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Jeremiah 1:8
Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to protect you,” says the LORD.
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Joshua 1:9
I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do.”
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Jeremiah 20:11
But the LORD is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me. They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.
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Psalms 129:2
“ Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not defeated me.
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Jeremiah 29:25-32
that the LORD God of Israel who rules over all has a message for him. Tell him,‘ On your own initiative you sent a letter to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem. In your letter you said to Zephaniah,“ The LORD has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. He has put you in charge in the LORD’s temple of controlling any lunatic who pretends to be a prophet. And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks with an iron collar around his neck.You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you!For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us,“ You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”’”Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.Then the LORD spoke to Jeremiah.“ Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them,‘ The LORD has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite.“ Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie.Because he has done this,” the LORD says,“ I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the LORD, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the LORD.”’”
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Jeremiah 15:10-21
I said,“ Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.”The LORD said,“ Jerusalem, I will surely send you away for your own good. I will surely bring the enemy upon you in a time of trouble and distress.Can you people who are like iron and bronze break that iron fist from the north?I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder. I will give it away free of charge for the sins you have committed throughout your land.I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about. For my anger is like a fire that will burn against you.”I said,“ LORD, you know how I suffer. Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.As your words came to me I drank them in, and they filled my heart with joy and happiness because I belong to you.I did not spend my time in the company of other people, laughing and having a good time. I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you and because I was filled with anger at what they had done.Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish? Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound? Will you let me down when I need you like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?”Because of this, the LORD said,“ You must repent of such words and thoughts! If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless, I will again allow you to be my spokesman. They must become as you have been. You must not become like them.I will make you as strong as a wall to these people, a fortified wall of bronze. They will attack you, but they will not be able to overcome you. For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,” says the LORD.“ I will deliver you from the power of the wicked. I will free you from the clutches of violent people.”
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Jeremiah 11:19
Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter. I did not know they were making plans to kill me. I did not know they were saying,“ Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! Let’s remove Jeremiah from the world of the living so people will not even be reminded of him any more.”
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Jeremiah 20:1-6
Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. He was the priest who was chief of security in the LORD’s temple.When he heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged. Then he put him in the stocks which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the LORD’s temple.But the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. When he did, Jeremiah said to him,“ The LORD’s name for you is not‘ Pashhur’ but‘ Terror is Everywhere.’For the LORD says,‘ I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their enemies. I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will seize it all as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.You, Pashhur, and all your household will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’”
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Jeremiah 26:11-24
Then the priests and the prophets made their charges before the officials and all the people. They said,“ This man should be condemned to die because he prophesied against this city. You have heard him do so with your own ears.”Then Jeremiah made his defense before all the officials and all the people.“ The LORD sent me to prophesy everything you have heard me say against this temple and against this city.But correct the way you have been living and do what is right. Obey the LORD your God. If you do, the LORD will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would.As to my case, I am in your power. Do to me what you deem fair and proper.But you should take careful note of this: If you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves and this city and those who live in it the guilt of murdering an innocent man. For the LORD has sent me to speak all this where you can hear it. That is the truth!”Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said,“ This man should not be condemned to die. For he has spoken to us under the authority of the LORD our God.”Then some of the elders of Judah stepped forward and spoke to all the people gathered there. They said,“ Micah from Moresheth prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah,‘ The LORD who rules over all says,“ Zion will become a plowed field. Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the LORD and seek the LORD’s favor? Did not the LORD forgo destroying them as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.”Now there was another man who prophesied as the LORD’s representative against this city and this land just as Jeremiah did. His name was Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim.When the king and all his bodyguards and officials heard what he was prophesying, the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear.However, King Jehoiakim sent some men to Egypt, including Elnathan son of Achbor,and they brought Uriah back from there. They took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him executed and had his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.However, Ahikam son of Shaphan used his influence to keep Jeremiah from being handed over and executed by the people.
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Jeremiah 38:6-13
So the officials took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern of Malkijah, one of the royal princes, that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse. There was no water in the cistern, only mud. So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud.An Ethiopian, Ebed Melech, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern. While the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate,Ebed Melech departed the palace and went to speak to the king. He said to him,“ Your royal Majesty, those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city.Then the king gave Ebed Melech the Ethiopian the following order:“ Take thirty men with you from here and go pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasure room in the palace. He got some worn-out clothes and old rags from there and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.Ebed Melech called down to Jeremiah,“ Put these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes. Jeremiah did as Ebed Melech instructed.So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse.
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Jeremiah 37:11-21
The following events also occurred while the Babylonian forces had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem because the army of Pharaoh was coming.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.But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said,“ You are deserting to the Babylonians!”Jeremiah answered,“ That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.The officials were very angry at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners.So Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. He was kept there for a long time.Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him,“ Is there any message from the LORD?” Jeremiah answered,“ Yes, there is.” Then he announced,“ You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah,“ What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?But now please listen, your royal Majesty, and grant my plea for mercy. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.”Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
