Day 306 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 13:14–25

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one from the snares of death. ¹⁵Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the faithless is difficult. ¹⁶Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool displays his folly. ¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing. ¹⁸Poverty and shame come to him who ignores discipline, but whoever heeds correction is honored. ¹⁹Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but turning from evil is detestable to fools. ²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. ²¹Disaster pursues sinners, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous. ²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous. ²³Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away. ²⁴He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently. ²⁵A righteous man eats to his heart’s content, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.

New Testament·1 Timothy 6

¹All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited. ²Those who have believing masters should not show disrespect because they are brothers, but should serve them all the more, since those receiving their good service are beloved believers. Teach and encourage these principles. ³If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching, ⁴he is conceited and understands nothing. Instead, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions, ⁵and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain. ⁶Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. ¹¹But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses. ¹³I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession in His testimony before Pontius Pilate: ¹⁴Keep this commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which the blessed and only Sovereign One—the King of kings and Lord of lords—will bring about in His own time. ¹⁶He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. ¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy. ¹⁸Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹treasuring up for themselves a firm foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. ²⁰O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called “knowledge,” ²¹which some have professed and thus swerved away from the faith. Grace be with you all.

Old Testament·Jeremiah 38–39

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard that Jeremiah had been telling all the people: ²“This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live. ³This is what the LORD says: This city will surely be delivered into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.” ⁴Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.” ⁵“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.” ⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. ⁷Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and said to the king, ⁹“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰So the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹Then Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the king’s palace, to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹²Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, “Put these worn-out rags and clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard. ¹⁴Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” said the king to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.” ¹⁵“If I tell you,” Jeremiah replied, “you will surely put me to death. And even if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you, nor will I deliver you into the hands of these men who are seeking your life.” ¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive. ¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’” ¹⁹But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may deliver me into their hands to abuse me.” ²⁰“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, that it may go well with you and you may live. ²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the LORD has shown me: ²²All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you— those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’ ²³All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.” ²⁴Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die. ²⁵If the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ ²⁶then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he relayed to them the exact words the king had commanded him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation. ²⁸And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

39In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city. ²And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached. ³Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. ⁶There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah. ⁷Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon. ⁸The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away to Babylon the remnant of the people who had remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to him. ¹⁰But Nebuzaradan left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who had no property, and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields. ¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, saying, ¹²“Take him, look after him, and do not let any harm come to him; do for him whatever he says.” ¹³So Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon ¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people. ¹⁵And while Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD had come to him: ¹⁶“Go and tell Ebed-melech the Cushite that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to fulfill My words against this city for harm and not for good, and on that day they will be fulfilled before your eyes. ¹⁷But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you will not be delivered into the hands of the men whom you fear. ¹⁸For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD.’”