Chronological

35 ¶ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

² Go unto the house of the Rechabites and speak with 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 Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;

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 princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the vessels:

⁵ and I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said unto them, Drink wine.

⁶ But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:

⁷ neither shall ye build a house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye are strangers.

⁸ Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab our father, the son of Rechab, 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: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:

¹⁰ But we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

¹¹ But it came to pass, nevertheless, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem from before the army of the Chaldeans and from before of the army of the Syrians: and so we remain in Jerusalem.

¹² ¶ Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

¹³ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye never receive chastisement hearkening to my words? said the LORD.

¹⁴ The word of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, was not moved; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye did not hearken unto me.

¹⁵ I have sent also unto you all my slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Turn ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and ye shall live in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.

¹⁶ Certainly the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have not moved the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people has not hearkened unto me:

¹⁷ therefore thus hath the LORD God of the hosts, the God of Israel said; Behold, I bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I spoke unto them, but they did not hear; and I called unto them, but they did not answer.

¹⁸ And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel said; Because ye listened to the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his commandments and have done according unto all that he has commanded you:

¹⁹ therefore thus hath the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel said; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before me for ever.

36 ¶ And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² Take thee a roll of a book and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the Gentiles, from the day I began to speak unto thee, from the days of Josiah, unto today.

³ If peradventure the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may turn each one from his evil way; and I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.

⁵ And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:

⁶ therefore go thou, and read from the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’s house upon the day of fasting: and also in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. Thou shalt read them

⁷ if peradventure their prayer will fall into the presence of the LORD, and they shall turn each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.

⁸ And 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 LORD’s house.

⁹ ¶ And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people of Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

¹⁰ Then Baruch read in 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 LORD’s house, in the ears of all the people.

¹¹ When Michaiah 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 into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and, behold, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

¹³ Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.

¹⁴ Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came unto them.

¹⁵ And they said unto him, Sit down now and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

¹⁶ Now it came to pass when they had heard all the words, each one turned to his companion in fear, and they said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

¹⁷ And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?

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

¹⁹ Then the princes said unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.

²⁰ ¶ And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll 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 roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read in it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.

²² Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

²³ And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

²⁴ Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his slaves that heard all these words.

²⁵ Nevertheless when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah made intercession to the king that he not burn the roll; he would not hear them.

²⁶ But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them.

²⁷ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king burned the roll, the words which Baruch had written at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying:

²⁸ Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

²⁹ And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus hath the LORD said: Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?

³⁰ Therefore thus hath the LORD said unto Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit upon the throne of David; and his body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost.

³¹ And I will visit upon him and upon his seed and upon his slaves, their iniquity; and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they did not hearken.

³² Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein 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 besides upon them many like words.

37 ¶ And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

² But neither he nor his slaves nor the people of the land hearkened unto the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

³ And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.

⁴ (Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison.

⁵ And as Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.)

⁶ Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

⁷ Thus hath the LORD, the God of Israel said; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which had come forth to help you, has returned to Egypt into their own land.

⁸ And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city and take it and burn it with fire.

⁹ Thus hath the LORD said; Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans have surely departed from us; for they shall not depart.

¹⁰ For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up each man from his tent and burn this city with fire.

¹¹ ¶ And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,

¹² then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to separate himself there in the midst of the people.

¹³ And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

¹⁴ Then said Jeremiah It is false; I do not fall away to the Chaldeans. But he did not hearken to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.

¹⁵ Therefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah and smote him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.

¹⁶ When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon and into the cabins, 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: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

¹⁸ Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, In what have I sinned against thee or against thy slaves or against this people that ye have put me in prison?

¹⁹ Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land?

²⁰ Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee that thou cause me not 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 guard and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.