DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 25:
WORD OF WISDOM
"Do not wait for the hearse to take you to church."
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DAILY DEVOTION
Press Toward the Promise
"...imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been
promised."
(Hebrews 6:12, NIV)
Are you facing a challenge today that seems overwhelming? Through faith and
patience, God's Word says that you will see His promises come to pass in
your life. Understand that the enemy always fights the hardest when he knows
you are closest to your breakthrough. He'd leave you alone if he thought you
were going to live in mediocrity. But if you'll keep pressing toward your
promise and following the Word of God, you will get there. Don't be like the
Israelites in the Old Testament who were right next to their promised land
when they talked themselves out of it. They said, "There are giants in the
land. It's too difficult." No, don't look at the obstacles in your life
today; lift up your eyes because you serve Almighty God. Instead, follow the
example of Abraham who believed God even when his circumstances looked
impossible.
Remember, God rewards the people who seek after Him. Stand in faith and keep
believing because God will take you places that you never dreamed. Press
toward the promise!
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Jeremiah 43-45Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
43 So Jeremiah finished telling the people the message from the Lord their
God. He told them everything that the Lord their God had sent him to tell
them.
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and some other men were
proud and stubborn. They became angry with Jeremiah. They said to him,
"Jeremiah, you are lying! The Lord our God didn't send you to say to us,
'You must not go to Egypt to live there.' 3 Jeremiah, we think that Baruch
son of Neriah is encouraging you to be against us. He wants you to give us
to the Babylonians. He wants you to do this so they can kill us. Or he wants
you to do this so that they can make us captives and take us to Babylon."
4 So Johanan, the army officers, and all the people disobeyed the Lord's
command. The Lord had commanded them to stay in Judah. 5 But Johanan, son of
Kareah, and the army officers did not obey this command. Instead, they took
the survivors from Judah to Egypt. In the past the enemy had taken the
survivors to other countries, but they had come back to Judah. 6 Now Johanan
and all the army officers took all the men, women, and children and led them
to Egypt. Among those people were the king's daughters. (Nebuzaradan had put
Gedaliah in charge of those people. Nebuzaradan was the commander of the
king of Babylon's special guards.) Johanan also took Jeremiah the prophet
and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 These people didn't listen to the Lord. So they
all went to Egypt to the town of Tahpanhes.[a]
8 In the town of Tahpanhes, Jeremiah received this message from the Lord: 9
"Jeremiah, get some large stones. Take them and bury them in the clay and
brick sidewalk in front of Pharaoh's official building in Tahpanhes. Do this
while the people of Judah are watching you. 10 Then say to those who are
watching you: 'This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says:
I will send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to come here. He is my
servant, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here.
Nebuchadnezzar will spread his canopy[b] above these stones. 11 He will come
here and attack Egypt. He will bring death to those who are to die. He will
bring captivity to those who are to be taken captive. And he will bring the
sword to those who are to be killed with a sword. 12 Nebuchadnezzar will
start a fire in the temples of the false gods of Egypt. He will burn the
temples and he will take the idols away. Shepherds pick the bugs and thorns
off their clothes to make them clean. In the same way Nebuchadnezzar will
pick Egypt clean. Then he will safely leave Egypt. 13 He will destroy the
memorial stones that are in the temple of the Sun God[c] in Egypt, and he
will burn down the temples of the false gods of Egypt.'"
The Lord Warns the People of Judah
44 Jeremiah received a message from the Lord for all the people of Judah
living in Egypt. The message was for the people of Judah living in the towns
of Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and southern Egypt. This was the message: 2
"This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: 'You people
saw the disasters that I brought on the city of Jerusalem and on all the
towns of Judah. The towns are empty piles of stones today. 3 They were
destroyed because the people living in them did evil. They gave sacrifices
to other gods, and that made me angry! Your people and your ancestors did
not worship those gods in the past. 4 I sent my servants, the prophets, to
those people again and again. They spoke my message and said to the people,
"Don't do this terrible thing. I hate for you to worship idols." 5 But they
didn't listen to the prophets or pay attention to them. They didn't stop
doing wicked things. They didn't stop making sacrifices to other gods. 6 So
I showed my anger against them. I punished the towns of Judah and the
streets of Jerusalem. My anger made Jerusalem and the towns of Judah the
empty piles of stone they are today.'
7 "So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: 'Why
are you hurting yourselves by continuing to worship idols? You are
separating the men and women, the children and babies from the family of
Judah. And so you leave yourselves without anyone left from the family of
Judah. 8 Why do you people want to make me angry by making idols? Now you
are living in Egypt. And now you are making me angry by offering sacrifices
to the false gods of Egypt. You will destroy yourselves, and it will be your
own fault. The people of all the other nations on the earth will say bad
things about you and make fun of you. 9 Have you forgotten about the wicked
things your ancestors did? And have you forgotten about the wicked things
the kings and queens of Judah did? Have you forgotten about the wicked
things you and your wives did in Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10
Even to this day the people of Judah have not made themselves humble. They
have not shown any respect for me, and they have not followed my teachings.
They have not obeyed the laws I gave you and your ancestors.'
11 "So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: 'I have
decided to make terrible things happen to you. I will destroy the whole
family of Judah. 12 There were a few survivors from Judah. They came here to
Egypt. But I will destroy the few survivors from the family of Judah. They
will be killed with swords or die from hunger. The people of other nations
will point at them and wish evil for them. People will be shocked and
frightened by what has happened to them. The name Judah will become a curse
word and an insult. 13 I will punish those who have gone to live in Egypt. I
will use war, hunger, and disease to punish them. I will punish them just as
I punished the city of Jerusalem. 14 Not one of the few survivors of Judah
who have gone to live in Egypt will escape my punishment. None of them will
survive to come back to Judah. They want to come back to Judah and live
there. But not one of them will go back to Judah, except a few people who
escape.'"
15 There were many people from Judah living in southern Egypt. Many of the
women from Judah were meeting together in a large group and making
sacrifices to other gods, and their husbands knew what they were doing.
Those men said to Jeremiah, 16 "We will not listen to the message from the
Lord that you spoke to us. 17 We promised to make sacrifices to the Queen of
Heaven, and we will do everything we promised. We will offer sacrifices and
pour out drink offerings in worship to her. We did that in the past. Our
ancestors, our kings, and our officials did that in the past. All of us did
those things in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. When we
worshiped the Queen of Heaven, we had plenty of food. We were successful.
Nothing bad happened to us. 18 But then we stopped making sacrifices to the
Queen of Heaven, and we stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. And we
have had problems ever since we stopped worshiping her. Our people have been
killed by war and hunger."
19 Then the women spoke up[d] and said to Jeremiah, "Our husbands knew what
we were doing. We had their permission to make sacrifices to the Queen of
Heaven. We had their permission to pour out drink offerings to her. Our
husbands also knew that we were making cakes that looked like her."
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the men and women who told him these things.
21 He said, "The Lord remembered that you made sacrifices in the towns of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You and your ancestors, your kings,
your officials, and the people of the land did that. He remembered what you
had done and thought about it. 22 The Lord hated the terrible things you
did, and he could not be patient with you any longer. So he made your
country an empty desert. No one lives there now. Other people say bad things
about that country. 23 The reason all those bad things happened to you is
that you made sacrifices to other gods. You sinned against the Lord. You
didn't obey him or follow his teachings or the laws he gave you. You didn't
keep your part of the agreement.[e]"
24 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the men and women. He said, "All you people of
Judah who are now in Egypt, listen to this message from the Lord. 25 This is
what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: 'You
women did what you said you would do. You said, "We will keep the promises
we made. We promised to make sacrifices and pour out drink offerings to the
Queen of Heaven." So go ahead. Do what you promised you would do. Keep your
promises.' 26 But listen to this message from the Lord, all you people of
Judah who are living in Egypt: 'I, the Lord, use my own great name to make
this promise: None of the people of Judah who are now living in Egypt will
ever again use my name to make promises. They will never again say, "As
surely as the Lord God lives .." 27 I am watching over the people of Judah,
but I am not watching over them to take care of them. I am watching over
them to bring them harm. The people of Judah who live in Egypt will die from
hunger or be killed in war until they are completely destroyed. 28 Some
people of Judah will escape being killed by the sword. They will come back
to Judah from Egypt. But only a few people of Judah will escape. Then the
survivors of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word proves to
be true. They will know whether it was my word or their word that came true.
29 I will give you people proof,' says the Lord, 'that I will punish you
here in Egypt. Then you will know for sure that my promises to harm you will
really happen. 30 This will be your proof that I will do what I say.' This
is what the Lord says: 'Pharaoh Hophra is the king of Egypt. His enemies
want to kill him. I will give Pharaoh Hophra to his enemies. Just as I gave
Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, in the same way I will
give Pharaoh Hophra to his enemies.'"
A Message to Baruch
45 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim[f] son of Josiah was king of Judah,
Jeremiah the prophet spoke these things to Baruch son of Neriah. Baruch
wrote them on a scroll. This is what Jeremiah said to Baruch: 2 "This is
what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you: 3 'Baruch, you have said, "It
is very bad for me. The Lord has given me sorrow along with my pain. I am
very tired. I am worn out because of my suffering. I cannot find rest." 4
Jeremiah, tell Baruch that this is what the Lord says: I will tear down what
I have built, and I will pull up what I have planted. I will do that
everywhere in Judah. 5 Baruch, you are looking for great things for
yourself. Don't look for them, because I will make terrible things happen to
all the people.' This is what the Lord said. 'You will have to go many
places. But I will let you escape alive wherever you go.'"
Footnotes:
a.Jeremiah 43:7 Tahpanhes A town in northeastern Egypt.
b.Jeremiah 43:10 canopy A temporary covering used for shade. It is like a
tent without sides.
c.Jeremiah 43:13 Sun God This was the most important god in Egypt.
d.Jeremiah 44:19 Then the women spoke up This is from the ancient Greek
version.
e.Jeremiah 44:23 agreement This probably means the Law of Moses, the
commands and agreement God made with the Israelites.
f.Jeremiah 45:1 the fourth year . Jehoiakim This was about 605 B.C.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright C 2006 by Bible League International
