Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

“Ask for a confirming sign from the Lord your God. You can even ask for something miraculous.” ¹ 

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there. ¹ 

The captain of the royal guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord your God threatened this place with this disaster.

Therefore you ¹  will have to say farewell ²  to Moresheth Gath. The residents ³  of Achzib ⁴  will be as disappointing as a dried up well ⁵  to the kings of Israel. ⁶ 

But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! ¹  For this land is not secure! ²  Sin will thoroughly destroy it! ³ 

Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing. ¹ 

‘Do not fear, because I made a promise to your ancestors when they left Egypt, and my spirit ¹  even now testifies to you.’ ² 

Because Joseph, her husband to be, ¹  was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her ²  privately.

At that moment, ¹  she came up to them ²  and began to give thanks to God and to speak ³  about the child ⁴  to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. ⁵ 

“But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, ¹  the people increased greatly in number ²  in Egypt,

But now ¹  apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) ²  has been disclosed –

And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God.

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth ¹  we are absent from the Lord –

For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave ¹  it to Abraham through the promise.

who is the down payment ¹  of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, ²  to the praise of his glory.

in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, ¹  whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. ² 

In the same way ¹  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ²  and so he intervened with an oath,

For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive.