Jeremiah 21
Contemporary English Version
The Lord Will Fight against Jerusalem
21 King Zedekiah[a] of Judah sent for Pashhur son of Malchiah and for a priest named Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. Then he told them, “Talk with Jeremiah for me.”
So they came to me and said, 2 (A) “King Nebuchadnezzar[b] of Babylonia has attacked Judah. Please ask the Lord to work miracles for our people, as he has done in the past, so that Nebuchadnezzar will leave us alone.”
3-7 I told them that the Lord God of Israel had told me to say to King Zedekiah:
The Babylonians have surrounded Jerusalem and want to kill you and your people. You are asking me to save you, but you have made me furious. So I will stretch out my mighty arm and fight against you myself. Your army is using spears and swords to fight the Babylonians, but I will make your own weapons turn and attack you. I will send a horrible disease to kill many of the people and animals in Jerusalem, and there will be nothing left to eat. Finally, I will let King Nebuchadnezzar and his army fight their way to the center of Jerusalem and capture everyone who is left alive, including you and your officials. But Nebuchadnezzar won't be kind or show any mercy—he will have you killed! I, the Lord, have spoken.
8 (B) Then I told them that the Lord had said:
People of Jerusalem, I, the Lord, give you the choice of life or death. 9 The Babylonian army has surrounded Jerusalem, so if you want to live, you must go out and surrender to them. But if you want to die because of hunger, disease, or war, then stay here in the city. 10 I have decided not to rescue Jerusalem. Instead, I am going to let the king of Babylonia burn it to the ground. I, the Lord, have spoken.
The Lord Warns the King of Judah
* 11 Pay attention, you that belong
to the royal family.
12 Each new day, make sure
that justice is done,
and rescue those
who are being robbed.
Or else my anger will flame up
like a fire that never goes out.
13 Jerusalem,
from your mountaintop
you look out over the valleys[c]
and think you are safe.
But I, the Lord, am angry,
14 and I will punish you
as you deserve.
I'll set your palace[d] on fire,
and everything around you
will go up in smoke.
Footnotes
Jeremiah 21
English Standard Version
Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him (A)Pashhur the son of Malchiah and (B)Zephaniah the priest, the son of (C)Maaseiah, saying, 2 (D)“Inquire of the Lord for us, (E)for Nebuchadnezzar[a] king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to (F)all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: (G)Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. (H)And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you (I)with outstretched hand and strong arm, (J)in anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, (K)I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. (L)He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’
8 “And to this people you shall say: (M)‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, (N)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city shall die (O)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and (P)surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live (Q)and shall have his life as a prize of war. 10 For (R)I have set my face against this city for harm and (S)not for good, declares the Lord: (T)it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’
Message to the House of David
11 “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
(U)“‘Execute justice (V)in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
him who has been robbed,
(W)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of your evil deeds.’”
13 (X)“Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
O rock of the plain,
declares the Lord;
you who say, (Y)‘Who shall come down against us,
or who shall enter our habitations?’
14 (Z)I will punish you according to (AA)the fruit of your deeds,
declares the Lord;
(AB)I will kindle a fire in her forest,
(AC)and it shall devour all that is around her.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, an alternate spelling of Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) occurring frequently from Jeremiah 21–52; this latter spelling is used throughout Jeremiah for consistency
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
