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26 Calamity will follow calamity;
    rumor will follow rumor.
They will look in vain
    for a vision from the prophets.
They will receive no teaching from the priests
    and no counsel from the leaders.

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20 Waves of destruction roll over the land,
    until it lies in complete desolation.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed;
    in a moment my shelters are crushed.

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Now the night will close around you,
    cutting off all your visions.
Darkness will cover you,
    putting an end to your predictions.
The sun will set for you prophets,
    and your day will come to an end.

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The Idolatry of Israel’s Leaders

14 Then some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were sitting with me,

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We no longer see your miraculous signs.
    All the prophets are gone,
    and no one can tell us when it will end.

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The Rebellion of Israel

20 On August 14,[a] during the seventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, some of the leaders of Israel came to request a message from the Lord. They sat down in front of me to wait for his reply. Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, tell the leaders of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: How dare you come to ask me for a message? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will tell you nothing!’

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Footnotes

  1. 20:1 Hebrew In the fifth month, on the tenth day, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was August 14, 591 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.

17 Later King Zedekiah secretly requested that Jeremiah come to the palace, where the king asked him, “Do you have any messages from the Lord?”

“Yes, I do!” said Jeremiah. “You will be defeated by the king of Babylon.”

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“Please speak to the Lord for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar[a] of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies.”

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Footnotes

  1. 21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 21:7.

A Plot against Jeremiah

18 Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.”

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11 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
    but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from border to border[a]
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:12 Hebrew from north to east.

31 So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money.

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Idolatry in the Temple

Then on September 17,[a] during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign Lord took hold of me.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:1 Hebrew on the fifth [day] of the sixth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on September 17, 592 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.

Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
    He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
    her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
    no more visions from the Lord.

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Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah

14 One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the Lord’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.”

15 Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

16 So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “As surely as the Lord our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead.”

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down. 18 But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’”

19 “But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!”

20 Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: 22 All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying,

‘What fine friends you have!
    They have betrayed and misled you.
When your feet sank in the mud,
    they left you to your fate!’

23 All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t tell anyone you told me this, or you will die! 25 My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don’t tell us, we will kill you.’ 26 If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”

27 Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king. 28 And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

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11 So disaster will overtake you,
    and you won’t be able to charm it away.
Calamity will fall upon you,
    and you won’t be able to buy your way out.
A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,
    one for which you are not prepared.

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23 I will heap disasters upon them
    and shoot them down with my arrows.

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28 then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.

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24 then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.

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21 “If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.

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18 “And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.

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