Beginning

26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this Word from the LORD, saying,

² “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in the court of the LORD’s House. And speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s House, all the words that I Command you to speak to them. Do not hold back a Word.

³ ‘Perhaps they will listen, and everyone will turn from his evil way, so that I may relent from the plague which I have determined to bring upon them because of the wickedness of their works.

⁴ ‘And you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD: ‘If you will not hear Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you,

⁵ ‘and to hear the words of My servants, the Prophets, whom I sent you (both rising up early and sending), and will not obey,

⁶ ‘Then I will make this House like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all nations of the Earth.’”’”

⁷ So the priests and the Prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of the LORD.

⁸ Now when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had Commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the Prophets and all the people took him, and said, “You shall die the death!

⁹ “Why have you prophesied in the Name of the LORD, saying, ‘This House shall be like Shiloh, and ‘This city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?’” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the House of the LORD.

¹⁰ And when the Princes of Judah heard of these things, they came up from the king’s house into the House of the LORD and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s House.

¹¹ Then spoke the priests and the Prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “The LORD has sent me to prophesy all the things that you have heard against this House and against this city.

¹³ “Therefore, now, amend your ways and your works and hear the Voice of the LORD your God, so that the LORD may relent from the plague that He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴ “As for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as you think good and right.

¹⁵ “But know for certain that if you put me to death, you shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants. For truly the LORD has sent me to you, to speak all these words in your ears.”

¹⁶ Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the Prophets, “This man is not worthy to die! For he has spoken to us in the Name of the LORD our God!”

¹⁷ Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸ “Micah the Morashite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, “Thus says the LORD of Hosts: ‘Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be a heap, and the mountain of the House shall be as the high places of the forest.’

¹⁹ “Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah, put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and pray before the LORD? And did not the LORD relent from the plague that he had pronounced against them? But we procure great evil against our souls.”

²⁰ And there was also a man who prophesied in the Name of the LORD: Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kirjath Jearim; who prophesied against this city and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremiah.

²¹ Now when Jehoiakim the king, with all his men of power and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to kill him. But when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went into Egypt.

²² Then Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt — Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain with him — into Egypt.

²³ And they fetched Urijah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the children of the people.

²⁴ But the hand of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, so that they would not give him into the hand of the people, to put him to death.

27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this Word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² “Thus says the LORD to me: ‘Make bonds for yourselves, and yokes, and put them upon your neck,

³ ‘and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah the king of Judah,

⁴ ‘and command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: ‘Thus shall you say to your masters:

⁵ “I have made the Earth, the man, and the beasts that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched Arm, and have given it to whomever is pleasing to Me.

⁶ “But now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babel, My servant. And I have also given him the beasts of the field to serve him.

⁷ “And all the nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land also comes. Then, many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.

⁸ “And the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babel, with that same nation I will reckon,” says the LORD, “with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have wholly given them into his hands.

⁹ “Therefore, do not hear your prophets or your soothsayers or your dreamers or your enchanters or your sorcerers who say this to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babel.’

¹⁰ “For they prophesy a lie to you, and cause you to go far from your land, so that I should cast you out, and you should perish.

¹¹ “But the nation that puts their necks under the yoke of the king of Babel, and serve him, those I will let remain in their own land,” says the LORD, “and they shall occupy it, and dwell in it.”’”

¹² I also spoke to Zedekiah, king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babel, and serve him and his people, so that you may live.

¹³ “Why will you die — you and your people — by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babel?

¹⁴ “Therefore, do not hear the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babel.’ For they prophesy a lie to you.

¹⁵ “For I have not sent them,” says the LORD, “yet they prophesy a lie in My Name, so that I might cast you out, and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Also, I spoke to the priests, and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Do not hear the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the House of the LORD shall now shortly be brought back from Babel.” For they prophesy a lie to you.

¹⁷ ‘Do not hear them! Serve the king of Babel, so that you may live! Why should this city be desolate?

¹⁸ ‘But if they are Prophets, and if the Word of the LORD is with them, let them make intercession to the LORD of Hosts, so that the vessels which are left in the House of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babel.’

¹⁹ “For thus says the LORD of Hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,

²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babel, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—

²¹ “thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the House of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem:

²² ‘They shall be brought to Babel. And there they shall remain until the day that I attend to them,’ says the LORD. ‘Then will I bring them up and restore them to this place.’”

28 And that same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah, the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the House of the LORD, in the presence of the priests, and of all the people, and said,

² “Thus speaks the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babel.

³ ‘Within two years’ time, I will bring into this place all the vessels of the LORD’s House which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, took away from this place and carried into Babel.

