Jeremiah 34-45

New King James Version

Zedekiah Warned by God

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, ^(A)when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, ^(B)all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Go and ^(C)speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, ^(D)I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ³ And ^(E)you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you ^(F)face^[a] to face, and you shall go to Babylon.’ ” ’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword. ⁵ You shall die in peace; as in ^(G)the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, ^(H)so they shall burn incense for you and ^(I)lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, says the Lord.’ ”

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only ^(J)these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

Treacherous Treatment of Slaves

⁸ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim ^(K)liberty to them: ^9 (L)that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—^(M)that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage. ¹⁰ Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go. ¹¹ But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.

¹² Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I made a ^(N)covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴ “At the end of ^(O)seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who ^[b]has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. ¹⁵ Then you ^[c]recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you ^(P)made a covenant before Me ^(Q)in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Then you turned around and ^(R)profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. ^(S)Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the Lord—^(T)‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to ^(U)trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when ^(V)they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— ¹⁹ the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the ^[d]eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ I will ^(W)give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their ^(X)dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army ^(Y)which has gone back from you. ^22 (Z)Behold, I will command,’ says the Lord, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it ^(AA)and take it and burn it with fire; and ^(AB)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’ ”

The Obedient Rechabites

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(AC)Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of ^(AD)the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”

³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(AE)the keeper of the ^[e]door. ⁵ Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

⁶ But they said, “We will drink no wine, for ^(AF)Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink ^(AG)no wine, you nor your sons, forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, ^(AH)that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.’ ⁸ Thus we have ^(AI)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us ^(AJ)go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So we dwell at Jerusalem.”

¹² Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not ^(AK)receive instruction to ^[f]obey My words?” says the Lord. ¹⁴ “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment. ^(AL)But although I have spoken to you, ^(AM)rising early and speaking, you did not ^[g]obey Me. ¹⁵ I have also sent to you all My ^(AN)servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ^(AO)‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will ^(AP)dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me. ¹⁶ Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their ^(AQ)father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” ’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; ^(AR)because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.’ ”

¹⁸ And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to ^(AS)stand before Me forever.” ’ ”

The Scroll Read in the Temple

36 Now it came to pass in the ^(AT)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ² “Take a ^(AU)scroll of a book and ^(AV)write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against ^(AW)all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of ^(AX)Josiah even to this day. ³ It ^(AY)may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may ^(AZ)turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah ^(BA)called Baruch the son of Neriah; and ^(BB)Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, ^[h]at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. ⁵ And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord. ⁶ You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written ^[i]at my instruction, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house on ^(BC)the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. ⁷ It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” ⁸ And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

⁹ Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the ^(BD)entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the ^[j]hearing of all the people.

The Scroll Read in the Palace

¹¹ When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book, ¹² he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—^(BE)Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, ^(BF)Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. ¹³ Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴ Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have 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 now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.

¹⁶ Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” ¹⁷ And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—^[k]at his instruction?”

¹⁸ So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”

¹⁹ Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”

The King Destroys Jeremiah’s Scroll

²⁰ And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king. ²¹ So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. ²² Now the king was sitting in ^(BG)the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. ²³ And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. ²⁴ Yet they were ^(BH)not afraid, nor did they ^(BI)tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. ²⁵ Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. ²⁶ And the king commanded Jerahmeel ^[l]the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll

²⁷ Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written ^[m]at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ²⁸ “Take yet 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 you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ^(BJ)‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to ^(BK)cease from here?’ ” ³⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ^(BL)“He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be ^(BM)cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. ³¹ I will punish him, his ^[n]family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” ’ ”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it ^[o]at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.

Zedekiah’s Vain Hope^(BN)

37 Now King ^(BO)Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. ^2 (BP)But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

³ And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^(BQ)Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ^(BR)“Pray now to the Lord our God for us.” ⁴ Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. ⁵ Then ^(BS)Pharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, ^(BT)who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. ^8 (BU)And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’ ⁹ Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart. ^10 (BV)For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹ And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people. ¹³ And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah said, ^[p]“False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him.

So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. ¹⁵ Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him ^(BW)and put him in prison in the ^(BX)house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.

¹⁶ When Jeremiah entered ^(BY)the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, ¹⁷ then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?”

