Jeremiah 20-22

New American Standard Bible

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

20 When Pashhur the priest, the son of ^(A)Immer, who was ^(B)chief overseer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ²Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet ^(C)beaten and put him in the ^(D)stocks that were at the upper ^(E)Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord. ³Then on the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the Lord has ^(F)called you, but rather ^[a]^(G)Magor-missabib. ⁴For this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to make you a ^(H)horror to yourself and to all your friends; and while ^(I)your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will ^(J)hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will take them away as ^(K)exiles to Babylon and will kill them with the sword. ⁵I will also give all the ^(L)wealth of this city, all its produce and all its valuable things—even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will ^(M)hand over to their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon. ⁶And you, ^(N)Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your ^(O)friends to whom you have ^(P)falsely prophesied.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁷Lord, You persuaded me and I let myself be persuaded;
You have ^(Q)overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a ^(R)laughingstock all day long;
Everyone ^(S)mocks me.
⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I ^(T)proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the ^(U)word of the Lord has ^[b]resulted
In taunting and derision all day long.
⁹But if I say, “I will not ^(V)remember Him
Nor speak anymore in His name,”
Then in ^(W)my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am tired of holding it in,
And ^(X)I cannot endure it.
¹⁰For ^(Y)I have heard the whispering of many,
“^(Z)Terror on every side!
^(AA)Denounce him; let’s denounce him!”
^[c]All my ^(AB)trusted friends,
Watching for my fall, say:
“Perhaps he will be persuaded, so that we may ^(AC)prevail against him
And take our revenge on him.”
¹¹But the ^(AD)Lord is with me like a powerful champion;
Therefore my ^(AE)persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be put to great shame because they have ^[d]failed,
An ^(AF)everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.
¹²Yet, Lord of armies, who ^(AG)tests the righteous,
Who sees the ^[e]mind and the heart;
Let me ^(AH)see Your vengeance on them,
For ^(AI)to You I have disclosed my cause.
¹³^(AJ)Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord!
For He has ^(AK)saved the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the ^(AL)day when I was born;
May the day when my mother gave birth to me not be blessed!
¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
“A ^[f]^(AM)boy has been born to you!”
And made him very happy.
¹⁶But may that man be like the cities
Which the Lord ^(AN)overthrew without ^[g]relenting,
And may he hear an ^(AO)outcry in the morning
And ^[h]an alarm for war at noon;
¹⁷Because he did not ^(AP)kill me ^[i]before birth,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb forever pregnant.
¹⁸Why did I ever come out of the womb
To ^(AQ)look at trouble and sorrow,
So that my ^(AR)days have been spent in ^(AS)shame?

Jeremiah’s Message for Zedekiah

21 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when ^(AT)King Zedekiah sent to him ^(AU)Pashhur the son of Malchijah and ^(AV)Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, ²“Please ^(AW)inquire of the Lord in our behalf, because ^(AX)Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(AY)Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the Lord will deal with us ^(AZ)in accordance with all His ^[j]wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us.”

³But Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows: ⁴‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to ^(BA)turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are making war against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will ^(BB)gather them into the middle of this city. ⁵And I ^(BC)Myself will make war against you with an ^(BD)outstretched hand and a mighty arm, and in ^(BE)anger, wrath, and great indignation. ⁶I will also strike the inhabitants of this city, both the people and the animals; they will die of a great ^(BF)plague. ⁷Then afterward,” declares the Lord, “^(BG)I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, that is, those who survive in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to their enemies, and to those who seek their lives; and he will strike and kill them with the edge of the sword. He ^(BH)will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.”’

⁸“You shall also say to this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am ^(BI)setting before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹Anyone who ^(BJ)stays in this city will die by the ^(BK)sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who leaves and goes over to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as plunder. ¹⁰For I have ^(BL)set My face against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the Lord. “It will be ^(BM)handed over to the king of Babylon and he will ^(BN)burn it with fire.”’

¹¹“Then say to the household of the ^(BO)king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹²^(BP)house of David, this is what the Lord says:

“^(BQ)Administer justice ^[k]every ^(BR)morning;
And save the person who has been robbed from the ^[l]power of his oppressor,
^(BS)So that My wrath will not spread like fire
And ^(BT)burn, with no one to extinguish it,
Because of the evil of their deeds.

