Bible in a Year.

On day 253, Jeremiah 45-46 presents prophecies about the judgment and fate of the nations. Lamentations 1 expresses sadness and grief in the face of destruction, inviting reflection on faithfulness and repentance. Proverbs 17:21-24 offers practical instructions for discerning between wisdom and folly, guiding us through difficult times.

Chapter 45

1. The word that Jeremias the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Nerias, when he had written there words in a book, out of the mouth of Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying:

2. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to thee, Baruch:

3. Thou hast said: Woe is me, wretch that I am, for the Lord hath added sorrow to my sorrow: I am wearied with my groans, and I find no rest.

4. Thus saith the Lord: Thus shalt thou say to him: Behold, them whom I have built, I do destroy: and them whom I have planted, I do pluck up, and all this land.

5. And dost thou seek great things for thyself ? Seek not : for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord ! but I will give thee thy life, and save thee in all places whithersoever thou shalt go.

Chapter 46

1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gentiles,

2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.

3. Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.

4. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.

5. What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back: terror was round about, saith the Lord.

6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river Euphrates.

7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers ?

8. Egypt riseth up like a hood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth: I will destroy the city, and its inhabitants.

9. Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield, and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows.

10. For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by the river Euphrates.

11. Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.

12. The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and both are fallen together.

13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:

14. Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee.

15. Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because the Lord hath overthrown them.

16. He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people, and to the land our nativity, from the sword of the dove.

17. Call ye the name of Pharao king Egypt, a tumult time hath brought.

18. As I live, (saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

19. Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and uninhabited.

20. Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.

21. Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of their visitation.

22. Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.

23. They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number.

24. The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

25. The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt, and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, upon them that trust in him.

26. And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their lives, into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.

27. And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.

28. And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.

1. Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!

2. Beth. Weeping she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies.

3. Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage: she hath dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest: all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits.

4. Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down: her priests sigh: her virgins are in affliction, and she is oppressed with bitterness.

5. He. Her adversaries are become her lords, her enemies are enriched: because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities: her children are led into captivity: before the face of the oppressor.

6. Vau. And from the daughter of Sion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like rams that find no pastures: and they are gone away without strength before the face of the pursuer.

7. Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her affliction, and prevarication of all her desirable things which she had from the days of old, when her people fell in the enemy's hand, and there was no helper: the enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths.

8. Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become unstable: all that honoured her have despised her, because they have seen her shame: but she sighed and turned backward.

9. Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not remembered her end: she is wonderfully cast down, not having a comforter: behold, O Lord, my affliction, because the enemy is lifted up.

10. Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.

11. Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile.

12. Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.

13. Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.

14. Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand out of which I am not able to rise.

15. Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda.

16. Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water: because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed.

17. Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his enemies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

18. Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.

19. Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests and my ancients pined away in the city: while they sought their food, to relieve their souls.

20. Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of bitterness: abroad the sword destroyeth, and at home there is death alike.

21. Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a day of consolation, and they shall be like unto me.

22. Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.

21. A fool is born to his own disgrace: and even his father shall not rejoice in a fool.

22. A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones.

23. The wicked man taketh gifts out of the bosom, that he may pervert the paths of judgment.

24. Wisdom shineth in the face of the wise: the eyes of fools are in the ends of the earth.