succeed
   in sitting on the throne of David,
   and ruling again in Judah.

Jesus Blesses Little Children

15 People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. ¹⁶But Jesus called for them and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’