Jeremiah 37-39
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 37
Jeremiah in the Dungeon. 1 Zedekiah, son of Josiah, became king, succeeding Coniah, son of Jehoiakim; Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appointed him king over the land of Judah.(A) 2 Neither he, nor his officials, nor the people of the land would listen to the words which the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. 3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet with this request: “Please appeal to the Lord, our God, for us.”(B) 4 At this time Jeremiah still came and went freely among the people; he had not yet been put into prison.[a] 5 Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army[b] had set out from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard this report, they withdrew from the city.(C)
6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus you must say to the king of Judah who sent you to consult me: Listen! Pharaoh’s army, which has set out to help you, will return to Egypt, its own land.(D) 8 The Chaldeans shall return and attack this city; they shall capture it and destroy it by fire.(E)
9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying: “The Chaldeans are surely leaving us forever.” They are not! 10 Even if you could defeat the whole Chaldean army that is now attacking you, and only the wounded remained, each in his tent, these would rise up and destroy the city with fire.(F)
11 Now when the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of the army of Pharaoh,(G) 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin, to receive his share of property among the people. 13 But at the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, by the name of Irijah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” 14 “That is a lie!” Jeremiah answered, “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” Without listening to him, Irijah kept Jeremiah in custody and brought him to the princes.
15 The princes were enraged at Jeremiah and had Jeremiah beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they were using it as a jail.(H) 16 And so Jeremiah went into a room in the dungeon, where he remained many days.
17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to his palace, and he asked him secretly, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “There is!” Jeremiah answered: “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”(I) 18 Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah: “How have I wronged you or your officials or this people, that you should put me in prison?(J) 19 Where are your own prophets who prophesied for you, saying: ‘The King of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? 20 Please hear me, my lord king! Grant my petition: do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I shall die there.”
21 So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be confined in the court of the guard and given a ration of bread every day from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.(K)
Chapter 38
Jeremiah in the Muddy Cistern. 1 Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malchiah, heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:[c] 2 Thus says the Lord: Those who remain in this city shall die by means of the sword, starvation, and disease; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live. Their lives shall be spared them as spoils of war that they may live.(L) 3 Thus says the Lord: This city shall certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon; he shall capture it.
4 Then the princes said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death. He is weakening the resolve[d] of the soldiers left in this city and of all the people, by saying such things to them; he is not seeking the welfare of our people, but their ruin.”(M) 5 King Zedekiah answered: “He is in your hands,” for the king could do nothing with them. 6 And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, in the court of the guard, letting him down by rope. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.(N)
7 Now Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, a court official in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, 8 and Ebed-melech went there from the house of the king and said to him, 9 “My lord king, these men have done wrong in all their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet, throwing him into the cistern. He will starve to death on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city.”(O) 10 Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you, and get Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” 11 Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went first to the linen closet in the house of the king. He took some old, tattered rags and lowered them by rope to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Then he said to Jeremiah, “Put these old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13 and they pulled him up by rope out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
14 King Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah the prophet to meet him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. “I have a question to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”(P) 15 Jeremiah answered Zedekiah: “If I tell you anything, will you not have me put to death? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!”(Q) 16 But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: “As the Lord lives who gave us our lives, I will not kill you, nor will I hand you over to those men who seek your life.”
17 Jeremiah then said to Zedekiah: “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will only surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed by fire, and you and your household shall live.(R) 18 But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, this city shall fall into the hand of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it by fire, and you shall not escape their hand.”(S)
19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judahites who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I could be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me.”(T) 20 “You will not be handed over to them,” Jeremiah answered. “I beg you! Please listen to the voice of the Lord regarding what I tell you so that it may go well with you and your life be spared.(U) 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown: 22 I see all the women who remain in the house of Judah’s king being brought out to the princes of Babylon’s king, and they are crying:
‘They betrayed you, outdid you,
your good friends!
