Day 307 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 14:1–7

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands. ²He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him. ³The proud speech of a fool brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them. ⁴Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of the ox. ⁵An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness pours forth lies. ⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning. ⁷Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.

New Testament·2 Timothy 1:1–2:13

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, ²To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as did my forefathers, as I constantly remember you night and day in my prayers. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well. ⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. ⁸So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. ⁹He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. ¹⁰And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel, ¹¹to which I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. ¹²For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day. ¹³Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. ¹⁵You know that everyone in the Province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me and was unashamed of my chains. ¹⁷Indeed, when he arrived in Rome, he searched diligently until he found me. ¹⁸May the Lord grant Onesiphorus His mercy on that day. You know very well how much he ministered to me in Ephesus.

2You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well. ³Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him. ⁵Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops. ⁷Consider what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all things. ⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, as proclaimed by my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer to the extent of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained! ¹⁰For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. ¹¹This is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; ¹³if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Old Testament·Jeremiah 40–42

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. ²The captain of the guard found Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God decreed this disaster on this place, ³and now the LORD has fulfilled it; He has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, this thing has happened to you. ⁴But now, behold, I am freeing you today from the chains that were on your wrists. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look, the whole land is before you. Wherever it seems good and right to you, go there.” ⁵But before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people, or go anywhere else that seems right.” Then the captain of the guard gave him a ration and a gift and released him. ⁶So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land. ⁷When all the commanders and men of the armies in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children who were the poorest of the land and had not been exiled to Babylon, ⁸they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite—they and their men. ⁹Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ¹⁰As for me, I will stay in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine grapes, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have taken.” ¹¹When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them, ¹²they all returned from all the places to which they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered an abundance of wine grapes and summer fruit. ¹³Meanwhile, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴and said to him, “Are you aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah. “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah,” he said. “No one will know it. Why should he take your life and scatter all the people of Judah who have gathered to you, so that the remnant of Judah would perish?” ¹⁶But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

41In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there. ²Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land. ³Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there. ⁴On the second day after the murder of Gedaliah, when no one yet knew about it, ⁵eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their garments, and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, carrying grain offerings and frankincense for the house of the LORD. ⁶And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When Ishmael encountered the men, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ⁷And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern. ⁸But ten of the men among them said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he refrained from killing them with the others. ⁹Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he had struck down along with Gedaliah was a large one that King Asa had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people of Mizpah—the daughters of the king along with all the others who remained in Mizpah—over whom Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites. ¹¹When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him heard of all the crimes that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed, ¹²they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. And they found him near the great pool in Gibeon. ¹³When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced, ¹⁴and all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and went to the Ammonites. ¹⁶Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him took the whole remnant of the people from Mizpah whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam: the soldiers, women, children, and court officials he had brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷And they went and stayed in Geruth Chimham, near Bethlehem, in order to proceed into Egypt ¹⁸to escape the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

42Then all the commanders of the forces, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached ²Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the LORD your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes. ³Pray that the LORD your God will tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.” ⁴“I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will surely pray to the LORD your God as you request, and I will tell you everything that the LORD answers; I will not withhold a word from you.” ⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us. ⁶Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us, for we will obey the voice of the LORD our God!” ⁷After ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, ⁸and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest. ⁹Jeremiah told them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition: ¹⁰‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I will relent of the disaster I have brought upon you. ¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear; do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from him. ¹²And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.’ ¹³But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and you thus disobey the voice of the LORD your God, ¹⁴and if you say, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt and live there, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for bread,’ ¹⁵then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and reside there, ¹⁶then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow on your heels into Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’ ¹⁸For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’ ¹⁹The LORD has told you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for sure that I have warned you today! ²⁰For you have deceived yourselves by sending me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD our God on our behalf, and as for all that the LORD our God says, tell it to us and we will do it.’ ²¹For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in all He has sent me to tell you. ²²Now therefore, know for sure that by sword and famine and plague you will die in the place where you desire to go to reside.”