October 20

John 6:25-40

[25] When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” [26] Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. [27] Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” [28] Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” [29] Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” [30] So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [32] Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

[35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. [36] But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. [37] All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [39] And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. [40] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

1 Peter 3:8-12

Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake

[8] Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. [9] Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. [10] For 

    “Whoever desires to love life

        and see good days,

    let him keep his tongue from evil

        and his lips from speaking deceit; 

    [11] let him turn away from evil and do good;

        let him seek peace and pursue it. 

    [12] For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

        and his ears are open to their prayer.

    But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Song of Solomon 4:8-16

    [8] Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;

        come with me from Lebanon.

    Depart from the peak of Amana,

        from the peak of Senir and Hermon,

    from the dens of lions,

        from the mountains of leopards.

    [9] You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;

        you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,

        with one jewel of your necklace. 

    [10] How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

        How much better is your love than wine,

        and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! 

    [11] Your lips drip nectar, my bride;

        honey and milk are under your tongue;

        the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. 

    [12] A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

        a spring locked, a fountain sealed. 

    [13] Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates

        with all choicest fruits,

        henna with nard, 

    [14] nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

        with all trees of frankincense,

    myrrh and aloes,

        with all choice spices—

    [15] a garden fountain, a well of living water,

        and flowing streams from Lebanon.

    [16] Awake, O north wind,

        and come, O south wind!

    Blow upon my garden,

        let its spices flow.

Jeremiah 51

The Utter Destruction of Babylon

    [1] Thus says the LORD:

    “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer

        against Babylon,

        against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai, 

    [2] and I will send to Babylon winnowers,

        and they shall winnow her,

    and they shall empty her land,

        when they come against her from every side

        on the day of trouble. 

    [3] Let not the archer bend his bow,

        and let him not stand up in his armor.

    Spare not her young men;

        devote to destruction all her army. 

    [4] They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

        and wounded in her streets. 

    [5] For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken

        by their God, the LORD of hosts,

    but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt

        against the Holy One of Israel.

    [6] “Flee from the midst of Babylon;

        let every one save his life!

    Be not cut off in her punishment,

        for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance,

        the repayment he is rendering her. 

    [7] Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,

        making all the earth drunken;

    the nations drank of her wine;

        therefore the nations went mad. 

    [8] Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;

        wail for her!

    Take balm for her pain;

        perhaps she may be healed. 

    [9] We would have healed Babylon,

        but she was not healed.

    Forsake her, and let us go

        each to his own country,

    for her judgment has reached up to heaven

        and has been lifted up even to the skies. 

    [10] The LORD has brought about our vindication;

        come, let us declare in Zion

        the work of the LORD our God.

    [11] “Sharpen the arrows!

        Take up the shields!

    The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple. 

    [12] “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;

        make the watch strong;

    set up watchmen;

        prepare the ambushes;

    for the LORD has both planned and done

        what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 

    [13] O you who dwell by many waters,

        rich in treasures,

    your end has come;

        the thread of your life is cut. 

    [14] The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:

    Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,

        and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

    [15] “It is he who made the earth by his power,

        who established the world by his wisdom,

    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. 

    [16] When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

        and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.

    He makes lightning for the rain,

        and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. 

    [17] Every man is stupid and without knowledge;

        every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,

    for his images are false,

        and there is no breath in them. 

    [18] They are worthless, a work of delusion;

        at the time of their punishment they shall perish. 

    [19] Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,

        for he is the one who formed all things,

    and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;

        the LORD of hosts is his name.

    [20] “You are my hammer and weapon of war:

    with you I break nations in pieces;

        with you I destroy kingdoms; 

    [21] with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

        with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; 

    [22] with you I break in pieces man and woman;

        with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;

    with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman; 

    [23]     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;

    with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;

        with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

    [24] “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD.

    [25] “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

    declares the LORD,

        which destroys the whole earth;

    I will stretch out my hand against you,

        and roll you down from the crags,

        and make you a burnt mountain. 

