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A message to Judah's kings[a]
22 The Lord said to me, ‘Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. You must say to him, 2 “King of Judah, descendant of King David, listen to this message from the Lord. Your officers and the people of your palace must listen too. 3 The Lord says: You must do things that are right and fair. Punish those who rob other people. Help the people that they have hurt. Do not be cruel to foreigners who are living among you. Do not cheat them. Do not hurt or cheat widows, or children who have no family. Stop killing people who have not done anything wrong. 4 If you are careful to obey these commands, David's descendants will continue to rule as kings in this city. They will ride on horses and on chariots to come in through the city's gates. Their officers and their people will come with them. 5 But if you do not obey these commands, I will destroy this palace. I promise you that it will become a heap of stones! That is what I, the Lord, tell you.” ’
6 The Lord says this about the palace of the king of Judah:
‘This place is as beautiful as Gilead!
It is as beautiful as Lebanon's mountains.
But I will cause it to become a wilderness,
a place where nobody lives any more.
7 I will send enemies to destroy this place.
They will use their weapons to knock it all down.
They will cut down the strong beams of cedar wood.
They will throw them into the fire.
8 People from many nations will see what has happened here. They will ask each other, “Why has the Lord destroyed this great city?” 9 Other people will answer, “He did it because they refused to obey their covenant with the Lord their God. They worshipped other gods instead of him.” ’
A message about King Jehoahaz
10 Do not weep because the king is dead.
Do not be sad that he no longer lives.
Instead, weep for the king that has gone away.
He will never return to see his own land again.[b]
11 Josiah's son, Shallum, became king of Judah after his father died. But enemies took him away as a prisoner to a foreign land. The Lord says this about him: ‘He will never return to this land. 12 He will die in the foreign land where they took him as prisoner. He will not see this land again.’
A message about King Jehoiakim[c]
13 The Lord says,
‘Terrible trouble will happen to this man!
He cheats people
so that he can build a beautiful palace for himself.
He does not do what is right and fair.
He does not pay the people who work for him.
His own men have to work for nothing.
14 He says, “I will build a great palace for myself.
It will have large rooms upstairs.”
He puts windows in its walls.
He covers the walls with cedar wood.
He uses red paint to make it beautiful.
15 Are you better than other kings
because you use more cedar wood to build your palace?
Think about how your father lived.
He did what was right and fair.
He had enough to eat and to drink.
So he was happy with a good life.
16 He did what was right
for people who were poor and helpless.
So people were happy.
That is how people who know me should live.’
That is what the Lord says.
17 ‘But you always want to cheat people,
so that you can get more riches for yourself.
You make plans to kill people who have not done anything wrong.
You hurt people in cruel ways.’
18 So the Lord says this about Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim of Judah:
‘People will not weep when he dies.
They will not say, “I am very sad, my brother.
I am very sad, my sister.”
They will not weep and say,
“What a terrible thing has happened!
Our great king has died!”
19 Instead, they will bury him like a dead donkey.
They will pull his dead body to the city's gate.
They will throw it on the ground outside Jerusalem.’
20 ‘Go up to Lebanon and cry aloud.[d]
Shout loudly in Bashan.
Cry aloud from the mountains of Moab.
The nations that were your lovers
have lost their power.
21 When you were feeling strong and safe,
I warned you that this would happen.
But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”
You have been like that since you were young.
You have never obeyed me.
22 Your leaders will all disappear,
as if a strong wind had blown them away.
Enemies will take your friends away as prisoners.
Then you will feel very ashamed,
because of all the wicked things that you have done.
23 You live safely in beautiful houses
that are made from Lebanon's cedar wood.
But when I punish you, you will cry out with pain.
You will feel pain like a woman who is having a baby.’