And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be ^(BZ)delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”

¹⁸ Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? ²⁰ Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”

²¹ Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah ^(CA)to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, ^(CB)until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

Jeremiah in the Dungeon

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(CC)Jucal^[q] the son of Shelemiah, and ^(CD)Pashhur the son of Malchiah ^(CE)heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(CF)‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’ ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(CG)‘This city shall surely be ^(CH)given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”

⁴ Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, ^(CI)let this man be put to death, for thus he ^[r]weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the ^[s]welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵ Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.” ^6 (CJ)So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah ^[t]the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

^7 (CK)Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the ^[u]eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is ^(CL)no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹² Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so. ¹³ So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained ^(CM)in the court of the prison.

Zedekiah’s Fears and Jeremiah’s Advice

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ^(CN)ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, ^(CO)who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely ^(CP)surrender^{[v] (CQ)}to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not ^[w]surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and ^(CR)you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”

¹⁹ And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have ^(CS)defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they ^(CT)abuse me.”

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall be ^(CU)well with you, and your soul shall live. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^[x]surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Now behold, all the ^(CV)women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say:

²³ ‘So they shall surrender all your wives and ^(CW)children to the Chaldeans. ^(CX)You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(CY)‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return ^(CZ)to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

²⁷ Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard. ²⁸ Now ^(DA)Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(DB)

39 In the ^(DC)ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. ² In the ^(DD)eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the ^[aa]city was penetrated.

^3 (DE)Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, ^[ab]Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, ^[ac]Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

^4 (DF)So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the ^[ad]plain. ⁵ But the Chaldean army pursued them and ^(DG)overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to ^(DH)Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his ^(DI)eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the ^(DJ)nobles of Judah. ⁷ Moreover ^(DK)he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze ^[ae]fetters to carry him off to Babylon. ^8 (DL)And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with ^(DM)fire, and broke down the ^(DN)walls of Jerusalem. ^9 (DO)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who ^(DP)defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the ^(DQ)poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[af]at the same time.

Jeremiah Goes Free

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ¹² “Take him and look after him, and do him no ^(DR)harm; but do to him just as he says to you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief officers; ¹⁴ then they sent someone ^(DS)to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him ^(DT)to Gedaliah the son of ^(DU)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

¹⁵ Meanwhile the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(DV)Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(DW)I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but ^(DX)your life shall be as a prize to you, ^(DY)because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’ ”

Jeremiah with Gedaliah the Governor^(DZ)

40 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(EA)after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon.

² And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and ^(EB)said to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. ³ Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said. ^(EC)Because you people have sinned against the Lord, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴ And now look, I free you this day from the chains that ^[ag]were on your hand. ^(ED)If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, ^(EE)all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”

⁵ Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, “Go back to ^(EF)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ^(EG)whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. ^6 (EH)Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to ^(EI)Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.

^7 (EJ)And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and ^(EK)the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, ⁸ then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—^(EL)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, ^(EM)Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and ^(EN)Jezaniah^[ah] the son of a ^(EO)Maachathite, they and their men. ⁹ And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be ^(EP)well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹ Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ¹² then all the Jews ^(EQ)returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.

¹³ Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, ¹⁴ and said to him, ^[ai]“Do you certainly know that ^(ER)Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the ^(ES)remnant in Judah perish?”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”

Insurrection Against Gedaliah

41 Now it came to pass in the seventh month ^(ET)that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal ^[aj]family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^(EU)Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah. ² Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and ^(EV)struck Gedaliah the son of ^(EW)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made ^(EX)governor over the land. ³ Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

⁴ And it happened, on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it, ⁵ that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men ^(EY)with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to ^(EZ)the house of the Lord. ⁶ Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷ So it was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah ^(FA)killed them and cast them into the midst of a ^[ak]pit, he and the men who were with him. ⁸ But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.” So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. ⁹ Now the ^[al]pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, because of Gedaliah, was ^(FB)the same one Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the ^(FC)rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^(FD)the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, ^(FE)whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to ^(FF)the Ammonites.

¹¹ But when ^(FG)Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹² they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah; and they found him by ^(FH)the great pool that is in Gibeon. ¹³ So it was, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, that they were glad. ¹⁴ Then all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶ Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, took from Mizpah all the ^(FI)rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—the mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷ And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of ^(FJ)Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, as they went on their way to ^(FK)Egypt, ¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, ^(FL)whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.

