8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for ^sall the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^tmy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, I will banish from them ^uthe voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^vseventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this ^wbook, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the ^xnations. 14 ^yFor many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will ^zrecompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath

15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this ^acup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:

1 Brothers,^{1 v}my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a ^wzeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the ^xrighteousness of God, and ^yseeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For ^zChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.²

The Message of Salvation to All

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^athe person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the ^brighteousness based on faith says, ^c“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you ^dconfess with your mouth that ^eJesus is Lord and ^fbelieve in your heart that ^gGod raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, ^h“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is ⁱno distinction between ^jJew and Greek; for the same Lord is ^kLord of all, ^lbestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For ^m“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

18 The Jews¹ did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they ^qfeared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus² to be Christ, he was to be ^rput out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”)

24 So ^sfor the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^t“Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a ^usinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you ^valready, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but ^wwe are disciples of ^xMoses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ^ywe do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, ^zthis is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God ^adoes not listen to sinners, but ^bif anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”³ 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and ^cit is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, ^d“Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, ^e“If you were blind, you would have no guilt;⁴ but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.