The Daily Audio Bible

Jeremiah and the Rechabites

35 ^(A)When Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, ² “Go to the members of the Rechabite clan and talk to them. Then bring them into one of the rooms in the Temple and offer them some wine.” ³ So I took the entire Rechabite clan—Jaazaniah (the son of another Jeremiah, who was Habazziniah's son) and all his brothers and sons— ⁴ and brought them to the Temple. I took them into the room of the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah. This room was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, an important official in the Temple, and near the rooms of the other officials. ⁵ Then I placed cups and bowls full of wine before the Rechabites, and I said to them, “Have some wine.”

⁶ But they answered, “We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab told us that neither we nor our descendants were ever to drink any wine. ⁷ He also told us not to build houses or farm the land and not to plant vineyards or buy them. He commanded us always to live in tents, so that we might remain in this land where we live like strangers. ⁸ We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We ourselves never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters. ^9-10 We do not build houses for homes—we live in tents—and we own no vineyards, fields, or grain. We have fully obeyed everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹ But when King Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, we decided to come to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian and Syrian armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem.”

^12-13 Then the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, told me to go and say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “I, the Lord, ask you why you refuse to listen to me and to obey my instructions. ¹⁴ Jonadab's descendants have obeyed his command not to drink wine, and to this very day none of them drink any. But I have kept on speaking to you, and you have not obeyed me. ¹⁵ I have continued to send you all my servants the prophets, and they have told you to give up your evil ways and to do what is right. They warned you not to worship and serve other gods, so that you could go on living in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or pay any attention to me. ¹⁶ Jonadab's descendants have obeyed the command that their ancestor gave them, but you people have not obeyed me. ¹⁷ So now, I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will bring on you people of Judah and of Jerusalem all the destruction that I promised. I will do this because you would not listen when I spoke to you, and you would not answer when I called you.”

¹⁸ Then I told the Rechabite clan that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, “You have obeyed the command that your ancestor Jonadab gave you; you have followed all his instructions, and you have done everything he commanded you. ¹⁹ So I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, promise that Jonadab son of Rechab will always have a male descendant to serve me.”

Baruch Reads the Scroll in the Temple

36 ^(B)In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, ² “Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present. ³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”

⁴ So I called Baruch son of Neriah and dictated to him everything that the Lord had said to me. And Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵ Then I gave Baruch the following instructions: “I am no longer allowed to go into the Temple. ⁶ But I want you to go there the next time the people are fasting. You are to read the scroll aloud, so that they will hear everything that the Lord has said to me and that I have dictated to you. Do this where everyone can hear you, including the people of Judah who have come in from their towns. ⁷ Perhaps they will pray to the Lord and turn from their evil ways, because the Lord has threatened this people with his terrible anger and fury.” ⁸ So Baruch read the Lord's words in the Temple exactly as I had told him to do.

⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the people fasted to gain the Lord's favor. The fast was kept by all who lived in Jerusalem and by all who came there from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰ Then, while all the people were listening, Baruch read from the scroll everything that I had said. He did this in the Temple, from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the court secretary. His room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple.

The Scroll Is Read to the Officials

¹¹ Micaiah, the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll what the Lord had said. ¹² Then he went to the royal palace, to the room of the court secretary, where all the officials were in session. Elishama, the court secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there. ¹³ Micaiah told them everything that he had heard Baruch read to the people. ¹⁴ Then the officials sent Jehudi (the son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi) to tell Baruch to bring the scroll that he had read to the people. Baruch brought them the scroll. ¹⁵ “Sit down,” they said, “and read the scroll to us.” So Baruch did. ¹⁶ After he had read it, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, “We must report this to the king.” ¹⁷ Then they asked him, “Tell us, now, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”

¹⁸ Baruch answered, “Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me, and I wrote it down in ink on this scroll.”

¹⁹ Then they told him, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are.”

