A Watchman for Israel

^16 (A)And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: ^17 (B)“Son of man, ^(C)I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall ^(D)give them warning from me. ^18 (E)If I say to the wicked, ^(F)‘You shall surely die,’ ^(G)and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person ^(H)shall die for^[a] his iniquity, ^(I)but his blood I will require at your hand. ^19 (J)But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, ^(K)but you ^(L)will have delivered your soul. ^20 (M)Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, ^(N)and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. ^(O)Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, ^(P)and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, ^(Q)but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

^22 (R)And the hand of the Lord was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into ^(S)the valley,^[b] and ^(T)there I will speak with you.” ²³ So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, ^(U)the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen ^(V)by the Chebar canal, ^(W)and I fell on my face. ^24 (X)But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. ²⁵ And you, O son of man, behold, ^(Y)cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. ²⁶ And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that ^(Z)you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, ^(AA)for they are a rebellious house. ^27 (AB)But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ^(AC)‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ^(AD)He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

4 “And you, ^(AE)son of man, ^(AF)take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. ^2 (AG)And put siegeworks against it, ^(AH)and build a siege wall against it, ^(AI)and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, ^(AJ)and plant battering rams against it all around. ³ And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; ^(AK)and set your face toward it, ^(AL)and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is ^(AM)a sign for the house of Israel.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment^[c] of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, ^(AN)you shall bear their punishment. ⁵ For I assign to you a number of days, ^(AO)390 days, ^(AP)equal to the number of the years of their punishment. ^(AQ)So long shall you bear ^(AR)the punishment of the house of Israel. ⁶ And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and ^(AS)bear ^(AT)the punishment of the house of Judah. ^(AU)Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. ^7 (AV)And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, ^(AW)with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. ⁸ And behold, ^(AX)I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed ^(AY)the days of your siege.

⁹ “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,^[d] and put them into a single vessel and make your ^(AZ)bread from them. ^(BA)During the number of days that you lie on your side, ^(BB)390 days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰ And your food that you eat shall be ^(BC)by weight, ^(BD)twenty shekels^[e] a day; from day to day^[f] you shall eat it. ¹¹ And water you shall drink ^(BE)by measure, the sixth part of a hin;^[g] from day to day you shall drink. ¹² And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it ^(BF)in their sight on human dung.” ¹³ And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat ^(BG)their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴ Then I said, ^(BH)“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.^{[h] (BI)}From my youth up till now I have never eaten ^(BJ)what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^(BK)tainted meat come into my mouth.” ¹⁵ Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” ¹⁶ Moreover, he said to me, ^(BL)“Son of man, behold, ^(BM)I will break the supply^[i] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^(BN)by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^(BO)by measure and in dismay. ¹⁷ I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^(BP)look at one another in dismay, and ^(BQ)rot away because of their punishment.

The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^[a] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ² Thus the Lord said to me: ^(A)“Make yourself straps and ^(B)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³ Send word^[b] to the king of ^(C)Edom, the king of ^(D)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(E)Ammon, the king of ^(F)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵ “It is I who ^(G)by my great power and my outstretched arm ^(H)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, ^(I)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ^6 (J)Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ^(K)my servant, ^(L)and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ^7 (M)All the nations shall serve him and ^(N)his son and ^(O)his grandson, ^(P)until the time of his own land comes. ^(Q)Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸ “‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(R)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(S)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹ So ^(T)do not listen to your ^(U)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(V)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ ^10 (W)For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ^11 (X)But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’”

¹² To ^(Y)Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: ^(Z)“Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^(AA)serve him and his people and live. ^13 (AB)Why will you and your people die ^(AC)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(AD)as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ^14 (AE)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ ^(AF)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁵ I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but ^(AG)they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ^(AH)Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ^(AI)‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ ^(AJ)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ^17 (AK)Do not listen to them; ^(AL)serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city ^(AM)become a desolation? ¹⁸ If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then ^(AN)let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, ^(AO)that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ^19 (AP)For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, ^(AQ)when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(AR)concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ^22 (AS)They shall be carried to Babylon ^(AT)and remain there ^(AU)until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. ^(AV)Then I will bring them back ^(AW)and restore them to this place.”

Hananiah the False Prophet

28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of ^(AX)Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of ^(AY)Azzur, the prophet from ^(AZ)Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BA)I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ^3 (BB)Within ^(BC)two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place ^(BD)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, ^(BE)for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, ⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(BF)“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. ⁷ Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ^8 (BG)The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ^9 (BH)As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the ^(BI)yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. ¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ^(BJ)“Thus says the Lord: ^(BK)Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of ^(BL)all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹² Sometime after the prophet ^(BM)Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations ^(BN)an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(BO)and they shall serve him, ^(BP)for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” ¹⁵ And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, ^(BQ)the Lord has not sent you, ^(BR)and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, ^(BS)because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

⁵⁹ The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah ^(A)the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, ^(B)in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. ^60 (C)Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, ^(D)all these words that are written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹ And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶² and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so ^(E)that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be ^(F)desolate forever.’ ⁶³ When you finish reading this book, ^(G)(H)tie a stone to it ^(I)and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴ and say, ^(J)‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, ^(K)and they shall become exhausted.’”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.