In You Do I Take Refuge

A ^(A)Shiggaion^[a] of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

Zedekiah to Die in Babylon

34 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^(A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army ^(B)and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to ^(C)Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(D)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ^3 (E)You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. ^(F)You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! ^(G)Thus says the Lord concerning you: ^(H)‘You shall not die by the sword. ⁵ You shall die in peace. ^(I)And as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall ^(J)burn spices for you ^(K)and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.”

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, ^(L)Lachish and ^(M)Azekah, ^(N)for these were the only ^(O)fortified cities of Judah that remained.

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^(P)had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^(Q)to make a proclamation of liberty to them, ^9 (R)that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^(S)so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^(T)they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. ¹² The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^(U)I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ^14 (V)‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^(W)you must set him free from your service.’ But ^(X)your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. ¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(Y)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(Z)you made a covenant before me in the ^(AA)house that is called by my name, ¹⁶ but then you turned around ^(AB)and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^(AC)whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷ “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^(AD)by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^(AE)behold, I proclaim to you liberty ^(AF)to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^(AG)I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(AH)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{[a] (AI)}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^(AJ)the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^(AK)and into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^(AL)Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And ^(AM)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ^(AN)which has withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, ^(AO)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(AP)bring them back to this city. ^(AQ)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(AR)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(AS)without inhabitant.”

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ² For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since ^(A)I betrothed you to one husband, ^(B)to present you ^(C)as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that ^(D)as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts ^(E)will be led astray from a ^(F)sincere and ^(G)pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes and ^(H)proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept ^(I)a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵ Indeed, I consider that ^(J)I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ^6 (K)Even if I am unskilled in speaking, ^(L)I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way ^(M)we have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷ Or ^(N)did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because ^(O)I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and was ^(P)in need, ^(Q)I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia ^(R)supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ^(S)from burdening you in any way. ^10 (T)As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine ^(U)will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ And why? ^(V)Because I do not love you? ^(W)God knows I do!

¹² And what I am doing I will continue to do, ^(X)in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³ For such men are ^(Y)false apostles, ^(Z)deceitful workmen, ^(AA)disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as ^(AB)an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as ^(AC)servants of righteousness. ^(AD)Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat, ^(AE)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying ^(AF)with this boastful confidence, ^(AG)I say not as the Lord would^[a] but as a fool. ¹⁸ Since ^(AH)many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, ^(AI)being wise yourselves! ²⁰ For you bear it if someone ^(AJ)makes slaves of you, or ^(AK)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^(AL)strikes you in the face. ²¹ To my shame, I must say, ^(AM)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²² Are they Hebrews? ^(AN)So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they ^(AO)servants of Christ? ^(AP)I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, ^(AQ)far more imprisonments, ^(AR)with countless beatings, and ^(AS)often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the ^(AT)forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(AU)beaten with rods. ^(AV)Once I was stoned. Three times I ^(AW)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, ^(AX)danger from my own people, ^(AY)danger from Gentiles, ^(AZ)danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ^27 (BA)in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, ^(BB)in hunger and thirst, often without food,^[b] in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for ^(BC)all the churches. ^29 (BD)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

^30 (BE)If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ^31 (BF)The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(BG)he who is blessed forever, ^(BH)knows that I am not lying. ³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ^(BI)was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ^33 (BJ)but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.