Bible in 90 Days

²³ Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ Aren’t you aware of what people are saying: “The Lord has rejected the two families that he had chosen”? They are insulting my people as if they no longer belong to me.^{[a] 25} The Lord proclaims: I would no sooner break my covenant with day and night or the laws of heaven and earth ²⁶ than I would reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David and his descendants as rulers for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will restore the captives and have compassion on them.

Lessons on obedience and disobedience

34 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word when Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, and all the countries and people he ruled, were attacking Jerusalem and all its towns. ² The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims, Go and speak to Judah’s King Zedekiah and say to him: The Lord proclaims, I’m handing this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. ³ You won’t escape but will be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your very own eyes and speak to him personally, and you will be taken to Babylon. ⁴ Even so, hear the Lord’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah: This is what the Lord proclaims about you: You won’t die in battle; ⁵ you will die a peaceful death. As burial incense was burned to honor your ancestors, the kings who came before you, so it will be burned to honor you as people mourn, “Oh, master!” I myself promise this, declares the Lord.

⁶ The prophet Jeremiah delivered this message to Judah’s King Zedekiah in Jerusalem ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and all the remaining Judean towns, Lachish and Azekah—the only fortified towns still standing in Judah.

⁸ Jeremiah received the Lord’s word after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty for their slaves: ⁹ everyone was to free their male and female Hebrew slaves and no longer hold a Judean brother or sister in bondage. ¹⁰ So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed to free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage; they obeyed the king’s command^[b] and let them go. ¹¹ But afterward they broke their promise, took back the men and women they had freed, and enslaved them again.

¹² Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: ¹³ The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹⁴ I said that every seventh year each of you must free any Hebrews who have been sold to you. After they have served you for six years, you must set them free. But your ancestors didn’t obey or pay any attention to me. ¹⁵ Recently you turned about and did what was right in my sight; each of you proclaimed liberty for the other and made a covenant before me in the temple that bears my name. ¹⁶ But then you went back on your word and made my name impure; each of you reclaimed the men and women you had set free and forced them to be your slaves again.

¹⁷ Therefore, the Lord proclaims: Since you have defied me by not setting your fellow citizens free, I’m setting you free, declares the Lord, free to die by the sword, disease, and famine! And I will make you an object of horror for all nations on earth. ¹⁸ I will make those who disregarded my covenant, violating its terms that they agreed to in my presence, like the calf they cut in two and then walked between the halves of its carcass. ¹⁹ The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs and priests, and all the people who passed through the pieces of the calf ²⁰ I will hand over to their enemies who seek to kill them. And their corpses will become food for birds and wild animals. ²¹ I will hand over Judah’s King Zedekiah and his officials to their enemies who seek to kill them: namely, the army of Babylon’s king, which has just withdrawn from you. ²² I’m about to issue orders, declares the Lord, that the army of Babylon return to this city. They will wage war against it, capture it, and burn it down along with other Judean cities. I will make Judah a wasteland, without inhabitants.

35 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word during the rule of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son: ² Go to the Rechabite family and invite them to come to one of the rooms of the Lord’s temple. When they arrive, offer them some wine to drink. ³ So I took Jaazaniah, Jeremiah’s son and Habazziniah’s grandson, and his brothers and all his sons, and the whole Rechabite family. ⁴ I brought them to the room in the Lord’s temple assigned to the sons of Hanan, Igdaliah’s son, the man of God. The room was next to the one used by the chief officers and right above the room of Maaseiah, Shallum’s son, the temple doorkeeper.^{[c] 5} Then I set bowls full of wine before the Rechabites, along with several cups, and I said to them, “Have some.”

⁶ But they refused: “We don’t drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, commanded us, ‘You and your children are never to drink wine; ⁷ nor are you to build or own houses or plant gardens and vineyards; rather, you are always to dwell in tents so you may live a long time in the fertile land you pass through.’ ⁸ We have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, commanded us. No one in our household, including our wives and children, has ever had wine. ⁹ And we haven’t built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields, or crops. ¹⁰ We have lived in tents and done everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹ But when Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, we said, ‘We better go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That’s why we’re here in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: ¹³ The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Go and tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem: Can’t you learn a lesson about what it means to obey me? declares the Lord. ¹⁴ Jonadab, Rechab’s son, commanded his descendants not to drink wine, and to this very day they have not drunk wine, obeying their ancestor’s instruction. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you haven’t listened to me. ¹⁵ I have sent you all my servants, the prophets, time and again, saying, “Each of you, turn from your evil ways and reform your actions; don’t worship or serve other gods. Then you may live in the fertile land I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you haven’t paid attention or listened to me. ¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab, Rechab’s son, have thoroughly obeyed their ancestor, but this people have not listened to me. ¹⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to bring upon the people of Judah and all those who live in Jerusalem the disaster I pronounced against them, because they wouldn’t listen to me or respond when I called.

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the Rechabite family: The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Because you have obeyed all Jonadab’s instructions and you have done everything he commanded you, ¹⁹ the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel proclaims: Jonadab, Rechab’s son, will always have a descendant that stands before me.

Enduring word of God

36 In the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² Take a scroll and write in it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time of Josiah until today. ³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I intend to bring upon them, they will turn from their evil ways, and I will forgive their wrongdoing and sins. ⁴ So Jeremiah sent for Baruch, Neriah’s son. As Jeremiah dictated all the words that the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them in the scroll. ⁵ Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I’m confined here and can’t go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ So you go to the temple on the next day of fasting, and read the Lord’s words from the scroll that I have dictated to you. Read them so that all the people in the temple can hear them, as well as all the Judeans who have come from their towns. ⁷ If they turn from their evil ways, perhaps the Lord will hear their prayers. The Lord has threatened them with fierce anger.” ⁸ Baruch, Neriah’s son, did everything the prophet Jeremiah instructed him: he read all the Lord’s words from the scroll in the temple.

⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, all the people in Jerusalem and all those who had come from Judean towns observed a fast for the Lord in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll to all the people in the Lord’s temple; he read them in the chamber of Gemariah, Shaphan the scribe’s son, in the upper courtyard near the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple. ¹¹ When Micaiah, Gemariah’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, heard all the Lord’s words from the scroll, ¹² he went down to the scribes’ chamber in the royal palace. There he found all the officials meeting together: Elishama the scribe; Delaiah, Shemaiah’s son; Elnathan, Achbor’s son; Gemariah, Shaphan’s son; Zedekiah, Hananiah’s son, and all the other officials. ¹³ Micaiah told them all the words he heard Baruch read from the scroll before the people.

¹⁴ Then all the officials sent Jehudi, Nethaniah’s son and Shelemiah’s grandson, and Cushi’s great-grandson, to Baruch: “Take the scroll you read to the people and come with me.”

So Baruch, Neriah’s son, took the scroll and went to the officials. ¹⁵ They said to him, “Sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard all its words, they were alarmed and said to Baruch: “We must at once report all this to the king!” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write all these words? Did they come from Jeremiah?”

¹⁸ Baruch replied, “He dictated all the words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll.”

¹⁹ The officials then said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah had better go and hide. And don’t let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ After leaving the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe, they went to the king’s court and told him everything. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he retrieved it from the room of Elishama the scribe. Then Jehudi read it to the king and all his royal officials who were standing next to the king. ²² Now it was the ninth month,^[d] and the king was staying in the winterized part of the palace with the firepot burning near him. ²³ And whenever Jehudi read three or four columns of the scroll, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot until the whole scroll was burned up. ²⁴ Neither the king nor any of his attendants who heard all these words were alarmed or tore their clothes. ²⁵ Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he wouldn’t listen to them.

²⁶ The king commanded Jerahmeel, the king’s son, along with Seraiah, Azriel’s son, and Shelemiah, Abdeel’s son, to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the Lord hid them.

²⁷ The Lord’s word came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll containing the words written by Baruch at Jeremiah’s dictation: ²⁸ Get another scroll and write in it all the words that were in the first scroll that Judah’s King Jehoiakim burned. ²⁹ Then say to Judah’s King Jehoiakim: The Lord proclaims: You burned that scroll because it declared that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and eliminate every sign of life from it. ³⁰ Therefore, this is what the Lord proclaims about Judah’s King Jehoiakim: He won’t have any heirs to occupy the throne of David, and his dead body will be cast out and exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. ³¹ I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their wrongdoing. I will bring upon them, as well as the residents of Jerusalem and the people of Judah, every disaster I pronounced against them. But they wouldn’t listen.

³² So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, Neriah’s son, who wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words in the scroll burned in the fire by Judah’s King Jehoiakim. Many similar words were added to them.

Jeremiah falsely accused and imprisoned

37 Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Josiah’s son, to succeed Coniah, Jehoiakim’s son, as king of Judah. ² Neither Zedekiah, his attendants, nor the people of the land listened to the Lord’s words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah.

³ Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, Shelemiah’s son, and the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah’s son, to Jeremiah the prophet with this plea: “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.” (⁴ Now Jeremiah hadn’t been imprisoned yet, so he was free to come and go among the people. ⁵ Pharaoh’s army had recently^[e] set out from Egypt; when the Babylonians who were attacking Jerusalem learned of the Egyptian advance, they withdrew from Jerusalem.)

⁶ Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: Tell the king of Judah who sent his emissaries to seek advice from me: “Pharaoh’s army that came to assist you is heading back to Egypt. ⁸ The Babylonians will return and attack this city. They will capture it and burn it down.”

⁹ The Lord proclaims: Don’t let yourself be deceived into thinking that the Babylonians will withdraw for good.^[f] They won’t! ¹⁰ Even if you were to crush the entire Babylonian army that’s attacking you and only the wounded in their tents remained, they would rise up and burn this city down.

¹¹ Now when the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem due to Pharaoh’s advance, ¹² Jeremiah set out for the land of Benjamin to secure his share of the family property.^{[g] 13} He got as far as the Benjamin Gate in Jerusalem when the guard there named Irijah, Shelemiah’s son and Hananiah’s grandson, arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are deserting to the Babylonians.”

¹⁴ “That’s a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I’m not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials, ¹⁵ who were furious with him. They beat him and threw him into the house of the scribe Jonathan, which had been turned into a prison. ¹⁶ So Jeremiah was put in a cistern, which was like a dungeon, where he remained a long time.

¹⁷ Later King Zedekiah sent for him and questioned Jeremiah secretly in the palace: “Is there a word from the Lord?”

“There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You are going to be handed over to the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸ Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What have I done wrong to you or your attendants or this people that you should throw me into prison? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets now who prophesied that the king of Babylon wouldn’t attack you and this land? ²⁰ Now, my master and king, I beg you, don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I’ll die there.” ²¹ So King Zedekiah gave orders that Jeremiah be held in the prison quarters and that he receive a loaf of bread daily from the street vendors^[h]—until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the prison quarters.

38 Shephatiah, Mattan’s son; Gedaliah, Pashhur’s son; Jucal, Shelemiah’s son; and Pashhur, Malchiah’s son heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people: ² The Lord proclaims: Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and disease. But whoever surrenders to the Babylonians will live; yes, their lives will be spared. ³ The Lord proclaims: This city will certainly be handed over to the army of Babylon’s king, who will capture it.

⁴ Then the officials said to the king: “This man must be put to death! By saying such things, he is discouraging the few remaining troops left in the city, as well as all the people. This man doesn’t seek their welfare but their ruin!”

⁵ “He’s in your hands,” King Zedekiah said, “for the king can do nothing to stop you.” ⁶ So they seized Jeremiah, threw him into the cistern of the royal prince Malchiah, within the prison quarters, and lowered him down by ropes. Now there wasn’t any water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah began to sink into the mud.

⁷ Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, got word that they had thrown Jeremiah into the cistern. Since the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ Ebed-melech left the palace and said to the king: ⁹ “My master the king, these men have made a terrible mistake in treating the prophet Jeremiah the way they have; they have thrown him into the cistern where he will die of starvation, for there’s no bread left in the city.”

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here and take Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men and returned to the palace, to an underground supply room, where he found some old rags and scraps of clothing.

Ebed-melech lowered them down the cistern by the ropes ¹² and called to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and scraps of clothing under your arms and hold on to the ropes.” When Jeremiah did this, ¹³ they pulled him up by the ropes and got him out of the cistern. After that Jeremiah remained in the prison quarters.

¹⁴ King Zedekiah ordered that the prophet Jeremiah be brought to him at the third entrance of the Lord’s temple, where the king said to Jeremiah, “I want to ask you something, and don’t hide anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah replied, “If I do, you’ll kill me! And if I tell you what to do, you won’t listen to me!”

¹⁶ So King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah behind closed doors, “As the Lord lives, who has given us this life, I won’t put you to death and I won’t hand you over to those who seek to kill you.”

¹⁷ So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: “The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you and your family will live, and this city will not be burned down. ¹⁸ If you don’t surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will burn it down, and you won’t escape from them.”

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I’m afraid that I will fall into the hands of the Judeans who have defected to the Babylonians, and they will torture me.”

²⁰ “That won’t happen,” Jeremiah replied, “if you obey the Lord, whose message I bring. You will survive, and all will go well for you. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me: ²² All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be led out to the officers of the king of Babylon. And they will say:

²³ “All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you yourself won’t escape from them. The king of Babylon will capture you, and this city will be burned down.”

²⁴ Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “No one is to know about these matters or else you will die. ²⁵ If the officials find out that we met, and they come and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king. Don’t hide anything from us; otherwise, we’ll kill you. So what did the king say to you?’ ²⁶ you should say to them, ‘I was begging the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”

²⁷ Then all the officials approached Jeremiah to question him. And he responded exactly as the king had instructed him. So they stopped interrogating him because the conversation between the king and Jeremiah^[i] hadn’t been overheard. ²⁸ Jeremiah remained in the prison quarters until Jerusalem was captured.

Fall of Jerusalem

39 In the ninth year and the tenth month of Judah’s King Zedekiah, Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his entire army came against Jerusalem and surrounded it. ² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, they broke through the city walls. ³ Then all the commanding officers of the king of Babylon—Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo,^[j] Sarsechim the chief officer, Nergal-sharezer the field commander—entered it and took their places at the middle gate with the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

⁴ When Judah’s King Zedekiah and his troops saw them, they tried to escape at night through the royal gardens and the gate between the two walls, toward the desert plain. ⁵ But the Babylonian^[k] army chased them down and caught Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him before Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king put him on trial. ⁶ The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s children at Riblah before his very own eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the officials of Judah. ⁷ Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in chains, and dragged him off to Babylon.

⁸ The Babylonians burned down the royal palace and the houses of the people, and they destroyed the Jerusalem walls. ⁹ Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard rounded up the rest of the people who were left in the city, including those who had defected to the Babylonians, and deported them to Babylon. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard left some of the poorest people in the land of Judah. He gave them vineyards and fields at that time.

¹¹ Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar gave orders concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard: ¹² “Find Jeremiah and look after him; don’t harm him but do whatever he asks from you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard, Nebushazban the chief officer, Nergal-sharezer the field commander, and all the commanders of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent orders^[l] to release Jeremiah from the prison quarters. They entrusted him to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, so that Jeremiah could move about freely^[m] among the people.

¹⁵ The Lord’s word came to Jeremiah when he was still confined to the prison quarters: ¹⁶ Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite that the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m about to fulfill my words concerning this city, for harm and not for good. You will witness it for yourself on that day. ¹⁷ But on that day, declares the Lord:

Jeremiah’s release

40 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word after Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard had released him from Ramah. He had been bound in chains there along with all the other detainees from Jerusalem and Judah who were being sent off to Babylon. ² The captain of the special guard located Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord your God declared that a great disaster would overtake this place. ³ Now the Lord has made it happen. He has done just as he warned because all of you have sinned against the Lord and haven’t obeyed him. That’s why this has happened to you. ⁴ But I’m setting you free from the chains on your hands. If you would like, come with me to Babylon, and I’ll take care of you. If you would rather not come with me, that’s fine too. Now, the whole land lies before you; go wherever you want. ⁵ If you decide to remain here,^[n] stay with Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson—the Babylonian appointee in charge of the cities of Judah. Stay with him and the people he rules or go wherever you want.” Then the captain of the special guard gave him ample provisions and let him go. ⁶ Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son at Mizpah, and he stayed with him and the people who remained in the land.

