⁸ “But thus says the Lord: Like ^(A)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^(B)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^(C)dwell in the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, ² Azariah the son of ^(A)Hoshaiah and ^(B)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(C)all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, ^(D)‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ ³ but ^(E)Baruch the son of Neriah ^(F)has set you against us, ^(G)to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” ⁴ So ^(H)Johanan the son of Kareah and all ^(I)the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took ^(J)all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— ^6 (K)the men, the women, the children, ^(L)the princesses, and every person whom ^(M)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with ^(N)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷ And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at ^(O)Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in ^(P)Tahpanhes: ⁹ “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in ^(Q)Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(R)my servant, ^(S)and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. ¹¹ He shall come ^(T)and strike the land of Egypt, ^(U)giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. ^12 (V)I shall kindle a fire ^(W)in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them ^(X)and carry them away captive. ^(Y)And he shall clean the land of Egypt ^(Z)as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. ¹³ He shall break the ^(AA)obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, ^(AB)and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

Judgment for Idolatry

44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at ^(AC)Migdol, at ^(AD)Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of ^(AE)Pathros,

² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³ Then all ^(A)the officials of the king of Babylon came ^(B)and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim ^(C)the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward ^(D)the Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in ^(E)the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at ^(F)Riblah, in the land of Hamath; ^(G)and he passed sentence on him. ⁶ The king of Babylon ^(H)slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at ^(I)Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon ^(J)slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. ^7 (K)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. ^8 (L)The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, ^(M)and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then ^(N)Nebuzaradan, the ^(O)captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, ^(P)those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained.

¹⁷ King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him ^(A)secretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, ^(B)“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁶ thus says the Lord concerning ^(A)the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ¹⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them ^(B)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(C)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with ^(D)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(E)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(F)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(G)where I have driven them,

² One basket had very good figs, ^(A)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^(B)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

¹¹ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ¹² “Say now to ^(A)the rebellious house, ^(B)Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold, ^(C)the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon. ^13 (D)And he took one of the royal offspring^{[a] (E)}and made a covenant with him, ^(F)putting him under oath (^(G)the chief men of the land he had taken away), ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up, and keep his covenant that it might stand. ^15 (H)But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors ^(I)to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army. ^(J)Will he thrive? Can one escape who does such things? Can he ^(K)break the covenant and yet escape?

^16 (L)“As I live, declares the Lord God, surely ^(M)in the place where the king dwells ^(N)who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. ^17 (O)Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, ^(P)when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. ¹⁸ He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head. ^20 (Q)I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon ^(R)and enter into judgment with him there ^(S)for the treachery he has committed against me. ²¹ And all the pick^[b] of his troops shall fall by the sword, ^(T)and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that ^(U)I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

^12 (A)And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage upon his shoulder at dusk, and shall go out. ^(B)They shall dig through the wall to bring him out through it. ^(C)He shall cover his face, that he may not see the land with his eyes. ^13 (D)And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And ^(E)I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, ^(F)yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there. ^14 (G)And I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops, ^(H)and I will unsheathe the sword after them. ^15 (I)And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries. ^16 (J)But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go, ^(K)and may know that I am the Lord.”

² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(A)according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ³ For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ^4 (B)And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. ⁵ So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. ⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. ⁹ Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. ¹⁰ The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at ^(C)Riblah. ^11 (D)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison ^(E)till the day of his death.