¹⁶ Now ^(A)at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have appointed you as a ^(B)watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, ^(C)warn them from Me. ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person shall die for wrongdoing, but his ^(D)blood I will require from your hand. ¹⁹ However if you have ^(E)warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for wrongdoing, but you have ^(F)saved yourself. ²⁰ Again, ^(G)when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits sin, and I place an ^(H)obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require from your hand. ²¹ However, if you have ^(I)warned ^[a]the righteous person that the righteous is not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he took warning; and you have saved yourself.”

²² Now the hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will ^(J)speak to you.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the ^(K)glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory that ^(L)I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. ²⁴ But the ^(M)Spirit entered me and set me up on my feet; and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house. ²⁵ And as for you, son of man, they will ^(N)put ropes ^[b]around you and bind you with them so that you do not go out among them. ²⁶ Moreover, ^(O)I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be unable to speak and will not be a man who reprimands them, since they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ But ^(P)when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ^[c]God says:’ The one who hears, let him hear; and the one who refuses, let him refuse; ^(Q)for they are a rebellious house.

Siege of Jerusalem Predicted

4 “Now you, son of man, ^(R)get yourself a brick, place it before you, and inscribe a city on it—Jerusalem. ² Then ^(S)lay siege against it, build a siege wall, pile up an assault ramp, set up camps, and place battering rams against it all around. ³ Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city, and direct your face toward it so that ^(T)it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a ^(U)sign to the house of Israel.

⁴ “Then you are to lie down on your left side and put the wrongdoing of the house of Israel on it; you shall ^(V)bear their wrongdoing for the number of days that you lie on it. ⁵ For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their wrongdoing, 390 days; so ^(W)you shall bear the wrongdoing of the house of Israel. ⁶ When you have completed these days, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the wrongdoing of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for ^(X)each year. ⁷ Then you shall direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and ^(Y)prophesy against it. ⁸ Now behold, I will ^(Z)put ropes ^[d]around you so that you cannot turn from your one side to your other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Defiled Bread

⁹ “But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and ^(AA)spelt, and put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, 390 days. ¹⁰ Your food which you eat shall be ^(AB)twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. ¹¹ The water you drink shall be a ^[e]sixth of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. ¹² You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human ^(AC)dung.” ¹³ Then the Lord said, “In this way the sons of Israel will eat their bread ^(AD)unclean among the nations where I will scatter them.” ¹⁴ But I said, “^(AE)Oh, Lord ^[f]God! Behold, ^[g]I have ^(AF)never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what ^(AG)died of itself or was torn by animals, nor has any ^(AH)unclean meat ever entered my mouth!” ¹⁵ Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung, so that you may prepare your bread over it.” ¹⁶ Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to ^(AI)break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by ^(AJ)weight and with anxiety, and drink water by ^(AK)measure and in horror, ¹⁷ because bread and water will be scarce; and they will tremble with one another and ^(AL)waste away in their guilt.

The Nations to Submit to Nebuchadnezzar

27 In the beginning of the reign of ^[a](A)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying— ² this is what the Lord has said to me: “Make for yourself ^(B)restraints and ^(C)yokes and put them on your neck, ³ and send ^[b]word to the king of ^(D)Edom, the king of ^(E)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(F)Ammon, the king of ^(G)Tyre, and to the king of ^(H)Sidon ^[c]by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ Order them to go to their masters, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵ ‘^(I)I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth ^(J)by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will ^(K)give it to the one who is ^[d]pleasing in My sight. ⁶ And now I ^(L)have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(M)My servant, and I have also given him the ^(N)animals of the field to serve him. ^7 (O)All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson ^(P)until the time of his own land comes; then ^(Q)many nations and great kings will ^[e]make him their servant.

⁸ ‘And it will be that the nation or the kingdom which ^(R)will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the ^(S)sword, with famine, and with plague,’ declares the Lord, ‘until I have eliminated ^[f]it by his hand. ⁹ And as for you, ^(T)do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your ^[g]dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who talk to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ For they are prophesying a ^(U)lie to you in order to ^(V)remove you far from your land; and I will drive you away and you will perish. ¹¹ But the nation that will ^(W)bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will ^(X)let remain on its land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and they will cultivate it and live in it.’”’”

¹² I spoke words like all these to ^(Y)Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live! ¹³ Why should you ^(Z)die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the Lord has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ So ^(AA)do not listen to the words of the prophets who talk to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a ^(AB)lie to you; ¹⁵ for ^(AC)I have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they are ^(AD)prophesying falsely in My name, so that I will ^(AE)drive you away and that you will perish, ^(AF)you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the ^(AG)vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they are prophesying a ^(AH)lie to you. ¹⁷ Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city ^(AI)become a place of ruins? ¹⁸ But ^(AJ)if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, have them now ^(AK)plead with the Lord of armies that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord and the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem do not go to Babylon. ¹⁹ For this is what the Lord of armies says concerning the ^(AL)pillars, concerning the ^[h]sea, concerning the kettle stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he ^(AM)led into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ Yes, this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: ²² “They will be ^(AN)brought to Babylon and will be there until the ^(AO)day I visit them,” declares the Lord. “Then I will ^(AP)bring them ^[i]back and restore them to this place.”’”

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

28 Now in the same year, ^(AQ)in the beginning of the reign of ^(AR)Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, ^(AS)Hananiah the prophet the son of Azzur, who was from ^(AT)Gibeon, spoke to me at the house of the Lord in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying, ² “^(AU)This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two years I am going to bring back to this place ^(AV)all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and brought to Babylon. ⁴ I am ^(AW)also going to bring back to this place ^(AX)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the ^(AY)exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the ^(AZ)yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

⁵ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the sight of the priests and in the sight of all the people who were standing at the ^(BA)house of the Lord, ⁶ and Jeremiah the prophet said, “^(BB)Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord’s house and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place. ⁷ Yet ^(BC)hear now this word which I am going to speak ^[j]so that you and all the people can hear it! ⁸ The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times also ^(BD)prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms regarding war, disaster, and plague. ⁹ As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, ^(BE)when the word of the prophet comes to pass, then that prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the ^(BF)yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it. ¹¹ Hananiah spoke in the sight of all the people, saying, “^(BG)This is what the Lord says: ‘Even so within two full years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’” Then Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹² Then the ^(BH)word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ¹³ “Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but in their place you have made ^(BI)yokes of iron.” ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “I have put a ^(BJ)yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall ^(BK)serve him. And ^(BL)I have also given him the animals of the field.”’” ¹⁵ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah: the Lord has not sent you, and ^(BM)you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘^(BN)Behold, I am going to ^[k]remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to ^(BO)die, because you ^(BP)spoke falsely against the Lord.’”

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

⁵⁹ The ^[a]command that Jeremiah the prophet ^[b]gave Seraiah the son of ^(A)Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with ^(B)Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (And Seraiah was quartermaster.) ⁶⁰ Jeremiah ^(C)wrote ^[c]on a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹ Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, ⁶² and say, ‘You, Lord, have ^[d]promised concerning this place to ^(D)cut it off, so that there will be ^(E)nothing living in it, ^[e]whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.’ ⁶³ And as soon as you finish reading this ^[f]scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and ^(F)throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴ and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and ^(G)not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become ^(H)exhausted.’” ^(I)To this point are the words of Jeremiah.