¹³“Behold, ^(BU)I am against you, you inhabitant of the ^(BV)valley,
You ^[m]rocky plain,” declares the Lord,
“You who say, ‘^(BW)Who will come down against us?
Or who will enter our dwellings?’
¹⁴But I will punish you ^(BX)according to the ^[n]results of your deeds,” declares the Lord,
“And I will ^(BY)kindle a fire in its forest
So that it may devour all its surroundings.”’”

Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word, ²and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who ^(BZ)sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. ³This is what the Lord says: “^(CA)Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his ^(CB)oppressor. And ^(CC)do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not ^(CD)shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you will indeed perform this ^[o]instruction, then ^(CE)kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting ^[p]in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, the king himself, his servants, and his people. ⁵^(CF)But if you will not obey these words, I ^(CG)swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a place of ruins.”’” ⁶For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like ^(CH)Gilead to Me,
Like the summit of Lebanon;
Yet most assuredly I will make you a ^(CI)wilderness,
Cities that are not inhabited.
⁷For I will set apart ^(CJ)destroyers against you,
Each with his weapons;
And they will ^(CK)cut down your choicest cedars
And ^(CL)throw them on the fire.

⁸“Many nations will pass by this city; and they will ^(CM)say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this great city?’ ⁹Then they will ^[q]answer, ‘Because they ^(CN)abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’”

¹⁰^(CO)Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him,
But weep deeply for the one who goes away;
For ^(CP)he will never return
Or see his native land.

¹¹For this is what the Lord says regarding ^[r]^(CQ)Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of his father Josiah, who went out from this place: “He will never return there; ¹²but in the place where they took him into exile, there he will ^(CR)die and he will not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

¹³“Woe to him who builds his house ^(CS)without righteousness,
And his upstairs rooms without justice,
Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay
And ^(CT)does not give him his wages,
¹⁴Who says, ‘I will ^(CU)build myself a large house
With spacious upstairs rooms,
And cut out its windows,
^[s]Paneling it with ^(CV)cedar and painting it ^[t]bright red.’
¹⁵Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?
Did your father not eat and drink
And ^(CW)do justice and righteousness?
Then it was ^(CX)well for him.
¹⁶He pled the cause of the ^(CY)afflicted and the poor,
Then it was well.
^(CZ)Is that not what it means to know Me?”
Declares the Lord.
¹⁷“But your eyes and your heart
Are intent only upon your own ^(DA)dishonest gain,
And on ^(DB)shedding innocent blood,
And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the Lord says regarding ^(DC)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

“They will not ^(DD)mourn for him:
‘^(DE)Oh, my brother!’ or, ‘Oh, sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
‘Oh, for the master!’ or, ‘Oh, for his splendor!’
¹⁹He will be ^(DF)buried with a donkey’s burial,
Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
And raise your voice in Bashan;
Cry out also from ^(DG)Abarim,
For all your ^(DH)lovers have been crushed.
²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity;
But ^(DI)you said, ‘I will not listen!’
^(DJ)This has been your way ^(DK)from your youth,
That you have not obeyed My voice.
²²The wind will sweep away all your ^(DL)shepherds,
And your ^(DM)lovers will go into captivity;
Then you will certainly be ^(DN)ashamed and humiliated
Because of all your wickedness.
²³You who live in Lebanon,
Nested in the cedars,
How you will groan when sharp pains come on you,
^(DO)Pain like a woman in childbirth!

²⁴“As I live,” declares the Lord, “even if ^[u]^(DP)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a ^(DQ)signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull ^[v]you ^[w]off; ²⁵and I will ^(DR)hand you over to those who are seeking your life, yes, to those of whom you are frightened, that is, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans. ²⁶I will ^(DS)hurl you and your ^(DT)mother who gave birth to you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. ²⁷But as for the land to which they long to return, they will not return to it.

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an ^(DU)undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his descendants been ^(DV)hurled out
And cast into a ^(DW)land that they had not known?
²⁹^(DX)O land, land, land,
Hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰This is what the Lord says:

‘Write this man down as ^(DY)childless,
A man who will ^(DZ)not prosper in his days;
For no man among his ^(EA)descendants will prosper
Sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling again in Judah.’”