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Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

The Unwinnable Game

It seems that some people can’t fathom the possibility of a game you cannot win. We’ve been raised to believe that those in authority wouldn’t design a game where losing is inevitable. But why not? If you can convince people they can win, no matter how remote the possibility, they will continue to play. Even if you change the rules in the middle of the game, people will persist. So deep is the denial — the lack of desire to accept the reality of an inevitable loss — that they will hold on to any false hope that they can cling to in order to avoid coming to that conclusion.

I also find it interesting that it seems natural to people that an outmanned and/or outgunned force can defeat a much more powerful enemy. It’s a common theme in movies, and people don’t question whether or not it’s realistic. People also apply it to real-life scenarios as well. It seems this belief hasn’t been conditioned out of us as so many other ones have. And yet, where does it come from? On its face, it seems implausible; the ones with the bigger weapons and larger numbers should seemingly always win. And yet they don’t always win. So, why is that? Unfortunately, people are often too eager to credit themselves for saving the day when if fact the One who deserves the credit is God.

The fact is there are games human beings cannot win — odds that human beings cannot beat. But there is no game God cannot win — no odds God cannot defeat. I like to say that God is the only One who can win at chess with just pawns (and a king).

It’s not surprising, therefore, that people who have aspirations for world domination would first begin by undermining society’s belief in God. The only way they can be defeated is God. The only way we can win is through repentance and reconciliation with God. And the way of reconciliation is through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

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God controls the outcome. Any person who claims to have control over the outcome of anything is either engaging in self-delusion or is a bald-faced liar. A lot of would-be tyrants try their best to convince people that it’s only the ends that matter, and that they alone have control over the outcome. And they use displays of ruthless power to demoralize people into believing that the tyrant’s desired ends are inevitable. But the means do matter. They aren’t justified by the ends. The means matter if for no other reason than they matter to God. And in the end, the outcome is God’s domain. He’s the One — the only One who can control the outcome.

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Jeremiah 47

The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.

Thus saith the LORD; “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.

“At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;

“Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.

“Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?

“O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.

“How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath He appointed it.” (Jeremiah 47: 1-7)

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Jeremiah 46

The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;

Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

“Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

“Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.

“Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about,” saith the LORD.

Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and He saith, “I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.”

Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.

The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.

The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

“Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, ‘Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.’

“Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

“He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, ‘Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.’

“They did cry there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.’

As I live,” saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, “Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

“O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.

“Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

“Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are tuned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

“The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

“They shall cut down her forest,” saith the LORD, “though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

“The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”

The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; “Behold, I will punish the multitude [Or, nourisher] of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

“And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old,” saith the LORD.

“But fear not thou, O My servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

“Fear thou not, O Jacob My servant,” saith the LORD: “for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished [Or, not utterly cut thee off].” (Jeremiah 46: 1-28)

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Jeremiah 45

The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;

“Thou didst say, ‘Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.’ ”

“Thus shalt thou say unto him, ‘The LORD saith thus; “Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.”

“‘And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh,’ saith the LORD: ‘but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.’ ” (Jeremiah 45: 1-5)

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Jeremiah 44

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; ‘Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,

“‘Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, and that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

“‘Howbeit I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.”

“‘But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

“‘Wherefore My fury and Mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

“‘Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; “Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

“‘“In that ye provoke Me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

“‘“Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

“‘“They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.” ’

“Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; ‘Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

“‘And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

“‘For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:

“‘So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.’ ”

Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men [Or, husbands]?

Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,

The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into His mind?

So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.

Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; “Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her’: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.”

Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; “Behold, I have sworn by My great name,” saith the LORD, “that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘The Lord GOD liveth.’

“Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.

“Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or theirs.