Now that your feet are sunk in mud,
they slink away.’(V)
23 All your wives and children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape their hands; you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city shall be destroyed by fire.”(W)
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die. 25 If the princes should hear I spoke with you and if they should come and ask you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ or, ‘What did the king say to you?’ 26 then give them this answer: ‘I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house lest I die there.’” 27 When all the princes came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he answered them with the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been overheard of the conversation. 28 Thus Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day Jerusalem was taken.(X)
Chapter 39
The Capture of Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was taken, 1 in the ninth year of Zedekiah,(Y) king of Judah, in the tenth month,[e] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army marched against Jerusalem and placed it under siege. 2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month,[f] the city wall was breached. 3 All the princes of the king of Babylon came and took their seats at the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer of Simmagir, a chief officer; Nebushazban, a high dignitary; and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.[g] 4 When Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all his warriors saw this, they fled, leaving the city at night by way of the king’s garden,[h] through a gate between the two walls. He went in the direction of the Arabah,(Z) 5 but the Chaldean army pursued them; they caught up with Zedekiah in the wilderness near Jericho and took him prisoner. They brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah,[i] in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced sentence upon him.(AA) 6 The king of Babylon executed the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his very eyes; the king of Babylon also executed all the nobles of Judah.(AB) 7 He then blinded Zedekiah and bound him in chains to bring him to Babylon.(AC)
8 The Chaldeans set fire to the king’s house and the houses of the people and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.(AD) 9 Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, deported to Babylon the rest of the people left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the workers.(AE) 10 But Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor who had nothing and at the same time gave them vineyards and farms.(AF)
Jeremiah Released to Gedaliah’s Custody. 11 Concerning Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave these orders through Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard: 12 “Take him and look after him; do not let anything happen to him. Whatever he may ask, you must do for him.”(AG) 13 Thereupon Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, and Nebushazban, a high dignitary, and Nergal-sharezer, a chief officer, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon, 14 had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard and entrusted to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to bring him home. And so he remained among the people.(AH)
A Word of Comfort for Ebed-melech. 15 While Jeremiah was still imprisoned in the court of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: 16 Go, tell this to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: See, I am now carrying out my words against this city, for evil and not for good; this will happen in your presence on that day.(AI) 17 But on that day I will deliver you—oracle of the Lord; you shall not be handed over to the men you dread. 18 I will make certain that you escape and do not fall by the sword. Your life will be your spoils of war because you trusted in me—oracle of the Lord.(AJ)
Footnotes
- 37:4 Put into prison: as described in 32:1–3. Chronologically, the present episode follows 34:1–7.
- 37:5 Pharaoh’s army: the force sent by Pharaoh Hophra; when they arrived, the Chaldeans temporarily lifted the siege against Jerusalem (cf. 34:21).
- 38:1 Jeremiah enjoyed sufficient liberty in the court of the guard (37:21) to speak to the people; cf. 32:6–9. Gedaliah, son of Pashhur: the latter is possibly the Pashhur of 20:1. Pashhur, son of Malchiah: mentioned in 21:1.
- 38:4 He is weakening the resolve: lit., “he weakens the hands.” One of the Lachish ostraca (cf. note on 34:7) makes the same claim against the princes in Jerusalem.
- 39:1 In the ninth year…in the tenth month: the month Tebet (mid-December to mid-January) of the year 589/588 B.C., according to the Babylonian calendar, whose New Year began in March/April.
- 39:2 In the eleventh year…the ninth day of the fourth month: in July, 587 B.C.
- 39:3 The Babylonian officers act as a military tribunal or government, headed by Nergal-sharezer, Nebuchadnezzar’s son and successor.
- 39:4 By way of the king’s garden: along the southeast side of the city; the royal garden was in the Kidron Valley. A gate between the two walls: the southernmost city gate, at the end of the Tyropoeon Valley. The Arabah: the southern Jordan Valley. Zedekiah was perhaps trying to escape across the Jordan when he was captured near Jericho.
- 39:5 Riblah: Nebuchadnezzar’s headquarters north of Damascus; Pharaoh Neco had once used the town as a military post (2 Kgs 23:33).
Ben Sira 19:1-17
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 19
1 Whoever does this grows no richer;
those who waste the little they have will be stripped bare.
2 Wine and women make the heart lustful,
and the companion of prostitutes becomes reckless.(A)
3 Rottenness and worms will possess him,
and the reckless will be snatched away.(B)
4 Whoever trusts others too quickly has a shallow mind,
and those who sin wrong themselves.
The Proper Use of Speech[a]
5 Whoever gloats over evil will be destroyed,
6 and whoever repeats gossip has no sense.
7 Never repeat gossip,
and no one will reproach you.(C)
8 Tell nothing to friend or foe;
and unless it be a sin for you, do not reveal a thing.(D)
9 For someone may have heard you and watched you,
and in time come to hate you.
10 Let anything you hear die with you;
never fear, it will not make you burst!
11 Having heard something, the fool goes into labor,
like a woman giving birth to a child.
12 Like an arrow stuck in a fool’s thigh,
so is gossip in the belly of a fool.
13 Admonish your friend—he may not have done it;
and if he did, that he may not do it again.(E)
14 Admonish your neighbor—he may not have said it;
and if he did, that he may not say it again.
15 Admonish your friend—often it may be slander;
do not believe every story.
16 Then, too, a person can slip and not mean it;
who has not sinned with his tongue?(F)
17 Admonish your neighbor before you break with him;
and give due place to the Law of the Most High.[b](G)
Footnotes
- 19:5–17 An excellent commentary on bearing false witness (Ex 20:16; Dt 5:20). Ben Sira speaks harshly about calumny, rash judgment, and detraction (vv. 5–7), and urges discreet silence (vv. 8–12). Justice requires that an accused neighbor be given a hearing, and charity urges fraternal correction; both together fulfill the law of the Most High (vv. 13–17); cf. Mt 7:1–2; 18:15–16.
- 19:17
Other ancient texts read as vv. 18–19:
18Fear of the Lord is the beginning of acceptance;
and wisdom from him obtains love.
19Knowledge of the Lord’s commandments is life-giving instruction;
those who do what pleases him will harvest the fruit of the tree of immortality.
John 7:25-53
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
25 So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? 26 And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities[a] have realized that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”(A) 28 So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.(B) 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”(C) 30 So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.(D) 31 But many of the crowd began to believe in him, and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man has done?”(E)
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus.[b] 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring about him to this effect, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent guards to arrest him. 33 So Jesus said, “I will be with you only a little while longer, and then I will go to the one who sent me.(F) 34 You will look for me but not find [me], and where I am you cannot come.”(G) 35 So the Jews said to one another, “Where is he going that we will not find him? Surely he is not going to the dispersion[c] among the Greeks to teach the Greeks, is he? 36 What is the meaning of his saying, ‘You will look for me and not find [me], and where I am you cannot come’?”
Rivers of Living Water.[d] 37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.(H) 38 Whoever believes in me, as scripture says:
39 He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet,[f] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.(J)
Discussion About the Origins of the Messiah.[g] 40 Some in the crowd who heard these words said, “This is truly the Prophet.”(K) 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he? 42 Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”(L) 43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this one.” 47 So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?(M) 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,(N) 51 “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?”(O) 52 They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Chapter 8
A Woman Caught in Adultery.[h] [53 Then each went to his own house,
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 7:26 The authorities: the members of the Sanhedrin (same term as Jn 3:1).
- 7:32–36 Jesus announces his approaching departure (cf. also Jn 8:21; 12:36; 13:33) and complete control over his destiny.
- 7:35 Dispersion: or “diaspora”: Jews living outside Palestine. Greeks: probably refers to the Gentiles in the Mediterranean area; cf. Jn 12:20.
- 7:37, 39 Promise of living water through the Spirit.
- 7:38 Living water: not an exact quotation from any Old Testament passage; in the gospel context the gift of the Spirit is meant; cf. Jn 3:5. From within him: either Jesus or the believer; if Jesus, it continues the Jesus-Moses motif (water from the rock, Ex 17:6; Nm 20:11) as well as Jesus as the new temple (cf. Ez 47:1). Grammatically, it goes better with the believer.
- 7:39 No Spirit yet: Codex Vaticanus and early Latin, Syriac, and Coptic versions add “given.” In this gospel, the sending of the Spirit cannot take place until Jesus’ glorification through his death, resurrection, and ascension; cf. Jn 20:22.
- 7:40–53 Discussion of the Davidic lineage of the Messiah.
- 7:53–8:11 The story of the woman caught in adultery is a later insertion here, missing from all early Greek manuscripts. A Western text-type insertion, attested mainly in Old Latin translations, it is found in different places in different manuscripts: here, or after Jn 7:36 or at the end of this gospel, or after Lk 21:38, or at the end of that gospel. There are many non-Johannine features in the language, and there are also many doubtful readings within the passage. The style and motifs are similar to those of Luke, and it fits better with the general situation at the end of Lk 21, but it was probably inserted here because of the allusion to Jer 17:13 (cf. note on Jn 8:6) and the statement, “I do not judge anyone,” in Jn 8:15. The Catholic Church accepts this passage as canonical scripture.
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