Living Content

י Yodh

⁷³ Your hands made me and formed me;
   give me understanding to learn your commands.
⁷⁴ May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
   for I have put my hope in your word.
⁷⁵ I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous,
   and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
⁷⁶ May your unfailing love be my comfort,
   according to your promise to your servant.
⁷⁷ Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
   for your law is my delight.
⁷⁸ May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;
   but I will meditate on your precepts.
⁷⁹ May those who fear you turn to me,
   those who understand your statutes.
⁸⁰ May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees,
   that I may not be put to shame.

³ If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, ⁴ they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions ⁵ and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Final Charge to Timothy

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time —God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen.

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

²⁰ Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹ which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.

Grace be with you all.

A Message About Egypt

46 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:

² Concerning Egypt:

This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

³ “Prepare your shields, both large and small,
and march out for battle!
⁴ Harness the horses,
   mount the steeds!
Take your positions
   with helmets on!
Polish your spears,
   put on your armour!
⁵ What do I see?
   They are terrified,
they are retreating,
   their warriors are defeated.
They flee in haste
   without looking back,
and there is terror on every side,”
    declares the Lord.
⁶ “The swift cannot flee
   nor the strong escape.
In the north by the River Euphrates
   they stumble and fall.

⁷ “Who is this that rises like the Nile,
   like rivers of surging waters?
⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
   like rivers of surging waters.
She says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth;
   I will destroy cities and their people.’
⁹ Charge, you horses!
   Drive furiously, you charioteers!
March on, you warriors—men of Cush and Put who carry shields,
   men of Lydia who draw the bow.
¹⁰ But that day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty—
   a day of vengeance , for vengeance on his foes.
The sword will devour till it is satisfied,
   till it has quenched its thirst with blood.
For the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will offer sacrifice
   in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

¹¹ “Go up to Gilead and get balm,
   Virgin Daughter Egypt.
But you try many medicines in vain;
   there is no healing for you.
¹² The nations will hear of your shame;
   your cries will fill the earth.
One warrior will stumble over another;
   both will fall down together.”

¹³ This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt:

¹⁴ “Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol;
   proclaim it also in Memphis and Tahpanhes:
‘Take your positions and get ready,
   for the sword devours those around you.’
¹⁵ Why will your warriors be laid low?
   They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down.
¹⁶ They will stumble repeatedly;
   they will fall over each other.
They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back
   to our own people and our native lands,
   away from the sword of the oppressor.’
¹⁷ There they will exclaim,
   ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise;
   he has missed his opportunity. ’

¹⁸ “As surely as I live,” declares the King,
   whose name is the Lord Almighty,
“one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains,
   like Carmel by the sea.
¹⁹ Pack your belongings for exile,
   you who live in Egypt,
for Memphis will be laid waste
   and lie in ruins without inhabitant.

²⁰ “Egypt is a beautiful heifer,
   but a gadfly is coming
   against her from the north.
²¹ The mercenaries in her ranks
   are like fattened calves.
They too will turn and flee together,
   they will not stand their ground,
for the day of disaster is coming upon them,
   the time for them to be punished.
²² Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent
   as the enemy advances in force;
they will come against her with axes,
   like men who cut down trees.
²³ They will chop down her forest,”
    declares the Lord,
“dense though it be.
They are more numerous than locusts,
   they cannot be counted.
²⁴ Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,
   given into the hands of the people of the north. ”

²⁵ The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh. ²⁶ I will give them into the hands of those who want to kill them—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,” declares the Lord.

²⁷ “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;
   do not be dismayed, Israel.
I will surely save you out of a distant place,
   your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
   and no one will make him afraid.
²⁸ Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant,
   for I am with you,” declares the Lord.
“Though I completely destroy all the nations
   among which I scatter you,
   I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
   I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”

A Message About the Philistines

47 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:

² This is what the Lord says:

“See how the waters are rising in the north;
   they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
   the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
   all who dwell in the land will wail
³ at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
   at the noise of enemy chariots
   and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
   their hands will hang limp.
⁴ For the day has come
   to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
   who could help Tyre and Sidon.
The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,
   the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
⁵ Gaza will shave her head in mourning;
   Ashkelon will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
   how long will you cut yourselves?

⁶ “‘Alas, sword of the Lord,
   how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath;
   cease and be still.’
⁷ But how can it rest
   when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
   to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”