A message about King Jeconiah
24 This is what the Lord says: ‘Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, I promise you this, as surely as I live. I will remove your power as king. If you were the special ring of authority on my right hand, I would pull you off! 25 You are afraid of your enemies who want to kill you, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. Now I will let them catch you. 26 I will throw you and your mother out of Judah. I will send you both to a foreign land. You were not born in that land, but you will both die there. 27 You will want to return to this land of Judah, but you will never come back here.’
28 This man Jeconiah will be like a broken pot.
It is a clay pot that nobody wants any more.
He and his children will go as prisoners to a foreign country.
They will live in a country that they do not know.
Why will that happen to them?
29 Listen, people of this land! Listen, people of Judah!
Listen to the Lord's message!
30 The Lord says,
‘Write this man's name on the list.
Write it as the name of a man who has no children.[e]
He will not have success in his life.
None of his sons will rule as a descendant of King David.
None of them will be king of Judah.’
A righteous King
23 The Lord says, ‘Terrible trouble will come to the rulers of my people. They should have taken care of my people, as shepherds take care of their sheep. Instead, they have caused them to run away.’ 2 So the Lord, Israel's God, says to the leaders who rule over his people, ‘You have not taken care of my people. You have chased them away to other places. So now I will come and punish you, because of the evil things that you have done. I, the Lord, tell you that!
3 I myself will bring back together all my people who are still alive. I will fetch them from the countries where I have sent them. I will bring them back to the land that is their home. They will give birth to many children and they will grow in number. 4 I will choose rulers for them who will truly take care of them. My people will no longer be afraid. They will all be safe.’ That is what the Lord says.
5 The Lord says, ‘The time will come when I do this:
I will cause a descendant of David to be born.
He will be righteous.
He will grow like a branch on the tree of David's family.
He will rule as king in a wise way.
He will do what is right and fair in the land.
6 While he rules, the people of Judah will be safe.
And Israel's people will live in peace.
People will give this name to him:
“The Lord is our righteous Saviour.” ’
7 The Lord says, ‘Yes, a new time will come. When people make a promise, they will not say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt.” 8 Instead they will say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel safely back from the land in the north. He brought them back from all the places where he had sent them as prisoners.” At that time they will live in their own land.’
A message about the false prophets
9 I am very upset about what the prophets are doing.
My body is shaking.
I move like a man who has become drunk,
someone who has drunk too much wine.
I am afraid because of the Lord
and the holy message that he has spoken.
10 The land is full of people who are not faithful to God.
The prophets live wicked lives.
They use their power in a bad way.
Because of that, God has cursed the land.
The land is as dry as a desert,
and the fields have no grass.
11 The Lord says,
‘The prophets and the priests are all wicked.
I see the evil things that they do,
even in my temple.
12 Because of that, the paths that they travel on will be dark.
They will easily slip and fall to the ground.
I will cause terrible trouble to happen to them.
I will decide the time when I will punish them.’
That is what the Lord says.
13 ‘I saw the disgusting thing that the prophets in Samaria did.[f]
They used the name of Baal to prophesy.
Their messages deceived my people, Israel.
14 But now some prophets in Jerusalem do even worse things!
They are not faithful to their wives.[g]
They always deceive people.
They encourage people to do evil things.
They do not try to stop them.
They are as bad as the people of Sodom long ago.
The people of Jerusalem are as bad as the people of Gomorrah.[h]
15 So I, the Lord Almighty,
say this about these prophets:
I will cause them to have much pain and trouble.
They will eat bitter food.
They will drink water that is poison.
It is because of Jerusalem's prophets
that people do wicked things everywhere in the land.’
16 The Lord Almighty says to the people,
‘Do not listen to the messages that the prophets are telling you.
They are only deceiving you.
They speak about visions that are their own ideas.
They do not speak a message that comes from the Lord himself.
17 When people refuse to listen to me,
the prophets still encourage them.
They say to them,
“The Lord will give you peace.”
When people refuse to change their wicked way of life,
the prophets tell them,
“Nothing bad will happen to you.”
18 But none of those prophets has met with the Lord.
They have not seen him
and they have not heard his voice.
