Bible in 90 Days

²³ Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ²⁴ Have you not considered what this people have spoken, saying, “The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has cast them off”? Thus they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them. ²⁵ Thus says the Lord: If My covenant for day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I would cast away the seed of Jacob and David My servant, so that I would not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet I will restore their fortunes and have mercy on them.

Zedekiah to Die in Exile

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion and all the people fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities, saying: ² Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him: Thus says the Lord: I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. ³ And you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be taken and delivered into his hand. And you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.

⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you: You will not die by the sword. ⁵ But you will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they burn spices for you. And they will 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 against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah, for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

Slaves to be Free

⁸ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: ⁹ that every man should let his male slave and every man his female slave, being a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free so that no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage. ¹⁰ Now when all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant heard that everyone should let his male slave and everyone his female slave go free, so that no one should keep them any more in bondage, then they obeyed and let them go. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and caused the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had set free to return, and brought them into subjection for male slaves 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 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 seven years, each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you; 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 You recently turned and did what was right in My sight by proclaiming liberty, every man to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house that is called by My name. ¹⁶ But then you turned around and profaned My name when every one of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free, at their pleasure, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and every man to his neighbor. I proclaim a liberty to you, says the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts, ¹⁹ the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf, ²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be food to the fowl of heaven and to the beasts of the earth.

²¹ Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which has gone away from you. ²² I will command, says the Lord, and cause them to return to this city, and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

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.

Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jukal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malkijah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying: ² Thus says the Lord: He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live, for he shall have his life as plunder, and shall live. ³ Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, and he will capture it.

⁴ Therefore the officials said to the king, “We beseech you, let this man be put to death, for he thus weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them; for this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵ Then Zedekiah the king said, “Here he is; he is in your hand; for the king cannot do anything against you.”

⁶ Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malkijah the son of Hammelech that was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with cords. And in the cistern there was no water, only mud, so Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷ Now Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin. ⁸ Ebed-Melek went forth 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 cistern. And he will die by hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men with you from here and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed-Melek took the men under his authority and went into the house of the king under the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by cords into the cistern to Jeremiah. ¹² Then Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and worn-out rags under your armpits under the cords,” so Jeremiah did accordingly. ¹³ Then they drew Jeremiah up with cords and took him up out of the cistern, and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something; hide nothing from me.”

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

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made our souls, I surely 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 will surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then your soul will live and this city will not be burned with fire. Thus you and your household will live. ¹⁸ But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s officials, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape out of their hand.”

¹⁹ Then Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen over to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and mock me.”

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They will not deliver you. Please obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you, so it will be well with you and your soul will live. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: ²² Then all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women shall say:

²³ “So they will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. And you will not escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon; and you will cause this city to be burned with fire.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know of these words, and you will not die. ²⁵ But if the officials hear that I have talked with you and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you will say to them, ‘I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan, to die there.’ ”

²⁷ Then all the officials 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 matter was not overheard.

²⁸ So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(A)

39 In the 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 eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city wall was broken up. ³ All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsekim the Rabsaris^[a] Nergal-Sharezer the Rabmag,^[b] and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them and all the men of war, then 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 the way of the Arabah.

⁵ But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he passed sentence on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Moreover, the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ He also put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon.

⁸ The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to him, with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left behind in the land of Judah the poor people who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at that time.

The Lord Delivers Jeremiah

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 not harm him. But do to him just as he says to you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he lived among the people.

¹⁵ Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying: ¹⁶ Go and speak to Ebed-Melek the Ethiopian, saying: Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring My words upon this city for harm and not for good. And they shall be accomplished 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 will not fall by the sword; but your life will be as plunder to you, because you have put your trust in Me, says the Lord.

Jeremiah With Gedaliah the Governor

40 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord 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 of Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried away captive to Babylon. ² The captain of the guard had taken Jeremiah, and said to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this disaster upon this place. ³ And the Lord has brought it and done according as He has said. Because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴ Now look, I am loosening you this day from the chains which are on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come and I will look well after you. But if it seems bad to you to come with me into Babylon, never mind. See, all the land is before you. Go wherever it seems good and right for you to go.” ⁵ Now while he was not yet going back, he said, “Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, 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 right for you to go.”

So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. ⁶ Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

Gedaliah Is Assassinated^(B)

⁷ Now all the captains of the forces which 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 men to him, and women, and children, and some of the poorest of the land who were not carried away captive to Babylon. ⁸ Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maakathite, they and their men. ⁹ Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans who will come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”

¹¹ Likewise, also all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and 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 returned out of all places wherever they were driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered very much wine and summer fruits.

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, “Do you certainly know that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and no man shall know it. Why should he slay you so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered and the 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 of Ishmael.”

41 In the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama of the royal seed, and the officials of the king, even ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah. While they were eating bread together in Mizpah, ² Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men that were with him arose and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan with the sword and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. ³ Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with him, even with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, and the men of war.

