Chronological

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

² Thus hath the LORD said: Stand in the court of the LORD’s house and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I commanded thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:

³ peradventure they will hearken and turn each man from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

⁴ And thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD said: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

⁵ to hearken to the words of my slaves the prophets, whom I send unto you, rising up early and sending them, unto whom ye have not hearkened,

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh and will give this city as a curse to all the Gentiles of the earth.

⁷ ¶ And the priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

⁸ Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

⁹ Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house.

¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets spoke unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he has prophesied against this city as ye have heard with your ears.

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.

¹³ Therefore now amend your ways and your doings and hear the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD himself will repent of the evil that he has pronounced against you.

¹⁴ As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and meet unto you.

¹⁵ But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants; for of a truth the LORD has sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

¹⁶ ¶ Then the princes and all the people said unto the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

¹⁷ Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the congregation of the people, saying,

¹⁸ Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the temple mount as the high places of a forest.

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the LORD and besought the LORD, and the LORD himself repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Shall we commit such great evil against our souls?

²⁰ There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

²¹ And Jehoiakim the king heard his words and all his mighty men and all the princes, and the king sought to put him to death, but when Urijah understood it, he was afraid and fled and went into Egypt.

²² And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him into Egypt;

²³ and they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

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

27 ¶ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² Thus hath the LORD said unto me: Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck;

³ and thou shalt send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the Ammonites and to the king of Tyre and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the ambassadors which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;

⁴ and thou shalt command them to say unto their masters, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said; Thus shall ye say unto your masters:

⁵ I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom was upright in my eyes.

⁶ And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my slave; and even the beasts of the field I have given him that they might serve him.

⁷ And all the Gentiles shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his own land shall come also; and many nations and great kings shall serve him.

⁸ And it shall come to pass, that the people and the kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that people I will visit, saith the LORD, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have finished placing all of them under his hand.

⁹ Therefore do not hearken unto your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your sorcerers, nor to your enchanters, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:

¹⁰ For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

¹¹ But the people that submit their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, said the LORD; and they shall till it and dwell therein.

¹² ¶ I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Submit your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live.

¹³ Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken unto the people that will not serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴ Therefore do not hearken unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you.

¹⁵ For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.

¹⁶ Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus hath the LORD said: Hearken not unto the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you.

¹⁷ Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live: why should this city be laid waste?

¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them pray now unto the LORD of the hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem, not go to Babylon.

¹⁹ For thus hath the LORD of the hosts said concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city,

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

²¹ yea, thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said concerning the vessels that remained in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem;

²² they shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them, said the LORD; and afterwards I will bring them up and restore them to this place.

28 ¶ And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spoke unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

² Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel spoken, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³ Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried them to Babylon:

⁴ and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the LORD; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,

⁶ therefore the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD confirm thy words with which thou hast prophesied that the vessels of the LORD’s house and all those that are carried away captive are to be returned from Babylon unto this place.

⁷ Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears and in the ears of all the people,

⁸ The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

⁹ The prophet which prophesied of peace, when the word of the prophet should come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD has truly sent him.

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

¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus hath the LORD said: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the Gentiles within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹² And after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

¹³ Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus hath the LORD said: Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make yokes of iron instead.

¹⁴ For thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these Gentiles, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him; and I have even given him the beasts of the field.

¹⁵ Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD has not sent thee; and thou hast made this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁶ Therefore thus hath the LORD said; Behold, I will send thee away from upon the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die because thou hast spoken rebellion against the LORD.

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

29 ¶ Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

² (after Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)

³ by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,

⁴ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon,

⁵ Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them;

⁶ take wives and beget sons and daughters; give wives unto your sons and give husbands unto your daughters, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be multiplied there and not diminished.

⁷ And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

⁸ ¶ For thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said: Let not your prophets and your diviners that are in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye dream.

⁹ For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, said the LORD.

¹⁰ For thus hath the LORD said, That after seventy years are accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and quicken my good word upon you to cause you to return to this place.

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think concerning you, said the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you the end that you wait for.

¹² Then ye shall call upon me, and ye shall walk in my ways and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

¹³ And ye shall seek me, and find me, for ye shall seek me with all your heart.

¹⁴ And I will be found of you, said the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the Gentiles and from all the places where I have driven you, said the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵ ¶ But ye have said, The LORD has raised us up prophets in Babylon;

¹⁶ know that thus hath the LORD said of the king that sits upon the throne of David and of all the people that dwell in this city and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷ thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence and will make them like the evil figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

¹⁸ And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will give them over as a reproach to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a curse, and as an astonishment, and a hissing, and an affront, unto all the Gentiles where I have driven them:

¹⁹ because they did not hearken unto my words, said the LORD, which I sent unto them by my slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye did not hear, said the LORD.

²⁰ Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have cast out of Jerusalem unto Babylon:

²¹ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said regarding Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and regarding Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely unto you in my name; Behold, I deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;

²² and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

²³ because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken a word falsely in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know and am a witness, saith the LORD.

²⁴ ¶ Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel spoken, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶ The LORD has made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should preside in the house of the LORD over every man that is furious and prophesies, putting him in the prison and in the stocks.

²⁷ Now therefore why hast thou not reprehended Jeremiah of Anathoth, for prophesying falsely unto you?

²⁸ For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build houses and dwell in them and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

²⁹ And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰ Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

³¹ Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus hath the LORD said concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah has prophesied unto you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to trust upon a lie;

³² therefore thus hath the LORD said; Behold, I visit upon Shemaiah the Nehelamite and upon his generation: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold that good which I do unto my people, said the LORD, because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.