28 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

² Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³ Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:

⁴ And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord,

⁶ Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.

⁷ Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people;

⁸ The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

⁹ The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it.

¹¹ And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹² Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

¹³ Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.

¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.

¹⁵ Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.

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

29 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

² (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)

³ By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,

⁴ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;

⁵ Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;

⁶ Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

⁷ And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

⁸ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

⁹ For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

¹⁰ For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

¹² Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

¹³ And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴ And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵ Because ye have said, The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;

¹⁶ Know that thus saith the Lord of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

¹⁸ And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:

¹⁹ Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord.

²⁰ Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

²¹ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;

²² And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

²³ Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.

²⁴ Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵ Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶ The Lord hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.

²⁷ Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?

²⁸ For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

²⁹ And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰ Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,

³¹ Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:

³² Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord; because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord.

⁵⁴ And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

⁵⁵ He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶ Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

⁵⁷ But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

⁵⁹ When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

⁶⁰ So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

⁶¹ And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

⁶² He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

⁶³ The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

⁶⁶ And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷ Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

⁶⁸ But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

⁶⁹ And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

⁷⁰ He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

⁷¹ From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

⁷² So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

30 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,

² Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.

³ I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.

⁴ Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

⁵ Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

⁶ Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

⁷ Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

⁸ Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

⁹ Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

¹⁰ Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.

¹¹ There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

¹² There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

¹³ There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

¹⁴ There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

¹⁵ The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:

¹⁶ The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.

¹⁷ The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

¹⁸ There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:

¹⁹ The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

²⁰ Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

²¹ For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:

²² For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

²³ For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.

²⁴ There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:

²⁵ The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

²⁶ The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;

²⁷ The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

²⁸ The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

²⁹ There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going:

³⁰ A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;

³¹ A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.

³² If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.

³³ Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.