Judah Overrun by Enemies

24 In ^(A)his days Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(B)Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ^2 (C)And the Lord sent against him raiding ^[a]bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(D)according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. ³ Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight ^(E)because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, ^4 (F)and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.

The Obedient Rechabites

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(A)Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of ^(B)the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”

³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house 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, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(C)the keeper of the ^[a]door. ⁵ Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

⁶ But they said, “We will drink no wine, for ^(D)Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink ^(E)no wine, you nor your sons, forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, ^(F)that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.’ ⁸ Thus we have ^(G)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us ^(H)go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So we dwell at Jerusalem.”

¹² Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not ^(I)receive instruction to ^[b]obey My words?” says the Lord. ¹⁴ “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment. ^(J)But although I have spoken to you, ^(K)rising early and speaking, you did not ^[c]obey Me. ¹⁵ I have also sent to you all My ^(L)servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ^(M)‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will ^(N)dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me. ¹⁶ Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their ^(O)father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” ’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; ^(P)because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.’ ”

¹⁸ And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to ^(Q)stand before Me forever.” ’ ”

⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then ^[a]Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁷ And ^(A)the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for ^(B)the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin^(C)

^8 (D)Jehoiachin^[a] was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

^10 (E)At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city ^[b]was besieged. ¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it. ^12 (F)Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, ^(G)in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.

The Captivity of Jerusalem

^13 (H)And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he ^(I)cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, ^(J)as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ Also ^(K)he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ^(L)ten thousand captives, and ^(M)all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except ^(N)the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ And ^(O)he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ^16 (P)All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

Zedekiah’s Vain Hope^(A)

37 Now King ^(B)Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

^18 (A)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(B)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ^19 (C)He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

^2 (A)But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.