The King Burns the Scroll

²⁰ The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the court secretary, and went to the king's court, where they reported everything to the king. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took it from the room of Elishama and read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him. ²² It was winter and the king was sitting in his winter palace in front of the fire. ²³ As soon as Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king cut them off with a small knife and threw them into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was burned up. ²⁴ But neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all this was afraid or showed any sign of sorrow. ²⁵ Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he paid no attention to them. ²⁶ Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the Lord had hidden us.

Jeremiah Writes Another Scroll

²⁷ After King Jehoiakim had burned the scroll that I had dictated to Baruch, the Lord told me ²⁸ to take another scroll and write on it everything that had been on the first one. ²⁹ The Lord told me to say to the king, “You have burned the scroll, and you have asked Jeremiah why he wrote that the king of Babylonia would come and destroy this land and kill its people and its animals. ³⁰ So now, I, the Lord, say to you, King Jehoiakim, that no descendant of yours will ever rule over David's kingdom. Your corpse will be thrown out where it will be exposed to the sun during the day and to the frost at night. ³¹ I will punish you, your descendants, and your officials because of the sins all of you commit. Neither you nor the people of Jerusalem and of Judah have paid any attention to my warnings, and so I will bring on all of you the disaster that I have threatened.”

³² Then I took another scroll and gave it to my secretary Baruch, and he wrote down everything that I dictated. He wrote everything that had been on the first scroll and similar messages that I dictated to him.

Responsibilities toward Believers

5 Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers, ² the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, with all purity.

³ Show respect for widows who really are all alone. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first to carry out their religious duties toward their own family and in this way repay their parents and grandparents, because that is what pleases God. ^5 (A)A widow who is all alone, with no one to take care of her, has placed her hope in God and continues to pray and ask him for his help night and day. ⁶ But a widow who gives herself to pleasure has already died, even though she lives. ⁷ Give them these instructions, so that no one will find fault with them. ⁸ But if any do not take care of their relatives, especially the members of their own family, they have denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever.

⁹ Do not add any widow to the list of widows unless she is over sixty years of age. In addition, she must have been married only once^{[a] 10} and have a reputation for good deeds: a woman who brought up her children well, received strangers in her home, performed humble duties for other Christians, helped people in trouble, and devoted herself to doing good.

¹¹ But do not include younger widows in the list; because when their desires make them want to marry, they turn away from Christ, ¹² and so become guilty of breaking their earlier promise to him. ¹³ They also learn to waste their time in going around from house to house; but even worse, they learn to be gossips and busybodies, talking of things they should not. ¹⁴ So I would prefer that the younger widows get married, have children, and take care of their homes, so as to give our enemies no chance of speaking evil of us. ¹⁵ For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan. ¹⁶ But if any Christian woman has widows in her family, she must take care of them and not put the burden on the church, so that it may take care of the widows who are all alone.

¹⁷ The elders who do good work as leaders should be considered worthy of receiving double pay, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. ^18 (B)For the scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh grain” and “Workers should be given their pay.” ^19 (C)Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or more witnesses. ²⁰ Rebuke publicly all those who commit sins, so that the rest may be afraid.

²¹ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the holy angels I solemnly call upon you to obey these instructions without showing any prejudice or favor to anyone in anything you do. ²² Be in no hurry to lay hands on people to dedicate them to the Lord's service. Take no part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

²³ Do not drink water only, but take a little wine to help your digestion, since you are sick so often.

²⁴ The sins of some people are plain to see, and their sins go ahead of them to judgment; but the sins of others are seen only later. ²⁵ In the same way good deeds are plainly seen, and even those that are not so plain cannot be hidden.

God's Promise to David

²⁵ Finally hearing good news from a distant land is like a drink of cold water when you are dry and thirsty.

²⁶ A good person who gives in to someone who is evil reminds you of a polluted spring or a poisoned well.

²⁷ Too much honey is bad for you, and so is trying to win too much praise.^[a]