Jeremiah 29Jeremiah 30John 11.1-16Jeremiah 29
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Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the responsible men among those who had been taken away, and to the priests and the prophets and to all the rest of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon
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(After Jeconiah the king and the queen-mother and the unsexed servants and the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem and the expert workmen and the metal-workers had gone away from Jerusalem)
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By the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,) saying,
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This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said to all those whom I have taken away prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon:
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Go on building houses and living in them, and planting gardens and using the fruit of them
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Take wives and have sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may have sons and daughters and be increased in number there and do not become less.
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And be working for the peace of the land to which I have had you taken away prisoners, and make prayer to the Lord for it: for in its peace you will have peace.
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For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Do not let yourselves be tricked by the prophets who are among you, and the readers of signs, and give no attention to their dreams which they may have
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For they are saying to you what is false in my name: I have not sent them, says the Lord.
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For this is what the Lord has said: When seventy years are ended for Babylon, I will have pity on you and give effect to my good purpose for you, causing you to come back to this place.
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For I am conscious of my thoughts about you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you hope at the end.
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And you will go on crying to me and making prayer to me, and I will give ear to you.
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And you will be searching for me and I will be there, when you have gone after me with all your heart.
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I will be near you again, says the Lord, and your fate will be changed, and I will get you together from all the nations and from all the places where I had sent you away, says the Lord and I will take you back again to the place from which I sent you away prisoners.
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For you have said, The Lord has given us prophets in Babylon.
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For this is what the Lord has said about the king who is seated on the seat of David's kingdom, and about all the people living in this town, your countrymen who have not gone out with you as prisoners
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This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, I will send on them the sword and need of food and disease, and will make them like bad figs, which are of no use for food, they are so bad.
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I will go after them, attacking them with the sword and with need of food and with disease, and will make them a cause of fear to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a wonder and a surprise and a name of shame among all the nations where I have sent them:
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Because they have not given ear to my words, says the Lord, when I sent to them my servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them but you did not give ear, says the Lord.
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And now, give ear to the word of the Lord, all you whom I have sent away prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon.
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This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said about Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and about Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are saying to you what is false in my name: See, I will give them up into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your eyes.
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And their fate will be used as a curse by all the prisoners of Judah who are in Babylon, who will say, May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, who were burned in the fire by the king of Babylon
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Because they have done shame in Israel, and have taken their neighbours' wives, and in my name have said false words, which I did not give them orders to say and I myself am the witness, says the Lord.
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About Shemaiah the Nehelamite.
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Shemaiah the Nehelamite sent a letter in his name to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
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The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be an overseer in the house of the Lord for every man who is off his head and is acting as a prophet, to put such men in prison and in chains.
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So why have you made no protest against Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is acting as a prophet to you?
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For he has sent to us in Babylon saying, The time will be long: go on building houses and living in them, and planting gardens and using the fruit of them.
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And Zephaniah the priest made clear to Jeremiah the prophet what was said in the letter, reading it to him.
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Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
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Send to all those who have been taken away, saying, This is what the Lord has said about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has been acting as a prophet to you, and I did not send him, and has made you put your faith in what is false
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For this cause the Lord has said, Truly I will send punishment on Shemaiah and on his seed not a man of his family will have a place among this people, and he will not see the good which I am going to do to my people, says the Lord: because he has said words against the Lord.
Jeremiah 30
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The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
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The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Put down in a book all the words which I have said to you.
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For see, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will let the fate of my people Israel and Judah be changed, says the Lord: and I will make them come back to the land which I gave to their fathers, so that they may take it for their heritage.
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And these are the words which the Lord said about Israel and about Judah.
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This is what the Lord has said: A voice of shaking fear has come to our ears, of fear and not of peace.
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Put the question and see if it is possible for a man to have birth-pains: why do I see every man with his hands gripping his sides, as a woman does when the pains of birth are on her, and all faces are turned green?
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Ha! for that day is so great that there is no day like it: it is the time of Jacob's trouble: but he will get salvation from it.
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For it will come about on that day, says the Lord of armies, that his yoke will be broken off his neck, and his bands will be burst and men of strange lands will no longer make use of him as their servant:
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But they will be servants to the Lord their God and to David their king, whom I will give back to them.
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So have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord and do not be troubled, O Israel: for see, I will make you come back from far away, and your seed from the land where they are prisoners and Jacob will come back, and will be quiet and at peace, and no one will give him cause for fear.
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For I am with you, says the Lord, to be your saviour: for I will put an end to all the nations where I have sent you wandering, but I will not put an end to you completely: though with wise purpose I will put right your errors, and will not let you go quite without punishment.
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For the Lord has said, Your disease may not be made well and your wound is bitter.
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There is no help for your wound, there is nothing to make you well.
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Your lovers have no more thought for you, they go after you no longer for I have given you the wound of a hater, even cruel punishment
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Why are you crying for help because of your wound? for your pain may never be taken away: because your evil-doing was so great and because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.
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For this cause, all those who take you for their food will themselves become your food and all your attackers, every one of them, will be taken prisoners and those who send destruction on you will come to destruction and all those who take away your goods by force will undergo the same themselves.
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For I will make you healthy again and I will make you well from your wounds, says the Lord because they have given you the name of an outlaw, saying, It is Zion cared for by no man.
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The Lord has said, See, I am changing the fate of the tents of Jacob, and I will have pity on his houses the town will be put up on its hill, and the great houses will be living-places again.
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And from them will go out praise and the sound of laughing: and I will make them great in number, and they will not become less and I will give them glory, and they will not be small.
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And their children will be as they were in the old days, and the meeting of the people will have its place before me, and I will send punishment on all who are cruel to them.
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And their chief will be of their number their ruler will come from among themselves and I will let him be present before me, so that he may come near to me: for who may have strength of heart to come near me? says the Lord.
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And you will be my people, and I will be your God.
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See, the storm-wind of the Lord, even the heat of his wrath, has gone out, a rolling storm, bursting on the heads of the evil-doers.
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The wrath of the Lord will not be turned back till he has done, till he has put into effect, the purposes of his heart: in days to come you will have full knowledge of this.
John 11
1-16
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Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill he was of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
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(The Mary whose brother Lazarus was ill, was the Mary who put perfumed oil on the Lord and made his feet dry with her hair.)
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So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, your dear friend is ill.
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When this came to his ears, Jesus said, The end of this disease is not death, but the glory of God, so that the Son of God may have glory because of it.
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Now Jesus had love in his heart for Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
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So when the news came to him that Lazarus was ill, he did not go from the place where he was for two days.
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Then after that time he said to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
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The disciples said to him, Master, the Jews were attempting only the other day to have you stoned, and are you going back there again?
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Then Jesus said in answer, Are there not twelve hours in the day? A man may go about in the day without falling, because he sees the light of this world.
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But if a man goes about in the night, he may have a fall because the light is not in him.
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These things said he: and after that he said to them, Lazarus our friend is at rest but I go so that I may make him come out of his sleep.
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Then his disciples said to him, Lord, if he is resting he will get well.
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Jesus, however, was talking of his death: but they had the idea that he was talking about taking rest in sleep.
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Then Jesus said to them clearly, Lazarus is dead.
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And because of you I am glad I was not there, so that you may have faith but let us go to him.
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Then Thomas, who was named Didymus, said to the other disciples, Let us go so that we may be with him in death.
