Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 272
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
29:32–30:11
“Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘This is what
the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has proph
esied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing
his lies, I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see
the good things I will do for my people, for he has incited you to rebel
against me. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”
The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “This is what the
Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have
said to you, Jeremiah. For the time is coming when I will restore the for
tunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land
that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it again. I, the Lord,
have spoken!”
This is the message the Lord gave concerning Israel and Judah. This is
what the Lord says:
“I hear cries of fear;
there is terror and no peace.
Now let me ask you a question:
Do men give birth to babies?
Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced,
hands pressed against their sides
like a woman in labor?
In all history there has never been such a time of terror.
It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel.
Yet in the end they will be saved!
For in that day,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
“I will break the yoke from their necks
and snap their chains.
Foreigners will no longer be their masters.
For my people will serve the Lord their God
and their king descended from David—
the king I will raise up for them.
“So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant;
do not be dismayed, Israel,”
says the Lord.
“For I will bring you home again from distant lands,
and your children will return from their exile.
Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet,