Beginning
Surviving a Death Sentence
26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Adonai, saying, 2 thus says Adonai: “Stand in the court of Adonai’s House, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in Adonai’s House all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not omit a word! 3 Perhaps they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way, so I may relent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.”
4 Then you will say to them, thus says Adonai: “If you will not listen to Me, by walking in My Torah, which I have set before you, 5 and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you, early and often—but you have not listened— 6 then I will make this House like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”
7 So the kohanim, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of Adonai.
8 Now when Jeremiah finished speaking all that Adonai had commanded him to speak to all the people, the kohanim and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying: “You will surely die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the Name of Adonai, saying, ‘This House will be like Shiloh, and this city will be an uninhabited ruin?’” Then all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the House of Adonai.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s palace to the House of Adonai, and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Adonai’s House. 11 The kohanim and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying: “A death sentence for this man! 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: “Adonai sent me to prophesy all the words you have heard against this House and against this city. 13 So now, mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Adonai your God; so Adonai will relent of the calamity that He has pronounced against you.
14 “But as for me, here I am in your hand; do with me as is good and right in your eyes. 15 Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants. For in truth Adonai has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
16 Then said the princes and all the people to the kohanim and to the prophets: “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the Name of Adonai our God.”
17 Then some of the elders of the land rose up and addressed all the assembly of the people, saying: 18 “Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
‘Zion will be plowed as a field,
and Jerusalem will become ruins,
and the mountain of the House
as the high places of a forest.’
19 “Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Adonai and plead for the favor of Adonai, and then Adonai relented of the calamity that He had pronounced against them? So we may be committing great evil against our own souls.”
20 Now there was a man who had prophesied in the Name of Adonai, Uriah son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land words like all those of Jeremiah. 21 When King Jehoiakim with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt. 22 So King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt—Elnathan son of Achbor and some others with him— 23 and they brought Uriah back from Egypt, and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they did not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Jeremiah Wears a Yoke
27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying— 2 thus says Adonai to me—“Make straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. 3 Then send such to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of Ammon’s children, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of messengers that come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah. 4 Charge them to their masters, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, thus will you say to your masters: 5 ‘I have made the earth, mankind and beast which are on the face of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm—and I give it to whom it seems right to Me. 6 So now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant. I have even given the beasts of the field to serve him. 7 All the nations will serve him—and his son, and his grandson—until the time of his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.’
8 “Now it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve the same King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,” declares Adonai, “until I have destroyed it by his hand. 9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10 For they prophesy a lie to you, in order to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out and you would perish.
11 “But the nation that will bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will let remain in its land, and they will till it and dwell in it.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
12 Then I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah with all these same words, saying: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people—and live. 13 Why should you die—you and your people—by the sword, by famine, or by pestilence, as Adonai has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you.”
15 “For I have not sent them,” says Adonai, “and they prophesy falsely in My Name, with the result that I will drive you out, and that you will perish—you and the prophets that prophesy to you.”
16 Then I spoke to the kohanim and to all this people, saying, thus says Adonai: “Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying: ‘See, the vessels of Adonai’s House will now shortly be brought back from Babylon’—for they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a ruin? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of Adonai is with them, let them now make intercession to Adonai-Tzva’ot, that the vessels that are left in the House of Adonai, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, would not go to Babylon.”
19 For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot concerning the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has not taken, when he carried away captive Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem, 21 yes, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the House of Adonai, in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem: 22 “They will be brought to Babylon, and there will they be until the day that I take note of them”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and bring them up and restore them to this place.”
A False Prophecy, Too Soon
28 Now it was the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah son of Azzur the prophet from Gibeon spoke to me in the House of Adonai, in the presence of the kohanim and of all the people, saying, 2 thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, saying: “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon! 3 Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of Adonai’s House that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and brought to Babylon. 4 I will also bring Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, back to this place with all the captives of Judah that went to Babylon”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the kohanim and in the presence of all the people that stood in Adonai’s House. 6 So the prophet Jeremiah said: “Amen! May Adonai do so! May Adonai fulfill your words that you have prophesied, bringing back the vessels of Adonai’s House and all those who are taken away captive, from Babylon to this place! 7 Yet hear now this word that I am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people. 8 The prophets who have been before me and before you of ancient times prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms—of war, catastrophe and plague. 9 The prophet who prophesies shalom—when the word of the prophet has come to pass, then will the prophet be known as one that Adonai has truly sent.”
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke-bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. 11 Hananiah proclaimed in the presence of all the people, saying, thus says Adonai: “Just so I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two full years.” So the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
12 Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke-bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying: 13 “Go, tell Hananiah, saying, thus says Adonai: ‘You have broken the yoke-bars of wood—but in its place you will make yoke-bars of iron.’” 14 For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will serve him, and I have also given him the beasts of the field.”
15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah to the prophet Hananiah: “Hear now, Hananiah! Adonai has not sent you, yet you have caused this people to trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says Adonai: I am about to send you away from off the face of the earth. This year you will die, since you have spoken apostasy against Adonai.”
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
After Seventy Years, a Future Hope
29 Now these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders remaining in exile, as well as to the kohanim, the prophets and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried off captive from Jerusalem to Babylon 2 (after Jeconiah the king, the queen-mother, the officers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths, had to leave Jerusalem). The letter was sent 3 by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 4 thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, to all those in captivity, whom I removed as captives into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 “Build houses and live in them; also plant gardens and eat their fruit; 6 take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 Also seek the shalom of the city where I took you as captives in exile, and pray to Adonai for it—for in its shalom will you have shalom.”
8 For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets who are among you or your diviners beguile you, and pay no attention to the dreams which you make them keep dreaming. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My Name; I have not sent them.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
10 For thus says Adonai: “After 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will visit you, and fulfill My good word toward you—to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have in mind for you,” declares Adonai, “plans for shalom and not calamity—to give you a future and a hope.
12 “Then you will call on Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me,[a] when you will search for Me with all your heart. 14 Then I will be found by you,” says Adonai, “and I will return you from exile, and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” says Adonai, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you as captives into exile.”
15 For you have said: “Adonai has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.” 16 For thus says Adonai about the king who sits on the throne of David and about all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go with you into captivity, 17 thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to send on them the sword, famine and pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse and an astonishment, a hissing and a disgrace—among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have not listened to My words,” declares Adonai, “which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, sending them early and often, but you would not hear.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
20 “But you, hear the word of Adonai, all you of the exile whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon,” 21 thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: I will soon deliver them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—and he will slay them before your eyes. 22 So a curse will be taken up by everyone in exile from Judah who are in Babylon, saying: ‘May Adonai make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire’— 23 because they have been disgraceful in Israel, committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and speaking words in My Name falsely, which I did not command them. But I am the One who knows and I am witness.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
24 Now concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you will surely say, 25 thus declares Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, saying: “Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the kohen, and to all the kohanim, saying: 26 ‘Adonai has made you kohen instead of Jehoiada the kohen, so that there should be officers in the House of Adonai for every madman prophesying and so that you will put him in the stocks and iron collar. 27 So now, why haven’t you rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself out to be a prophet to you? 28 For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying: “The exile will be long—build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”
29 So Zephaniah the kohen read this letter in the ears of the prophet Jeremiah. 30 Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying: 31 Send word to all of the captivity, saying, thus says Adonai concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,” 32 therefore thus says Adonai, “I will indeed punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. There will be none living among this people, and he will not see the good that I will do to My people,” declares Adonai, “because he has spoken rebellion against Adonai.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.