Daily Bread

²⁴ “As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin^[a](A) son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring^(B) on my right hand, I would still pull you off. ²⁵ I will deliver^(C) you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians.^{[b] 26} I will hurl^(D) you and the mother^(E) who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. ²⁷ You will never come back to the land you long to return^(F) to.”

The Righteous Branch

23 “Woe to the shepherds^(P) who are destroying and scattering^(Q) the sheep of my pasture!”^(R) declares the Lord. ² Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds^(S) who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock^(T) and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil^(U) you have done,” declares the Lord. ³ “I myself will gather the remnant^(V) of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture,^(W) where they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴ I will place shepherds^(X) over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid^(Y) or terrified, nor will any be missing,^(Z)” declares the Lord.

⁷ “So then, the days are coming,”^(AH) declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^{(AI) 8} but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”^(AJ)