Day 803 of 939
JER 51:1-32
JER 51:1-32 · 1TH 2:11-20
Not written yet
The reading for this day is below. The commentary has not been written and reviewed yet — it is added a book at a time, and every day is read by a person before it appears here.
JER 51:1-32
1This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer. 2I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster. 3Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction! 4And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets. 5For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.” 6Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves. 7Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad. 8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed. 9“We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches to the clouds.” 10“The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.” 11Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD— vengeance for His temple. 12Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon; post the guard; station the watchmen; prepare the ambush. For the LORD has both devised and accomplished what He spoke against the people of Babylon. 13You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut. 14The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.” 15The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. 16When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses. 17Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. 18They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish. 19The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and of the tribe of His inheritance— the LORD of Hosts is His name. 20“You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin. 21With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver. 22With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the maiden. 23With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials. 24Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD. 25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain. 26No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD. 27“Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts. 28Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule. 29The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken. 31One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end. 32The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”
Secondary reading — 1TH 2:11-20
11For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children— 12encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. 13And we continually thank God because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is also now at work in you who believe. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own countrymen the very things they suffered from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men, 16hindering us from telling the Gentiles how they may be saved. As a result, they continue to heap up their sins to full capacity; the utmost wrath has come upon them. 17Brothers, although we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in heart), our desire to see you face to face was even more intense. 18For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us. 19After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 20You are indeed our glory and our joy.