Jeremiah in the Dungeon

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(A)Jucal^[a] the son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchiah ^(C)heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(D)‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’ ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(E)‘This city shall surely be ^(F)given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”

⁴ Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, ^(G)let this man be put to death, for thus he ^[b]weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the ^[c]welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵ Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.” ^6 (H)So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah ^[d]the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

^7 (I)Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the ^[e]eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is ^(J)no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹² Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so. ¹³ So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained ^(K)in the court of the prison.

Zedekiah’s Fears and Jeremiah’s Advice

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ^(L)ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, ^(M)who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely ^(N)surrender^{[f] (O)}to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not ^[g]surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and ^(P)you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”

¹⁹ And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have ^(Q)defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they ^(R)abuse me.”

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall be ^(S)well with you, and your soul shall live. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^[h]surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Now behold, all the ^(T)women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say:

²³ ‘So they shall surrender all your wives and ^(U)children to the Chaldeans. ^(V)You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(W)‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return ^(X)to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

²⁷ Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard. ²⁸ Now ^(Y)Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(A)

39 In the ^(B)ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. ² In the ^(C)eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the ^[a]city was penetrated.

^3 (D)Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, ^[b]Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, ^[c]Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

^4 (E)So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the ^[d]plain. ⁵ But the Chaldean army pursued them and ^(F)overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to ^(G)Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his ^(H)eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the ^(I)nobles of Judah. ⁷ Moreover ^(J)he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze ^[e]fetters to carry him off to Babylon. ^8 (K)And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with ^(L)fire, and broke down the ^(M)walls of Jerusalem. ^9 (N)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who ^(O)defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the ^(P)poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[f]at the same time.

Jeremiah Goes Free

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ¹² “Take him and look after him, and do him no ^(Q)harm; but do to him just as he says to you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief officers; ¹⁴ then they sent someone ^(R)to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him ^(S)to Gedaliah the son of ^(T)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

¹⁵ Meanwhile the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(U)Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(V)I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but ^(W)your life shall be as a prize to you, ^(X)because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’ ”

The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed^(A)

52 Zedekiah was ^(B)twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of ^(C)Libnah. ² He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ³ For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah ^(D)rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴ Now it came to pass in the ^(E)ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. ⁵ So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷ Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the ^[a]plain.

⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. ^9 (F)So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. ^10 (G)Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹ He also ^(H)put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in ^[b]bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

The Temple and City Plundered and Burned

^12 (I)Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (^(J)which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ^(K)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³ He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. ¹⁴ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. ^15 (L)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

^17 (M)The ^(N)bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took away ^(O)the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the ^[c]bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. ¹⁹ The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. ²⁰ The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—^(P)the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹ Now concerning the ^(Q)pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen ^[d]cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was ^[e]four fingers; it was hollow. ²² A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; ^(R)all the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.

The People Taken Captive to Babylonia

^24 (S)The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, ^(T)Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵ He also took out of the city an ^[f]officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶ And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

^28 (U)These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: ^(V)in the seventh year, ^(W)three thousand and twenty-three Jews; ^29 (X)in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; ³⁰ in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison^(Y)

^31 (Z)Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that ^[g]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, ^(AA)lifted^[h] up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. ³² And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So ^[i]Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, ^(AB)and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. ³⁴ And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Our Inheritance Through Christ’s Blood

2 Therefore, ^(A)laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ^2 (B)as newborn babes, desire the pure ^(C)milk of the word, that you may grow ^[a]thereby, ³ if indeed you have ^(D)tasted that the Lord is gracious.

The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People^(E)

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, ^(F)rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who ^[b]are disobedient,

⁸ and

^(J)They stumble, being disobedient to the word, ^(K)to which they also were appointed.

⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of ^(L)darkness into His marvelous light; ^10 (M)who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Living Before the World

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts ^(N)which war against the soul, ^12 (O)having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(P)they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submission to Government^(Q)

^13 (R)Therefore submit yourselves to every ^[c]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ^16 (S)as free, yet not ^(T)using liberty as a cloak for ^[d]vice, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear ^(U)God. Honor the king.

Submission to Masters^(V)

^18 (W)Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is ^(X)commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For ^(Y)what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For ^(Z)to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for ^[e]us, ^(AA)leaving ^[f]us an example, that you should follow His steps:

^23 (AC)who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but ^(AD)committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; ^24 (AE)who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, ^(AF)that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—^(AG)by whose ^[g]stripes you were healed. ²⁵ For ^(AH)you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned ^(AI)to the Shepherd and ^[h]Overseer of your souls.