Gedaliah’s provisional government

⁷ Some of the army officers and their troops were still hiding out in the countryside when they heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, over the region, responsible for the men, women, and children who were the poorest in the land and who hadn’t been deported to Babylon. ⁸ So they went out to meet Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son; Johanan and Jonathan, Kareah’s sons; Seraiah son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai the Netophathite; Jezaniah son of the Maacathite; and their troops. ⁹ Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, firmly assured them all: “Don’t be afraid of serving the Babylonians. Remain in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well for you. ¹⁰ But me? I will stay at Mizpah so I can speak on your behalf when the Babylonians arrive. But you? Settle down in the towns you have taken; harvest the grapes, the summer fruits and figs, and then store them in your containers.”

¹¹ In the same way, all the Judeans living in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few people in the land and that he had put Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, in charge of them. ¹² So they left the places where they had been scattered and returned to the land, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. There they gathered large amounts of grapes and summer fruits.

¹³ Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers in the countryside approached Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴ and said to him, “Are you aware that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, to kill you?” But Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, wouldn’t believe them. ¹⁵ Still Johanan, Kareah’s son, met with Gedaliah secretly at Mizpah and said to him, “Let me go and kill Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son; no one needs to knows about this matter. Otherwise, he’ll kill you, and all the Judeans who have gathered around you will be scattered, and the few who are left will perish.”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam told Johanan, Kareah’s son, “Don’t do such a thing, for what you are saying about Ishmael is wrong.”

Mutiny and murder

41 In the seventh month,^[o] Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son and Elishama’s grandson, who was from a royal family and who was one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, at Mizpah. While they were eating a meal together, ² Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, and the ten men got up and struck down Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, with the sword. They murdered him because he had been appointed over the region by the king of Babylon. ³ Ishmael also murdered all the Judeans who had rallied around Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were posted there.

⁴ The day after Gedaliah was killed, before anyone knew of it, ⁵ eighty men with shaved beards, torn clothes, and gashed bodies arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They were bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the Lord’s temple. ⁶ Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son!” ⁷ When they arrived in the middle of the town, Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, and the men with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies^[p] into a cistern.

⁸ But there were ten men among them who begged Ishmael, “Don’t kill us; we have wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in a field.” So he stopped and didn’t kill them along with the rest.

(⁹ Now the cistern that Ishmael used to discard the bodies of the men he had killed because of their association with Gedaliah^[q] was the one that King Asa had made to defend against Israel’s King Baasha. Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, filled it with the dead.)

¹⁰ Ishmael captured the rest of the people who were at Mizpah, including the daughters of the king and all those assigned to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, at Mizpah by Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard. Then Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, set out to cross over to the Ammonites with the hostages.

¹¹ Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers at his side heard of the terrible acts committed by Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son. ¹² So they mustered all their forces and went to fight him. They found Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, at the great pool in Gibeon. ¹³ When all those taken by Ishmael at Mizpah saw Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all his army officers with him, they were delighted. ¹⁴ They rallied around Johanan, Kareah’s son, and returned home with him. ¹⁵ But Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, and eight of his men eluded Johanan and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶ Then Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers with him took the small group they had rescued in Gibeon, including the soldiers, women, children, and commanding officers that Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, had captured at Mizpah after killing Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son. ¹⁷ They set out for Egypt, stopping on the way at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, ¹⁸ because they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they found out that Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, had killed Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the region.

Don’t go to Egypt!

42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan, Kareah’s son, and Jezaniah, Hoshaiah’s son, and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, approached ² Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “We have something to ask you: Please pray to the Lord your God for us, this small group, for as you can see we were once many but now are very few. ³ May the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴ The prophet Jeremiah replied, “Yes, I’ll pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. And I’ll tell you whatever the Lord says; I won’t hide anything from you.”

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do everything that the Lord your God tells us through you. ⁶ Whether we like it or not, we will obey all that the Lord our God says. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we’re sending you, so it may go well for us.”

⁷ Ten days later Jeremiah received the Lord’s word. ⁸ So he called Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers with him and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and he said to them: You have sent me to present your plea to the Lord, and this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ¹⁰ If you live in this land, I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not dig you up because I grieve over the disaster I have brought upon you. ¹¹ You don’t have to be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore, declares the Lord, for I will be with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. ¹² I will be merciful to you, and he will be merciful and return you to your land.

¹³ But if you say, “We won’t live in this land,” you will disobey the Lord your God. ¹⁴ And if you insist, “No, we’re going to live in Egypt, where there’s no war, battle alarms, or hunger, and there we will stay,” ¹⁵ then listen to the Lord’s word, you remaining Judeans. The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you are determined to go to Egypt and you then go and live there, ¹⁶ then the war you fear will seize you in the land of Egypt; and the famine you dread will hunt you down in Egypt, and there you will die. ¹⁷ Every one of you who is determined to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword, famine, and disease. No one will escape the disaster that I will bring upon them there.

¹⁸ The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Just as my fierce anger was poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so it will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing, scorn, shock, and disgrace. And you will never see this place again. ¹⁹ You who survive from Judah, the Lord has told you: Don’t go to Egypt. Know without a doubt that I have warned you this day. ²⁰ You are putting your lives at risk^[r] by sending me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we’ll do it.” ²¹ Today I have told you, but you still haven’t obeyed all that the Lord your God has sent me to tell you. ²² So know without a doubt that you will die by war, famine, and disease in the place you yearn to go and live.

Off to Egypt with Jeremiah and Baruch

43 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—he didn’t omit anything the Lord sent him to convey— ² Azariah, Hoshaiah’s son, and Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You’re lying to us! The Lord our God didn’t send you to tell us not to go to Egypt to live. ³ It’s Baruch, Neriah’s son, who put you up to it so that we end up in the hands of the Babylonians, who will either kill us or deport us to Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers and the rest of the people disobeyed the Lord’s command to stay in the land of Judah. ⁵ Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers took the remaining Judeans who had returned to the land of Judah after being scattered among the nations— ⁶ men, women, children, the king’s daughters, everyone Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard had left with Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, including Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch, Neriah’s son. ⁷ They went to the land of Egypt, as far as Tahpanhes, for they wouldn’t obey the Lord.

⁸ The Lord’s word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹ Take some large stones and set them in the clay pavement^[s] in front of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes while the people of Judah are watching. ¹⁰ After that, say to the people: The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m sending for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who^[t] will set his throne over these stones and will spread his canopy over them. ¹¹ He will come and ravage the land of Egypt:

¹² He will set on fire^[u] the temples of the Egyptian gods. He will burn them down and carry off their gods. He will wrap the land of Egypt around himself, just as a shepherd wraps^[v] his garment around himself, and he will move on unharmed.^{[w] 13} He will shatter the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun in Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.

Jeremiah’s final words to Judeans in Egypt

44 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word for the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, those living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis and in the land of Pathros. ² The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You have seen the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. They are now a wasteland with no one left ³ because of their evil ways. They have angered me by making offerings and worshipping other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew. ⁴ Yet time and again I sent you all my servants the prophets, saying, “Don’t do these detestable things that I hate.” ⁵ But they wouldn’t listen or pay attention or turn from their evil ways. They continued making offerings to other gods. ⁶ So my fierce anger poured out and blazed against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. And they were reduced to an utter wasteland, as they are today.

⁷ Now the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Why are you committing this huge mistake that will cost you your lives? Every man, woman, child, and infant will be eliminated from the midst of Judah, and no one will be left. ⁸ Why do you anger me by what you do: by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live? You will be eliminated and become an object of cursing and disgrace among all the nations of the earth. ⁹ Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors and the sins of the kings of Judah and their wives?^[x] Have you forgotten the sins that you and your wives committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ To this day you^[y] haven’t shown any sorrow for what you have done. And you haven’t revered me or followed my Instruction and my laws that I set before you and your ancestors.

¹¹ Therefore, the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m determined to bring disaster on you, to eliminate all of Judah. ¹² I will take the few remaining Judeans who were determined to go to the land of Egypt to live. They will all perish there. They will fall by the sword and perish due to famine. The least to the greatest will die by the sword and by famine. They will become an object of cursing, scorn, contempt, and disgrace. ¹³ I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem with war, famine, and disease. ¹⁴ From the few remaining in Judah, no fugitive or survivor who came to live here in the land of Egypt will be able to return to the land of Judah. Even though they want to return and live there, they won’t be able to return, except for some fugitives.

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, along with the great crowd of women who were present, as well as the people living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, all answered Jeremiah: ¹⁶ “We’re not going to listen to a word you have said to us in the Lord’s name! ¹⁷ No, we’re going to do exactly what we want: We’re going to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, have done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty to eat and we were thriving; we didn’t have any troubles. ¹⁸ But ever since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring drink offerings to her, we have been destroyed by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹ And the women added,^[z] “Do you think that we burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour drink offerings to her without our husbands’ support when we make cakes in her image and pour drink offerings to her?”

²⁰ Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women alike, in fact everyone who had spoken this way: ²¹ “Do you really think the Lord was unaware of what you were up to in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? Don’t you think the Lord knew that you and your ancestors were making offerings to other gods^[aa]—along with your kings and officials, and the people of the land? ²² It got so bad that the Lord could no longer bear your evil and shameless acts; it was at that point that your land was reduced to an utter wasteland and a curse, as it is today. ²³ The current dire situation occurred because you made offerings to other gods^[ab] and sinned against the Lord—because you wouldn’t obey the Lord or follow the Lord’s instruction, laws, or warnings.”

²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women: Listen to the Lord’s word, all you Judeans in the land of Egypt. ²⁵ The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You and your wives have done exactly what you said you would do. You said, “We will definitely fulfill our promise to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead and keep your promises! ²⁶ But listen to the Lord’s word, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt. I swear by my great name, says the Lord, that no one from Judah living in Egypt will utter my name again, even in the solemn pledge: “As surely as the Lord God lives.” ²⁷ I’m watching over them for harm and not for good. Everyone from Judah who is living in the land of Egypt will die by the sword and by famine, until all are gone. ²⁸ Those who actually survive war and return from Egypt to the land of Judah will be very few. Then the few remaining Judeans living in Egypt will know for certain whose word is true—mine or theirs! ²⁹ And this will be a sign for you, declares the Lord: I will punish you here so that you know my threats against you will surely be fulfilled. ³⁰ The Lord proclaims: I will hand Pharaoh Hophra, Egypt’s king, over to his enemies who seek to kill him, just as I delivered Judah’s King Zedekiah over to his enemy King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who sought to kill him.

A final word for Baruch

45 In the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, Baruch was writing in a scroll the words that Jeremiah was dictating to him. Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch, Neriah’s son: ² This is what the Lord the God of Israel proclaims about you, Baruch: ³ You have said, “I can’t take it anymore! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I’m worn out from groaning and can find no rest.” ⁴ This is what you should say to him: “The Lord proclaims: I’m breaking down everything I have built up. I’m digging up that which I have planted—the entire land. ⁵ You seek great things for yourself, but don’t bother. I’m bringing disaster on all humanity, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.”

ORACLES CONCERNING THE NATIONS

46 This is what the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.

Prophecy against Egypt

² About Egypt! A message for the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt’s king, which was defeated by Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish near the Euphrates River in the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son:

¹³ This is the word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the military offensive of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar against the land of Egypt:

²⁵ This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m going to punish Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, as well as Pharaoh and all who rely on him. ²⁶ I will hand them over to those who seek to kill them, namely Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his servants. But afterward Egypt will dwell like it did a long time ago, declares the Lord.

Prophecy against Philistia

47 The Lord’s word to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.