⁴ ‘And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all those who were carried away captive from Judah, and went into Babel,’ says the LORD. ‘For I will break the yoke of the king of Babel.’”

⁵ Then the Prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah — in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the House of the LORD —

⁶ the Prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! The LORD so do! The LORD confirm your words which you have prophesied, to restore the vessels of the LORD’s House, and all that was carried captive from Babel, into this place.

⁷ “But hear now this Word that I will speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people.

⁸ “The Prophets who have been before me, and before you, in time past, prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war and of plagues and of pestilence.

⁹ “The Prophet who prophesies of peace, when the Word of the Prophet shall come to pass, it shall be known of that Prophet that the LORD has truly sent him.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from the Prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.

¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so, I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, from the neck of all nations within the span of two years.’” And the Prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹² Then the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the Prophet, (after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the Prophet Jeremiah) saying:

¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but I have made yokes of iron from them.”

¹⁴ ‘For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, so that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel. For they shall serve him. And I have also given him the beasts of the field.”’”

¹⁵ Then the Prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Hear now, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you! But you make this people trust in a lie!

¹⁶ “Therefore, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the Earth. This year, you shall die, because you have spoken rebelliously against the LORD.’”

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

29 Now these are the words of the Book that Jeremiah the Prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders who 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 Babel

² (after Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and of Jerusalem, and the workmen, and cunning men had 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 to Babel to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel) saying,

⁴ “Thus has the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, spoken to all who are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away captives from Jerusalem to Babel:

⁵ ‘Build yourselves houses to dwell in. And plant yourselves gardens and eat the fruits of them.

⁶ ‘Take wives for yourselves and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters, so that you may be increased there and not diminished.

⁷ ‘And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives. And pray to the LORD for it. For in its peace shall you have peace.’

⁸ “For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Do not let your prophets and your soothsayers who are among you, deceive you or listen to your dreams which you dream.

⁹ ‘For they prophesy a lie to you in My Name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD.

¹⁰ ‘But thus says the LORD: that after seventy years are completed at Babel, I will attend to you, and perform My good promise toward you, and cause you to return to this place.

¹¹ ‘For I know the thoughts that I have thought towards you,’ says the LORD, ‘the thoughts of peace and not of trouble, to give you a future and hope.

¹² ‘Then you shall cry to Me. And you shall go and pray to Me. And I will hear you.

¹³ ‘And you shall seek Me, and find, because you shall seek Me with all your heart.

¹⁴ ‘And I will be found by you,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will turn away your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have cast you,’ says the LORD, ‘and will bring you back to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive

¹⁵ ‘because you have said, “The LORD has raised up Prophets for us in Babel.”’

¹⁶ “Therefore thus says the LORD of the king who sits upon the throne of David, and of all the people who dwell in this city, your brethren, who have not gone forth with you into captivity,

¹⁷ “thus says the LORD of Hosts: ‘Behold, I will send the sword upon them, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

¹⁸ ‘And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence. And I will make them a terror to all kingdoms of the Earth, a curse and astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have cast them,

¹⁹ ‘because they have not heard My Words’ says the LORD, ‘which I sent to them by My servants, the Prophets, rising up early and sending. But you would not hear,’ says the LORD.

²⁰ “Therefore, hear the Word of the LORD, all you of the captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babel.

²¹ “Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, about Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and about Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in My Name: ‘Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel. And he shall kill them before your eyes.

²² ‘And all those from Judah among the captivity, who are in Babel, shall take up this curse against them, and say, “The LORD make you like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babel burnt in the fire,”

²³ ‘Because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbor’s wives, and have spoken lying words in My Name, which I have not Commanded them. I know it, and testify it,’ says the LORD.

²⁴ ‘You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵ “Thus speaks the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the Priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶ “The LORD has made you Priest instead of Jehoiada the Priest, so that there should be an officer in the House of the LORD for every man who raves and makes himself a prophet, to put him in prison and in the stocks.”

²⁷ ‘Now, therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?

²⁸ ‘Because, for this reason he sent to us in Babel, saying, “This captivity is long. Build houses to dwell in, and plant gardens, and eat the fruits of them.”’”

²⁹ And Zephaniah the Priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the Prophet.

³⁰ Then the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹ “Send to all them of the captivity, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to trust in a lie,

³² “therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will reckon with Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. He shall not have a man to dwell among this people, nor shall he behold the good that I will do for My people,” says the LORD, “because he has spoken rebelliously against the LORD.”’”