The Flight to Egypt Forbidden

42 Now all the captains of the forces, ^(FM)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near ² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, ^(FN)“Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and ^(FO)pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but ^(FP)a few of many, as you can see), ³ that the Lord your God may show us ^(FQ)the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be, that ^(FR)whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will ^(FS)keep nothing back from you.”

⁵ So they said to Jeremiah, ^(FT)“Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God sends us by you. ⁶ Whether it is ^[am]pleasing or ^[an]displeasing, we will ^(FU)obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, ^(FV)that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

⁷ And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, ⁹ and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: ¹⁰ ‘If you will still remain in this land, then ^(FW)I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I ^(FX)relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. ¹¹ Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ^(FY)‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand. ¹² And ^(FZ)I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’

¹³ “But if ^(GA)you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, ¹⁴ saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land of ^(GB)Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’— ¹⁵ Then hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you ^(GC)wholly^[ao] set ^(GD)your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, ¹⁶ then it shall be that the ^(GE)sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. ¹⁷ So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And ^(GF)none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’

¹⁸ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been ^(GG)poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And ^(GH)you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’

¹⁹ “The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, ^(GI)‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have ^[ap]admonished you this day. ²⁰ For you ^[aq]were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’ ²¹ And I have this day declared it to you, but you have ^(GJ)not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which He has sent you by me. ²² Now therefore, know certainly that you ^(GK)shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.”

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

43 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had stopped speaking to all the people all the ^(GL)words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words, ^2 (GM)that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.’ ³ But ^(GN)Baruch the son of Neriah has ^[ar]set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.” ⁴ So Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces, and all the people would ^(GO)not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took ^(GP)all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven— ⁶ men, women, children, ^(GQ)the king’s daughters, ^(GR)and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. ^7 (GS)So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they went as far as ^(GT)Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the ^(GU)word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹ “Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the ^[as]clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes; ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(GV)My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them. ^11 (GW)When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death ^(GX)those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword. ^12 [at]I will kindle a fire in the houses of ^(GY)the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go out from there in peace. ¹³ He shall also break the sacred pillars of ^[au]Beth Shemesh that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.” ’ ”

Israelites Will Be Punished in Egypt

44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at ^(GZ)Migdol, at ^(HA)Tahpanhes, at ^(HB)Noph,^[av] and in the country of ^(HC)Pathros, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are ^(HD)a desolation, and no one dwells in them, ³ because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went ^(HE)to burn incense and to ^(HF)serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. ⁴ However ^(HG)I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!” ⁵ But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. ⁶ So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they ^[aw]are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’

⁷ “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil ^(HH)against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, ⁸ in that you ^(HI)provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be ^(HJ)a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ⁹ Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ They have not been ^(HK)humbled,^[ax] to this day, nor have they ^(HL)feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’

¹¹ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, ^(HM)I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for ^[ay]cutting off all Judah. ¹² And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and ^(HN)they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and ^(HO)they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! ^13 (HP)For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ¹⁴ so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they ^(HQ)desire^[az] to return and dwell. For ^(HR)none shall return except those who escape.’ ”

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: ¹⁶ “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(HS)we will not listen to you! ¹⁷ But we will certainly do ^(HT)whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the ^(HU)queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of ^[ba]food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. ¹⁸ But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹ The women also said, ^(HV)“And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?”

²⁰ Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying: ²¹ “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind? ²² So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, ^(HW)as it is this day. ²³ Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, ^(HX)therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”

²⁴ Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! ²⁵ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’ ²⁶ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, ^(HY)I have sworn by My ^(HZ)great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(IA)My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” ²⁷ Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt ^(IB)shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. ²⁸ Yet ^(IC)a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. ²⁹ And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely ^(ID)stand against you for adversity.’

³⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, ^(IE)I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave ^(IF)Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”

Assurance to Baruch

45 The ^(IG)word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to ^(IH)Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book ^[bb]at the instruction of Jeremiah, in the ^(II)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: ³ ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I ^(IJ)fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” ’

⁴ “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, ^(IK)what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land. ⁵ And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, ^(IL)I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord. “But I will give your ^(IM)life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” ’ ”