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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 320

"I will send on them the sword"

Text: Jeremiah 29:17

THOSE WHO WERE STILL LIVING IN JUDAH

The plight of those who were made Captives in Babylon involved much hardship. They faced many problems in their new domicile. They had to learn a new language. They had to scramble hard just to make ends meet.

Those who remained behind in Judah felt that they were “all right”. Life was almost normal. They were under the overlordship of King Nebuchadnezzar. They continued in their idolatrous and wicked ways! They were wrong if they thought that they had escaped God’s punishment!

“Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence;
and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—
to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach
among all the nations where I have driven them.”
Jeremiah 29:17-18

1. “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad”

a) The people in Judah thought that they were good.

b) In reality, they were compared to rotten figs that cannot be eaten.

c) God’s punishment was forewarned:

i) God will send them “the sword”.

ii) They will face famine.

iii) They will also face pestilence.

2. “And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence;
and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—
to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them”

a) This forewarning was repeated for emphasis.

b) Trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth will be experienced too.

c) The allies they believe they have would turn out to be false and unreliable.

d) Judah would one day become:

i) A curse

ii) An astonishment

iii) A hissing

iv) A reproach

e) They will be driven to other nations by the LORD.

3. The false prophets

a) They had given them false hope.

b) They had promised their followers protection and blessings.

c) Judah continued to reject the LORD and His servants, the prophets, to their destruction!