November 10, 2023

November 10: Jeremiah 48; Psalm 119:17–24; 2 Corinthians 1–2

13 minutes

Old Testament:

Jeremiah 48

Jeremiah 48 (Listen)

Judgment on Moab

48 Concerning Moab.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

  “Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!
    Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
  the fortress is put to shame and broken down;
2     the renown of Moab is no more.
  In Heshbon they planned disaster against her:
    ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’
  You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;
    the sword shall pursue you.

3   “A voice! A cry from Horonaim,
    ‘Desolation and great destruction!’
4   Moab is destroyed;
    her little ones have made a cry.
5   For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping">1
  for at the descent of Horonaim
    they have heard the distressed crySeptuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) heard the cry">2 of destruction.
6   Flee! Save yourselves!
    You will be like a juniper in the desert!
7   For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
  and Chemosh shall go into exile
    with his priests and his officials.
8   The destroyer shall come upon every city,
    and no city shall escape;
  the valley shall perish,
    and the plain shall be destroyed,
    as the LORD has spoken.

9   “Give wings to Moab,
    for she would fly away;
  her cities shall become a desolation,
    with no inhabitant in them.

10 “Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

11   “Moab has been at ease from his youth
    and has settled on his dregs;
  he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
    nor has he gone into exile;
  so his taste remains in him,
    and his scent is not changed.

12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break hisSeptuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their">3 jars in pieces. 13 Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

14   “How do you say, ‘We are heroes
    and mighty men of war’?
15   The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,
    and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
    declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16   The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
    and his affliction hastens swiftly.
17   Grieve for him, all you who are around him,
    and all who know his name;
  say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff.’

18   “Come down from your glory,
    and sit on the parched ground,
    O inhabitant of Dibon!
  For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
    he has destroyed your strongholds.
19   Stand by the way and watch,
    O inhabitant of Aroer!
  Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
    say, ‘What has happened?’
20   Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
    wail and cry!
  Tell it beside the Arnon,
    that Moab is laid waste.

21 “Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22 and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24 and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.

26 “Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. 27 Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

28   “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
  Be like the dove that nests
    in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
29   We have heard of the pride of Moab—
    he is very proud—
  of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
    and the haughtiness of his heart.
30   I know his insolence, declares the LORD;
    his boasts are false,
    his deeds are false.
31   Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn.
32   More than for Jazer I weep for you,
    O vine of Sibmah!
  Your branches passed over the sea,
    reached to the Sea of Jazer;
  on your summer fruits and your grapes
    the destroyer has fallen.
33   Gladness and joy have been taken away
    from the fruitful land of Moab;
  I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy;
    the shouting is not the shout of joy.

34 “From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. 35 And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god. 36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

37 “For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD. 39 How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

40   For thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle
    and spread his wings against Moab;
41   the cities shall be taken
    and the strongholds seized.
  The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
    like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;
42   Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,
    because he magnified himself against the LORD.
43   Terror, pit, and snare
    are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!
      declares the LORD.
44   He who flees from the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
  and he who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
  For I will bring these things upon Moab,
    the year of their punishment,
      declares the LORD.

45   “In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop without strength,
  for fire came out from Heshbon,
    flame from the house of Sihon;
  it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,
    the crown of the sons of tumult.
46   Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of Chemosh are undone,
  for your sons have been taken captive,
    and your daughters into captivity.
47   Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, declares the LORD.”
  Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

Footnotes

[1] 48:5 Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping

[2] 48:5 Septuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) heard the cry

[3] 48:12 Septuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their

(ESV)

Psalm:

Psalm 119:17–24

Psalm 119:17–24 (Listen)

Gimel

17   Deal bountifully with your servant,
    that I may live and keep your word.
18   Open my eyes, that I may behold
    wondrous things out of your law.
19   I am a sojourner on the earth;
    hide not your commandments from me!
20   My soul is consumed with longing
    for your rulesOr your just decrees; also verses 30, 39, 43, 52, 75, 102, 108, 137, 156, 175">1 at all times.
21   You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
    who wander from your commandments.
22   Take away from me scorn and contempt,
    for I have kept your testimonies.
23   Even though princes sit plotting against me,
    your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24   Your testimonies are my delight;
    they are my counselors.

Footnotes

[1] 119:20 Or your just decrees; also verses 30, 39, 43, 52, 75, 102, 108, 137, 156, 175

(ESV)

New Testament:

2 Corinthians 1–2

2 Corinthians 1–2 (Listen)

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.Or For as the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ">1 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters">2 of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicitySome manuscripts holiness">3 and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand—14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.

15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.Or down payment">4

23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

2 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Forgive the Sinner

5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Triumph in Christ

12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Footnotes

[1] 1:5 Or For as the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ

[2] 1:8 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters

[3] 1:12 Some manuscripts holiness

[4] 1:22 Or down payment

(ESV)

...more