8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 ⁿbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, ^qI will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^rthe grinding of the millstones and ^sthe light of the lamp. 11 ^pThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^tthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^useventy years. 12 Then after ^useventy years are completed, ^vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^vmaking the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^win this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 ^xFor many nations ^xand great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^yand I will recompense 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: ^z“Take from my hand this cup 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 ^athe sword that I am sending among them.”

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

1 Brothers,¹ my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that ^bthey have a zeal for God, ^cbut not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of ^dthe righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For ^eChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.²

The Message of Salvation to All

5 For ^fMoses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^gthe person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But ^hthe righteousness based on faith says, ⁱ“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the ^jabyss?’” (that is, ^kto bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? ^l“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if ^myou confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ⁿbelieve in your heart ^othat God 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, ^p“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 ^qFor there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; ^rfor the same Lord is Lord of all, ^sbestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For ^t“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

18 ^xThe 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 ^ybecause they feared the Jews, for ^zthe Jews had already agreed that if anyone should ^aconfess Jesus² to be Christ, ^bhe was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, ^c“He is of age; ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^d“Give glory to God. We know that ^ethis man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I ^fwas 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, ^g“I have told you already, 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 ^hwe are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ⁱwe do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is ^jan amazing thing! ^kYou do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that ^lGod does not listen to sinners, but ^mif 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 ⁿIf this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, ^o“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they ^pcast him out.

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