Jeremiah 19:14-22:23
English Standard Version
14 Then Jeremiah came from (A)Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, (B)and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, (C)because they have stiffened their neck, (D)refusing to hear my words.”
Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur
20 Now (E)Pashhur the priest, the son of (F)Immer, who was (G)chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then (H)Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him (I)in the stocks that were in the upper (J)Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. 3 The next day, when (K)Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name (L)Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4 For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you (M)a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. 5 Moreover, (N)I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its (O)prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, (P)Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, (Q)to whom you have prophesied falsely.”
7 O Lord, (R)you have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
(S)you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
(T)I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, (U)“Violence and destruction!”
For (V)the word of the Lord has become for me
(W)a reproach and (X)derision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
(Y)there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and (Z)I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 (AA)For I hear many whispering.
(AB)Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! (AC)Let us denounce him!”
say all my (AD)close friends,
(AE)watching for (AF)my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then (AG)we can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But (AH)the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
(AI)they will not overcome me.
(AJ)They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their (AK)eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,
(AL)who sees the heart and the mind,[a]
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
13 (AM)Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
14 (AN)Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
(AO)making him very glad.
16 Let that man be like (AP)the cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
(AQ)let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,
17 (AR)because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb forever great.
18 (AS)Why did I come out from the womb
(AT)to see toil and sorrow,
and spend my days in shame?
Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him (AU)Pashhur the son of Malchiah and (AV)Zephaniah the priest, the son of (AW)Maaseiah, saying, 2 (AX)“Inquire of the Lord for us, (AY)for Nebuchadnezzar[b] king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to (AZ)all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: (BA)Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. (BB)And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you (BC)with outstretched hand and strong arm, (BD)in anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, (BE)I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. (BF)He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’
8 “And to this people you shall say: (BG)‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, (BH)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city shall die (BI)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and (BJ)surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live (BK)and shall have his life as a prize of war. 10 For (BL)I have set my face against this city for harm and (BM)not for good, declares the Lord: (BN)it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’
Message to the House of David
11 “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
(BO)“‘Execute justice (BP)in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
him who has been robbed,
(BQ)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of your evil deeds.’”
13 (BR)“Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
O rock of the plain,
declares the Lord;
you who say, (BS)‘Who shall come down against us,
or who shall enter our habitations?’
14 (BT)I will punish you according to (BU)the fruit of your deeds,
declares the Lord;
(BV)I will kindle a fire in her forest,
(BW)and it shall devour all that is around her.”
22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, (BX)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: (BY)Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And (BZ)do no wrong or violence (CA)to the resident alien, (CB)the fatherless, and the widow, nor (CC)shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, (CD)then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I (CE)swear by myself, declares the Lord, that (CF)this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of (CG)Lebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
(CH)an uninhabited city.[c]
7 (CI)I will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
(CJ)and they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, (CK)“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 (CL)And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”
10 (CM)Weep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
(CN)but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and (CO)who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but (CP)in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”
13 (CQ)“Woe to him who builds his house by (CR)unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
(CS)who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and (CT)painting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and (CU)do justice and righteousness?
(CV)Then it was well with him.
16 (CW)He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
(CX)then it was well.
Is not this (CY)to know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
(CZ)for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
(DA)“They shall not lament for him, saying,
(DB)‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
(DC)‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey (DD)he shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from (DE)Abarim,
for all (DF)your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
(DG)This has been your way from (DH)your youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 (DI)The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and (DJ)your lovers shall go into captivity;
(DK)then you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of (DL)Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
(DM)pain as of a woman in labor!”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 20:12 Hebrew kidneys
- Jeremiah 21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, an alternate spelling of Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) occurring frequently from Jeremiah 21–52; this latter spelling is used throughout Jeremiah for consistency
- Jeremiah 22:6 Hebrew cities
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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