Jeremiah’s Letter to the Captives

29 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were ^(A)carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² (This happened after ^(B)Jeconiah^[a] the king, the ^(C)queen mother, the ^[b]eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) ³ The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^(D)Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

Living Before the World

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts ^(A)which war against the soul, ^12 (B)having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(C)they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submission to Government^(D)

^13 (E)Therefore submit yourselves to every ^[a]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ^16 (F)as free, yet not ^(G)using liberty as a cloak for ^[b]vice, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear ^(H)God. Honor the king.

^47 (A)Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ^(B)“What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

⁴⁹ And one of them, ^(C)Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ^50 (D)nor do you consider that it is expedient for ^[a]us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(E)not for that nation only, but ^(F)also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

⁵³ Then, from that day on, they plotted to ^(G)put Him to death.