King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 2 notes
1The 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,
2Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;
3Thou 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.
4Thus 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.
5And 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.
What a great promise for service to the Lord.
Baruch sought rest for himself.
He had gone through much and suffered much for the sake of the Lord and in defence of Jeremiah the prophet.
He sought, like all men, to probably build a good house for himself and to come to retirement and rest from all his labour and suffering.
But the wisdom of God spoke to him: why would you want to build when God was about to destroy everything? That would be work in futility.
Rather, God promised him the most important thing: that when the time of destruction comes, he will save him from it.