Beginning

The Rekabites’ Obedience

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 Rekabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rekabites, 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 officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. ⁵ Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rekabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

⁶ But they said, “We will drink no wine. For Jonadab the son of Rekab our father commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor own one; but all your days you shall dwell in tents so that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ ⁸ Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rekab, our father, in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, ⁹ nor to build houses for us to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard, or field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have lived in tents only and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the word of the Lord came 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 receive instruction by listening to My words? says the Lord. ¹⁴ The words of Jonadab the son of Rekab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed. For to this day they drink none, but they obey their father’s commandment. However, I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not obey Me. ¹⁵ I also have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Return now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you will dwell in the land that I have given to you and to your fathers.” But you have not inclined your ear nor obeyed Me. ¹⁶ Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rekab have performed the commandment of their 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: I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them but they have not listened, and I have called them but they have not answered.

¹⁸ Jeremiah said to the house of the Rekabites: 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 has commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rekab shall not lack a man to stand before Me always.

Jeremiah’s Scroll Is Burned

36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ² Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. ³ It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster which I intend to do to them, so that every man may turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. ⁵ Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am shut in. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. ⁶ Therefore go and read from the scroll that you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord in the hearing of the people in the house of the Lord on a fast day. And also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. ⁷ Perhaps their supplication will come 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 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord. ⁹ In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, 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 higher court, at the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord, in the ears of all the people.

¹¹ When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, ¹² then he went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber. And all the officials sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Akbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. ¹³ Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. ¹⁴ Then all the officials 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 ears of the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. ¹⁵ They said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our ears.”

So Baruch read it in their ears. ¹⁶ When they heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” ¹⁷ They also asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words? Was it at his mouth?”

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

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

²⁰ Then they went to the king in the court, but they laid up the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. ²¹ So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll, and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the officials who stood beside the king. ²² Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire burning on the hearth before him. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut it with a 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 not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. ²⁵ Although Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah entreated the king not to burn the scroll, yet he would not listen to them. ²⁶ But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and 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 and Baruch Rewrite the Scroll

²⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the book and the words which Baruch had written at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying: ²⁸ Take again another scroll and write in it all the former words that were in the first book, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹ You shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah: Thus says the Lord: You have burned this book, saying, Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause man and beast to cease from here? ³⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David. And his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. ³¹ I will also punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; but they did not listen.

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And there were added to them many like words.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

37 And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Koniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. ² But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord, which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.

³ But Zedekiah the king sent Jehukal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

⁴ Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him into prison. ⁵ At that time Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report 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 who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Pharaoh’s army which has come out to help you shall return to Egypt, to its own land. ⁸ The Chaldeans will come again 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 For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them, yet every man would rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹ Now when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people. ¹³ 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 falling away to the Chaldeans!”

¹⁴ But Jeremiah said, “It is false! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans,” but he did not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵ Therefore the officials were wrathful with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.

¹⁶ For Jeremiah had entered the dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell, and Jeremiah had remained there many days. ¹⁷ Then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out; and 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 delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸ Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or 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, nor against this land’? ²⁰ Therefore now please listen, O my lord the king. Please let my supplication be accepted before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”

²¹ Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison and give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was finished. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.