“And this shall be a sign unto you,” saith the LORD, “that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil”:

Thus saith the LORD; “Behold, I will give Pharoah-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.” (Jeremiah 44: 1-30)

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8/26/23

https://jenniferalicechandler.substack.com

I’ve started a newsletter publication on Substack. It’s entitled Land of Dystopia. I try to analyze some of the current events and figure out the motivations of people making decisions. I also try to analyze the current worldview through the lens of my worldview — which is based on Judeo-Christianity. It’s hard sometimes when you’re inundated with one worldview that’s often in direct conflict with your own. So, it’s therapeutic for me to dissect things like globalism and wokeism and try to figure out what they’re really saying beneath the platitudes and the rhetoric. I figure writing from a different perspective may also help people who have a similar worldview as mine sort through their feelings. As of right now an anti-God worldview is not only predominating the media, its adherents are actually taking over the world’s governments. Sometimes the only thing you can do besides pray is try to keep in touch with yourself and your own truth and not let them mess with your mind too much.

I’ve been pretty pleased with book sales. I got some readers from the Smashwords sale in July. I’m surprised that my paperbacks are selling so well. You don’t hear much about paperback sales anymore. I’m glad to see there’s still a market there, and I’m happy with Draft2Digital’s efforts to get my books out there!

Right now I’m working on several books. Four are in the writing process. I write mostly by hand in cursive. I write better by hand; it matches the way my brain works. I am actually using a lot of notebooks and going through a lot of pens! Then, the books have to be typed.

The typing is almost complete on a fifth book, which is the first book in a new series. This book is entitled Biosphere. The lead character is called Kenya Winters. The plot involves a scientific experiment that goes terribly wrong — leading to a population who feed off the energy of other people. It is projected to enter the editing process at the beginning of September. I usually go through the books at least twice. The first go through I call a hard edit since it involves content as well as grammar. Then, I go through it at least one more time for grammar and tweaking. Then, comes the formatting and the cover.

I’m hoping to have Biosphere ready to go for Cyber Monday in November, but my priority is for the book to be the best it can be rather then have the fastest turnover time possible.

As far as the other four I am currently writing — even though I only average about two pages a day, six days a week — I’ve gotten pretty far in most of them.

As soon as the typing is complete on Biosphere, the typing of the third installment in the Mind Master Chronicle series is slotted to begin. I am not quite finished writing it, but I’m close. It focuses in part on Kurt years later as well as two new characters. I actually write in part from Kurt’s perspective, which is quite the experience. Actually, at times it is rather disturbing. Anyway, two of the other books in progress are part of the same series as Biosphere. Book 2 is actually not as far along as book 3! The fourth book is a standalone new adult romance with some dystopian elements. The typing has already begun on that one — but at a slower pace. I’m combining source material from more than one book I wrote to form a new version. So, I needed to refresh my memory to what I had written before. It should make for an interesting edit.

I hope to have the third book of the Mind Master Chronicles done by the spring of 2024. The second book from the same series as Biosphere I’m hoping to have set to go for fall of 2024. God willing.

Thanks for reading this! And thanks especially to those who have been reading my books!

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Philippians 2

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness [Or, habit] of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.

For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.

For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.

For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.

Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.

For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such [Or, honour such] in reputation:

Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me (Philippians 2: 1-30).

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Jeremiah 43

And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for the which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, “Go not into Egypt to sojourn there”:

But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

Even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

“Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;

“And say unto them, ‘Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; “Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

“‘“And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.

“‘“And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.

“‘“He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh [Or, the house of the sun], that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.” ’ ” (Jeremiah 43: 1-13)

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Jeremiah 42

Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,

And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)

That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.

Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before Him;

“If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent Me of the evil that I have done unto you.

“Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him,” saith the LORD: “for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

“And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

“But if ye say, ‘We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,’

“Saying, ‘No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell’:

“And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; ‘If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;

“‘Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

“‘So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.’ ”

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; “As Mine anger and My fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall My fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.”

The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; “Go ye not into Egypt”: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which He hath sent me unto you.

Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn [Or, to go to sojourn] (Jeremiah 42: 1-22).

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