    [26] No stone shall be taken from you for a corner

        and no stone for a foundation,

    but you shall be a perpetual waste,

        declares the LORD.

    [27] “Set up a standard on the earth;

        blow the trumpet among the nations;

    prepare the nations for war against her;

        summon against her the kingdoms,

        Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;

    appoint a marshal against her;

        bring up horses like bristling locusts. 

    [28] Prepare the nations for war against her,

        the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,

        and every land under their dominion. 

    [29] The land trembles and writhes in pain,

        for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand,

    to make the land of Babylon a desolation,

        without inhabitant. 

    [30] The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;

        they remain in their strongholds;

    their strength has failed;

        they have become women;

    her dwellings are on fire;

        her bars are broken. 

    [31] One runner runs to meet another,

        and one messenger to meet another,

    to tell the king of Babylon

        that his city is taken on every side; 

    [32] the fords have been seized,

        the marshes are burned with fire,

        and the soldiers are in panic. 

    [33] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

    The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

        at the time when it is trodden;

    yet a little while

        and the time of her harvest will come.”

    [34] “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;

        he has crushed me;

    he has made me an empty vessel;

        he has swallowed me like a monster;

    he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;

        he has rinsed me out. 

    [35] The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”

        let the inhabitant of Zion say.

    “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”

        let Jerusalem say. 

    [36] Therefore thus says the LORD:

    “Behold, I will plead your cause

        and take vengeance for you.

    I will dry up her sea

        and make her fountain dry, 

    [37] and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,

        the haunt of jackals,

    a horror and a hissing,

        without inhabitant.

    [38] “They shall roar together like lions;

        they shall growl like lions’ cubs. 

    [39] While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast

        and make them drunk, that they may become merry,

    then sleep a perpetual sleep

        and not wake, declares the LORD. 

    [40] I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

        like rams and male goats.

    [41] “How Babylon is taken,

        the praise of the whole earth seized!

    How Babylon has become

        a horror among the nations! 

    [42] The sea has come up on Babylon;

        she is covered with its tumultuous waves. 

    [43] Her cities have become a horror,

        a land of drought and a desert,

    a land in which no one dwells,

        and through which no son of man passes. 

    [44] And I will punish Bel in Babylon,

        and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.

    The nations shall no longer flow to him;

        the wall of Babylon has fallen.

    [45] “Go out of the midst of her, my people!

        Let every one save his life

        from the fierce anger of the LORD! 

    [46] Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful

        at the report heard in the land,

    when a report comes in one year

        and afterward a report in another year,

    and violence is in the land,

        and ruler is against ruler.

    [47] “Therefore, behold, the days are coming

        when I will punish the images of Babylon;

    her whole land shall be put to shame,

        and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 

    [48] Then the heavens and the earth,

        and all that is in them,

    shall sing for joy over Babylon,

        for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,

    declares the LORD. 

    [49] Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,

        just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

    [50] “You who have escaped from the sword,

        go, do not stand still!

    Remember the LORD from far away,

        and let Jerusalem come into your mind: 

    [51] ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;

        dishonor has covered our face,

    for foreigners have come

        into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’

    [52] “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

        when I will execute judgment upon her images,

    and through all her land

        the wounded shall groan. 

    [53] Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,

        and though she should fortify her strong height,

    yet destroyers would come from me against her,

        declares the LORD.

    [54] “A voice! A cry from Babylon!

        The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! 

    [55] For the LORD is laying Babylon waste

        and stilling her mighty voice.

    Their waves roar like many waters;

        the noise of their voice is raised, 

    [56] for a destroyer has come upon her,

        upon Babylon;

    her warriors are taken;

        their bows are broken in pieces,

    for the LORD is a God of recompense;

        he will surely repay. 

    [57] I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,

        her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;

    they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,

        declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

    [58] “Thus says the LORD of hosts:

    The broad wall of Babylon

        shall be leveled to the ground,

    and her high gates

        shall be burned with fire.

    The peoples labor for nothing,

        and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

    [59] The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. [60] Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. [61] And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, [62] and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ [63] When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, [64] and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’” 

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.