A Prophecy against Zedekiah

34 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^(A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with ^(B)all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his ^[a]control and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, ² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘^(C)Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, ^(D)I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon, and ^(E)he will burn it with fire. ³ And as for you, ^(F)you will not escape from his hand, for you will assuredly be caught and handed over to him; and you will ^(G)see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you ^[b]face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’”’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah! This is what the Lord says concerning you: ‘You will not die by the sword. ⁵ You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will ^(H)burn spices for you; and ^(I)they will mourn for you, crying, “Oh, my lord!”’ For I have spoken the word,” declares the Lord.

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke ^(J)all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and all the remaining cities of Judah, that is, ^(K)Lachish and ^(L)Azekah, for they alone remained as ^(M)fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had ^(N)made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to ^(O)proclaim ^[c]release to them: ⁹ that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, a ^(P)Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that ^(Q)no one would keep them, his Jewish brother or sister, in bondage. ¹⁰ And all the ^(R)officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, so that no one would keep them in bondage any longer; they obeyed, and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male servants and as female servants.

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ¹³ “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I ^(S)made a covenant with your forefathers on the day that I ^(T)brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴ “^(U)At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who ^[d]has been sold to you and has served you for six years, and you shall send him out free from you.” But your forefathers ^(V)did not obey Me nor incline their ear to Me. ¹⁵ Although recently you had turned and ^(W)done what is right in My sight, each one proclaiming ^[e]release to his neighbor, and you had ^(X)made a covenant before Me ^(Y)in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Yet you ^(Z)turned and ^(AA)profaned My name, and each person ^[f]took back his male servant and each his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male and female servants.’

¹⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming ^[g]release, each one to his brother and each to his neighbor. Behold, I am ^(AB)proclaiming a ^[h]release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the ^(AC)sword, to the plague, and to the famine; and I will make you a ^(AD)terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ I will give the people who have ^(AE)violated My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they ^(AF)cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the ^(AG)officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the high officials and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who ^(AH)seek their lives. And their ^(AI)dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. ^21 (AJ)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will also hand over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives, and to the army of the king of Babylon which has ^(AK)withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, I am going to give a command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it and ^(AL)take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ^(AM)desolation ^(AN)without inhabitant.’”

The Rechabites’ Obedience

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ^(AO)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(AP)Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the ^(AQ)chambers, and give them wine to drink.” ³ So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, and all the household of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the ^(AR)man of God, which was next to the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(AS)the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set before the ^[i]men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “^(AT)Drink wine!” ⁶ But they said, “We will not drink wine, for ^(AU)Jonadab the son of ^(AV)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall ^(AW)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed nor plant a vineyard, nor ^[j]own one; but you shall live in ^(AX)tents all your days, so that you may live ^(AY)many days ^[k]in the land where you ^(AZ)live as strangers.’ ⁸ And we have ^(BA)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to live in; and we ^(BB)do not have a vineyard, a field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have ^(BC)lived only in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that our father ^(BD)Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹ However, when ^(BE)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let’s ^(BF)go to Jerusalem away from the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.’ So we have lived in Jerusalem.”

Judah Rebuked

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “^(BG)Will you not accept instruction by listening to My words?” declares the Lord. ¹⁴ “The ^(BH)words of Jonadab the son of Rechab have been followed, which he commanded his sons: not to drink wine. And they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you ^(BI)again and again, yet you have ^(BJ)not listened to Me. ¹⁵ Also I have sent to you all My ^(BK)servants the prophets, sending them again and again, saying: ‘^(BL)Turn now every person from his evil way and amend your deeds, and ^(BM)do not follow other gods to worship them. Then you will ^(BN)live in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not ^(BO)inclined your ear or listened to Me. ¹⁶ Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have ^(BP)followed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’ ¹⁷ Therefore this is what the Lord says, the God of armies, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, ^(BQ)I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I ^(BR)spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have ^(BS)obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands, and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Jonadab the son of Rechab ^(BT)will not lack a man to ^(BU)stand before Me ^[l]always.”’”

Be Subject to Government

13 Every ^[a](A)person is to be ^(B)subject to the governing authorities. For ^(C)there is no authority except ^[b]from God, and those which exist are established by God. ² Therefore ^[c]whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. ³ For ^(D)rulers are not a cause of fear for ^[d]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; ⁴ for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an ^(E)avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. ⁵ Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also ^(F)for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. ^7 (G)Pay to all what is due them: ^(H)tax to whom tax is due; ^(I)custom to whom custom; ^[e]respect to whom ^[f]respect; honor to whom honor.

⁸ Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for ^(J)the one who loves ^[g]his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. ⁹ For this, “^(K)You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “^(L)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love ^[h]does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^(M)love is the fulfillment of the Law.

¹¹ Do this, knowing the time, that it is ^(N)already the hour for you to ^(O)awaken from sleep; for now ^[i]salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. ^12 (P)The night is almost gone, and ^(Q)the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of ^(R)the deeds of darkness and put on ^(S)the armor of light. ¹³ Let’s ^[j](T)behave properly as in the day, ^(U)not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But ^(V)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh ^(W)in regard to its lusts.

Principles of Conscience

14 Now ^(X)accept the one who is ^(Y)weak ^[k]in faith, but not ^[l]to have quarrels over opinions. ^2 (Z)One person has faith that he may eat all things, but the one who is ^(AA)weak eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats is not to ^(AB)regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to ^(AC)judge the one who eats, for God has ^(AD)accepted him. ^4 (AE)Who are you to judge the ^[m]servant of another? To his own ^[n]master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

^5 (AF)One person ^[o]values one day over another, another ^[p]values every day the same. Each person must be ^(AG)fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and the one who eats, ^[q]does so with regard to the Lord, for he ^(AH)gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat, and he gives thanks to God. ⁷ For not one of us ^(AI)lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; ⁸ for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore ^(AJ)whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end ^(AK)Christ died and lived again, that He might be ^(AL)Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰ But as for you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you as well, why do you ^(AM)regard your brother or sister with contempt? For ^(AN)we will all appear before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written:

¹² So then ^(AQ)each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³ Therefore let’s not ^(AR)judge one another anymore, but rather ^[s]determine this: ^(AS)not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s or sister’s way. ¹⁴ I know and am convinced ^[t]in the Lord Jesus that ^(AT)nothing is ^[u]unclean in itself; but to the one who ^(AU)thinks something is ^[v]unclean, to that person it is ^[w]unclean. ¹⁵ For if because of food your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer ^(AV)walking in accordance with love. ^(AW)Do not destroy with your choice of food that person for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(AX)do not let what is for you a good thing be ^[x]spoken of as evil; ¹⁷ for the kingdom of God ^(AY)is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and ^(AZ)peace and ^(BA)joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the one who ^(BB)serves Christ in this way is ^(BC)acceptable to God and approved by other people. ¹⁹ So then we ^(BD)pursue the things ^[y]which make for peace and the ^(BE)building up of one another. ^20 (BF)Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. ^(BG)All things indeed are clean, but ^(BH)they are evil for the person who eats ^[z]and causes offense. ^21 (BI)It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles. ²² The faith which you have, have ^[aa]as your own conviction before God. Happy is the one who ^(BJ)does not condemn himself in what he approves. ²³ But ^(BK)the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.