You will probably ask yourself, ¹  ‘Why have these things happened to me? Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteress whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?’ ²  It is because you have sinned so much. ³ 

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you ¹  will groan ²  when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

How long will they go on plotting ¹  to make my people forget who I am ²  through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors ³  did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. ⁴ 

So if a prophet prophesied ¹  peace and prosperity, it was only known that the Lord truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”

sent and had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guardhouse. They turned him over to Gedaliah, ¹  the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home with him. ²  But Jeremiah stayed among the people. ³ 

They were afraid of what the Babylonians might do ¹  because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

ר (Resh) Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king ¹  – was caught in their traps, ²  of whom we thought, ³  “Under his protection ⁴  we will survive among the nations.”

Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man.

“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination: ¹  ‘Hear the word of the Lord!

By means of divine visions ¹  he brought me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain, ²  and on it was a structure like a city, to the south.

Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate as 10½ feet deep. ¹ 

and the chamber which faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the descendants of Zadok, from the descendants of Levi, who may approach the Lord to minister to him.”

Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple, he led me out by the gate which faces east and measured all around.

They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel ¹  or a widow who is a priest’s widow.

If ¹  our God whom we are serving exists, ²  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

So the king gave the order, ¹  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ²  of lions. The king consoled ³  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ¹  from whom ²  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ³  was thrown down.

I will remove ¹  the ruler ²  from Ashdod, ³  the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. ⁴  I will strike Ekron ⁵  with my hand; ⁶  the rest of the Philistines will also die.” ⁷  The sovereign Lord has spoken!

The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ¹  He touches the earth and it dissolves; ²  all who live on it mourn. The whole earth ³  rises like the River Nile, ⁴  and then grows calm ⁵  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁶ 

Does the family ¹  of Jacob say, ²  ‘The Lord’s patience ³  can’t be exhausted – he would never do such things’? ⁴  To be sure, my commands bring a reward for those who obey them, ⁵