So none of them has ever listened to him
to know what he is saying.
19 But look! The Lord's anger will come
like a strong storm.
It will blow away the heads of those wicked people.
20 The Lord will not stop being angry,
until he has finished what he has decided to do.
When the time comes,
you will understand this clearly.
Paul says ‘Hello’
1 This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy.
We are writing to the people of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God our Father, and to the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We pray that God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. We pray that they will give you peace in your minds.
Paul thanks God because of the believers at Thessalonica
3 Our Christian friends, we ought always to thank God because of you. It is right that we do this, because you are learning to trust Christ more and more. All of you are also loving each other more and more. 4 As a result, we are proud to tell believers in other churches about you. We tell them how you continue to trust God in your many troubles. You are patient and brave, even when people cause you to have much pain.
5 This shows us that God judges people in a way that is right. Now you are receiving much trouble because you belong to God's kingdom. This shows that God accepts you as the people that he rules.
6 God will punish those people who are causing trouble for you. He will cause trouble for them. That is right and fair. 7 God will also do what is right and fair for you. You have troubles now. But one day God will cause you to have rest, together with us. That will happen when the Lord Jesus comes down from heaven. He will come with his powerful angels, 8 and with a very hot fire. He will punish those people who do not know God. Yes, he will punish those people who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. 9 Their punishment will continue for ever, as God destroys them. He will keep them away from the Lord. They will never see the Lord, or his great power. 10 This will happen when Jesus comes on that special day. His own people will praise him for the great things that he has done for them. All of us who are believers will be surprised when we see his great power. This includes you, because you believed our message about the Lord Jesus.
Paul prays for the believers
11 So we always pray for you. Our God has chosen you to be his own people. We pray that he will help you, so that you continue to please him. We also pray that God will work powerfully in you. Then you will be able to do every good thing that you want to do. You will do the things that you want to do because you trust God. 12 As a result, people will praise our Lord Jesus because of how you live. You also will receive praise, because you belong to Jesus. All this is possible because our God and the Lord Jesus Christ are very kind.
This psalm is a song that Asaph wrote.
Israel's enemies
83 God, do not continue to be silent!
Do not remain quiet.
Please do something!
2 Look! Your enemies are causing trouble.
The people who hate you are ready to attack.
3 They decide carefully how they will attack your people.
They want to hurt the people that you love.
4 They say, ‘Come now! We will destroy them.
They will no longer be a nation.
Nobody will remember the name of Israel any more.’
5 They agree together what they will do.
They join one another to fight against you.
6 Those enemies are Edomites and Ishmaelites,
Moabites and Hagrites.
7 They also come from Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia and Tyre.
8 Even the Assyrian army has joined with them.
They have given strength to Lot's descendants,
the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Selah.
9 God, punish them as you punished Midian.
Do what you did to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon.[a]
10 You destroyed them at Endor.
Their bodies remained on the ground, like dirt.
11 Do to their leaders
what you did to Oreb and Zeeb.
Let their rulers die,
like Zebah and Zalmunna.[b]
12 Those people said,
‘Let us take God's valuable country for ourselves!’
13 God, blow them away like dust,
like chaff that blows away in the wind!
14 Go after them,
like a fire that burns both forest and mountains.
15 Chase them away with your storms.
Frighten them with your strong winds.
16 Cause them to be very ashamed, Lord,
so that they might turn to you.
17 May they always be ashamed and frightened.
Let them die with shame![c]
18 Then they will understand that you are the Lord.
They will know that you are the Most High God
who rules over all the earth.
11 A wise word that you speak at the right time is a beautiful thing. It is like a gold apple on a silver plate. 12 When a wise person warns you, that is also a beautiful thing. It is like a gold ear-ring or a gold necklace.
13 When a faithful servant takes a message for his master, his master will have peace in his mind. It will keep him cool, like snow in the middle of summer.
14 Some people promise things, but they never do anything. Those people are like clouds and wind that do not bring any rain.
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