Zedekiah to Die in Babylon

34 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^(A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army ^(B)and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to ^(C)Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(D)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ^3 (E)You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. ^(F)You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! ^(G)Thus says the Lord concerning you: ^(H)‘You shall not die by the sword. ⁵ You shall die in peace. ^(I)And as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall ^(J)burn spices for you ^(K)and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.”

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, ^(L)Lachish and ^(M)Azekah, ^(N)for these were the only ^(O)fortified cities of Judah that remained.

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^(P)had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^(Q)to make a proclamation of liberty to them, ^9 (R)that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^(S)so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^(T)they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. ¹² The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^(U)I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ^14 (V)‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^(W)you must set him free from your service.’ But ^(X)your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. ¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(Y)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(Z)you made a covenant before me in the ^(AA)house that is called by my name, ¹⁶ but then you turned around ^(AB)and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^(AC)whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷ “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^(AD)by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^(AE)behold, I proclaim to you liberty ^(AF)to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^(AG)I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(AH)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{[a] (AI)}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^(AJ)the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^(AK)and into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^(AL)Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And ^(AM)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ^(AN)which has withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, ^(AO)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(AP)bring them back to this city. ^(AQ)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(AR)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(AS)without inhabitant.”

The Obedience of the Rechabites

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ^(AT)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ² “Go to the house of the ^(AU)Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of ^(AV)the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.” ³ So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. ⁴ I brought them to the house of the Lord into ^(AW)the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, ^(AX)the man of God, which was near ^(AY)the chamber of the officials, above ^(AZ)the chamber of ^(BA)Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(BB)keeper of the threshold. ⁵ Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” ⁶ But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for ^(BC)Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, ^(BD)that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ ⁸ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, ¹⁰ but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But ^(BE)when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of ^(BF)the army of the Chaldeans and ^(BG)the army of the Syrians.’ ^(BH)So we are living in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^(BI)Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the Lord. ¹⁴ The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. I have spoken to you ^(BJ)persistently, but you have not listened to me. ¹⁵ I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them ^(BK)persistently, saying, ^(BL)‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and ^(BM)do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ ^(BN)But you did not incline your ear or listen to me. ¹⁶ The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me. ¹⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, ^(BO)because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, ^(BP)I have called to them and they have not answered.”

¹⁸ But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man ^(BQ)to stand before me.”

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll

36 In the ^(BR)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Take ^(BS)a scroll and ^(BT)write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and ^(BU)Judah ^(BV)and all the nations, ^(BW)from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. ^3 (BX)It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, ^(BY)so that every one may turn from his evil way, and ^(BZ)that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah called ^(CA)Baruch the son of Neriah, and ^(CB)Baruch wrote on ^(CC)a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. ⁵ And Jeremiah ordered ^(CD)Baruch, saying, ^(CE)“I am banned from going to the house of the Lord, ⁶ so you are to go, and ^(CF)on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. ^7 (CG)It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, ^(CH)and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” ⁸ And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.

^9 (CI)In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^(CJ)in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem ^(CK)proclaimed a fast before the Lord. ¹⁰ Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the Lord, in ^(CL)the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord's house.

¹¹ When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of ^(CM)Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, ¹² he went down to the king's house, into the secretary's chamber, and ^(CN)all the officials were sitting there: ^(CO)Elishama the secretary, ^(CP)Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, ^(CQ)Elnathan ^(CR)the son of Achbor, ^(CS)Gemariah the son of ^(CT)Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. ¹³ And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴ Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of ^(CU)Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. ¹⁵ And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, ^(CV)“We must report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” ¹⁸ Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, ^(CW)while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.” ¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”

²⁰ So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in ^(CX)the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. ²² It was ^(CY)the ninth month, and the king was sitting in ^(CZ)the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. ²⁴ Yet ^(DA)neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, ^(DB)nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵ Even when ^(DC)Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^(DD)urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ And the king commanded Jerahmeel the ^(DE)king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and ^(DF)Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize ^(DG)Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

²⁷ Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, ^(DH)“Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” ³⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ^(DI)He shall have none ^(DJ)to sit on the throne of David, ^(DK)and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. ^31 (DL)And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to ^(DM)Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who ^(DN)wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

16 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ^2 (A)They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, ^(B)the hour is coming when ^(C)whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things ^(D)because they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴ But ^(E)I have said these things to you, that when ^(F)their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, ^(G)because I was with you. ⁵ But now ^(H)I am going to him who sent me, and ^(I)none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, ^(J)sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for ^(K)if I do not go away, ^(L)the Helper will not come to you. But ^(M)if ^(N)I go, ^(O)I will send him to you. ^8 (P)And when he comes, he will ^(Q)convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ concerning sin, ^(R)because they do not believe in me; ^10 (S)concerning righteousness, ^(T)because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ^11 (U)concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world ^(V)is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When ^(W)the Spirit of truth comes, ^(X)he will ^(Y)guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but ^(Z)whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will ^(AA)glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ^15 (AB)All that the Father has is mine; ^(AC)therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Your Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

^16 (AD)“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and ^(AE)again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷ So ^(AF)some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ^(AG)‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ^(AH)‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? ^(AI)We do not know what he is talking about.” ^19 (AJ)Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(AK)you will weep and lament, but ^(AL)the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but ^(AM)your sorrow will turn into joy. ^21 (AN)When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ^22 (AO)So also you have sorrow now, but ^(AP)I will see you again, and ^(AQ)your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ^23 (AR)In that day you will ^(AS)ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(AT)whatever you ask of the Father in my name, ^(AU)he will give it to you. ²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in my name. ^(AV)Ask, and you will receive, ^(AW)that your joy may be full.

I Have Overcome the World

²⁵ “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. ^(AX)The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ^27 (AY)for the Father himself loves you, because ^(AZ)you have loved me and ^(BA)have believed that I came from God.^{[a] 28 (BB)}I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now ^(BC)I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not ^(BD)using figurative speech! ³⁰ Now we know that ^(BE)you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that ^(BF)you came from God.” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² Behold, ^(BG)the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when ^(BH)you will be scattered, each to his own home, and ^(BI)will leave me alone. ^(BJ)Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I have said these things to you, that ^(BK)in me you may have peace. ^(BL)In the world you will have ^(BM)tribulation. But ^(BN)take heart; ^(BO)I have overcome the world.”