⁴ On the day after he had slain Gedaliah, when no one knew it, ⁵ eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, having their beards shaven, and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, with offerings and incense in their hands to bring them to the house of the Lord. ⁶ Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went. As he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷ Yet it was so when they came into the midst of the city that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, he and the men who were with him, slew them and cast them into the midst of the cistern. ⁸ But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, “Do not slay us, for we have stores in the field, of wheat and barley, and of oil and honey.” So he refrained and did not slay them among their brothers. ⁹ Now the cistern in which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was what Asa the king had made because of Baasha the king of Israel. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah 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 the Ammonites.

¹¹ But when 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 then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. ¹³ And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴ So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and returned, 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 all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even 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 lived in the habitation of Geruth Kimham, which is by Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt, ¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

Jeremiah Warns Against Going to Egypt

42 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest came near, ² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be accepted before you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, even for all this remnant. For we are left but a few out of many, as your eyes now see us. ³ Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words. And it shall come to pass, that whatever the Lord will answer you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not act according to all things for which the Lord your God shall send you to us. ⁶ Whether it is good or whether it is bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

⁷ At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that 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 supplication before Him: ¹⁰ If you will still abide in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I will relent of the disaster that I have brought on you. ¹¹ Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are now afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says the Lord. For I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ¹² I will show mercies to you so that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.

¹³ “But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ so as not to obey the voice of the Lord your God, ¹⁴ saying, ‘No, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread, and there we will dwell,’ ¹⁵ now therefore hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, ¹⁶ then it shall come to pass that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt and the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt. And there you shall die. ¹⁷ So it shall be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And 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 poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out upon you when you go to Egypt. And you will be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. And you shall see this place no more.

¹⁹ “The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go into Egypt! Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. ²⁰ For you have only deceived yourselves 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 our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it.’ ²¹ Now I have this day declared it to you. But you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything for which He has sent me to you. ²² Now therefore certainly know that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the place wherever you desire to go and to sojourn.”

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

43 When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, ² Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men said to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go into Egypt to sojourn there.’ ³ But Baruch the son of Neriah sets you against us to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all nations wherever they had been driven to dwell in the land of Judah, ⁶ even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that 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 So they came into the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. Thus they entered as far as Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying: ⁹ Take some large stones in your hand and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰ and say to them, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. ¹¹ When he comes, he shall ravage the land of Egypt and deliver whoever is meant for death to death, and whoever is meant for captivity to captivity, and whoever is meant for the sword to the sword. ¹² I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt and he shall burn them and carry them away captives. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall depart from there in peace. ¹³ He shall also break the images of Heliopolis that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.

Idolatry Leads to Judgment

44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the country of Pathros,^[c] saying, ² Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the calamity that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Look at them; today they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them, ³ because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods, whom they did not know; they nor you nor your fathers. ⁴ However, I 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 nor incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, not to burn incense to other gods. ⁶ Therefore My fury and My anger was poured out and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are ruined and desolate, as it is this day.

⁷ Now thus says the Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you committing this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving you no one to remain, ⁸ provoking 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, so that you might cut yourselves off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ⁹ Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ They are not humbled even to this day, nor have they feared, nor have they walked in My law and My statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹ Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will set My face against you for disaster, and to cut off all Judah. ¹² I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they all will be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They will even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they will be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. ¹³ 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 none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there will escape or remain, with the result that they return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to dwell there. For no one shall return except those who escape.

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who lived 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, we will not listen to you. ¹⁷ But we will certainly do whatever we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well off, and saw no disaster. ¹⁸ But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have been in want of all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”

¹⁹ The women also said, “When we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands?”

Calamity for the Jews

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who had given him such an answer: ²¹ “The incense offerings that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them and did they not come into His mind? ²² So the Lord could no longer bear it because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, 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, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as it is 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: You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hand, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’

“Proceed to accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows! ²⁶ Yet hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwells in the land of Egypt: I have sworn by My great name, says the Lord, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ ²⁷ I will watch over them for disaster and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine until there is an end of them. ²⁸ Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there will know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.

²⁹ “This will be a sign to you, says the Lord, that I will punish you in this place so that you may know that My words shall surely stand against you for disaster. ³⁰ Thus says the Lord: I will give Pharaoh Hophra the king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.”

A Message to Baruch

45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the 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, “Alas, woe is me! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” ⁴ Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: That which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. ⁵ But are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord, but I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you go.”

Judgment on Egypt

46 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations:

² Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

Defeat of Egypt Foretold

¹³ The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, about Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon coming to strike the land of Egypt.

²⁵ The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: See, I will punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, even Pharaoh and all those who trust in him. ²⁶ And I shall deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. But afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old, says the Lord.

God Will Save Israel

Judgment on the Philistines

47 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.

² Thus says the Lord: