Old/New Testament

A Prophecy Against Zedekiah

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when ^(A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his military force, with ^(B)all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his ^[a]dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, ² “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^(C)Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, ^(D)I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^(E)he will burn it with fire. ^3 (F)And you will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be seized and given into his hand; and you will ^(G)see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you ^[b]face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’”’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says Yahweh concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. ⁵ You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will ^(H)burn spices for you; and ^(I)they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word,” declares Yahweh.

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke ^(J)all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem ⁷ when the military force of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, that is, ^(K)Lachish and ^(L)Azekah, for they alone remained as ^(M)fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

⁸ The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had ^(N)cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to ^(O)proclaim ^[c]release to them: ⁹ that each man should let his male slave go free and each man his female slave, a ^(P)Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that ^(Q)no one should enslave them, each being a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ And all the ^(R)officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should let his male slave go free and each man his female slave, so that no one should enslave them any longer; they obeyed and let them go free. ¹¹ But afterwards they turned around and returned to themselves the male slaves and the female slaves, whom they had let go as free, and subdued them to be male slaves and female slaves.

¹² Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, ¹³ “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I ^(S)cut a covenant with your fathers in the day that I ^(T)brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, saying, ¹⁴ “^(U)At the end of seven years each of you shall let his Hebrew brother go who ^[d]has been sold to you and has served you six years, and you shall let him go to be free from you; but your fathers ^(V)did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me. ¹⁵ Although recently you had turned and ^(W)done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming ^[e]release to his neighbor, and you had ^(X)cut a covenant before Me ^(Y)in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Yet you ^(Z)turned and ^(AA)profaned My name, and each man ^[f]returned to themselves his male slave and each man his female slave whom you had let go as free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be your male slaves and female slaves.”’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming ^[g]release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am ^(AB)proclaiming a ^[h]release to you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to the ^(AC)sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a ^(AD)terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And I will give the men who have ^(AE)trespassed against My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they cut before Me, when they ^(AF)cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the ^(AG)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 And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who ^(AH)seek their life. And their ^(AI)dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ^21 (AJ)And as for Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and into the hand of the military force of the king of Babylon which has ^(AK)gone away from you. ²² Behold, I am going to command,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will cause them to return to this city; and they will fight against it and ^(AL)capture it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ^(AM)desolation ^(AN)without inhabitant.’”

The Rechabites Listen to Jonadab

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of ^(AO)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(AP)Rechabites and speak to them and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the ^(AQ)chambers, and give them wine to drink.” ³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the ^(AR)man of God, which was beside the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(AS)the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I put before the ^[i]men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “^(AT)Drink wine!” ⁶ But they said, “We will not drink wine, for ^(AU)Jonadab the son of ^(AV)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall ^(AW)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. ⁷ And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but ^(AX)tents you shall inhabit all your days, that you may live ^(AY)many days in the land where you ^(AZ)sojourn.’ ⁸ So we have ^(BA)listened to the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to inhabit; and we ^(BB)do not have vineyard or field or seed. ¹⁰ We have only ^(BC)inhabited tents and have listened and have done according to all that ^(BD)Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it happened that when ^(BE)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us ^(BF)come to Jerusalem before the military force of the Chaldeans and before the military force of the Arameans.’ So we have inhabited Jerusalem.”

Yahweh Warns of Judah’s Discipline

¹² Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “^(BG)Will you not receive discipline by listening to My words?” declares Yahweh. ¹⁴ “The ^(BH)words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are established. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have listened to their father’s command. But I have spoken to you, ^(BI)rising up early and speaking; yet you have ^(BJ)not listened to Me. ¹⁵ Also I have sent to you all My ^(BK)slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, saying: ‘^(BL)Turn now every man from his evil way and make good your deeds, and ^(BM)do not walk after other gods to ^[j]serve them. Then you will ^(BN)inhabit the land which I have given to you and to your fathers; but you have not ^(BO)inclined your ear or listened to Me. ¹⁶ Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have ^(BP)established the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’ ¹⁷ Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^(BQ)I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the harmful evil that I have spoken against them because I ^(BR)spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have ^(BS)listened to the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands, and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab ^(BT)shall not have a man cut off from ^(BU)standing before Me ^[k]always.”’”

Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Temple

36 Now it happened that in the ^(BV)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, ² “Take a ^(BW)scroll of a book and write on it all the ^(BX)words which I have spoken to you concerning ^(BY)Israel and concerning Judah and concerning all the ^(BZ)nations, from the ^(CA)day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. ^3 (CB)Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I devise ^[l]to bring on them, in order that every man will ^(CC)turn from his evil way; then I will ^(CD)forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah called ^(CE)Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a ^[m](CF)scroll ^[n]at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh which He had spoken to him. ⁵ And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am ^[o](CG)confined; I cannot go into the house of Yahweh. ⁶ So you shall go and ^(CH)read from the scroll, which you have ^(CI)written ^[p]at my dictation, the words of Yahweh ^[q]in the hearing of the people in the house of Yahweh on a ^(CJ)fast day. And also you shall read them in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come from their cities. ^7 (CK)Perhaps their supplication will ^[r]come before Yahweh, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for ^(CL)great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has spoken against this people.” ⁸ So Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, ^(CM)reading from the book the words of Yahweh in the house of Yahweh.

⁹ Now it happened in the ^(CN)fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ^(CO)ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who ^(CP)came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem called for a ^(CQ)fast before Yahweh. ¹⁰ Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh in the ^(CR)chamber of ^(CS)Gemariah the son of Shaphan the ^(CT)scribe, in the upper court, at the ^(CU)entry of the New Gate of the house of Yahweh, in the hearing of all the people.

¹¹ Then ^(CV)Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the book. ¹² And he went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber. And behold, all the officials were sitting there—^(CW)Elishama the scribe, and ^(CX)Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and ^(CY)Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. ¹³ And Micaiah ^(CZ)declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴ Then all the officials sent ^(DA)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 hearing of the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah ^(DB)took the scroll in his hand and went to them. ¹⁵ And they said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch ^(DC)read it in their hearing. ¹⁶ Now it happened that when they heard all the words, they turned in ^(DD)dread one to another and said to Baruch, “We will surely ^(DE)declare all these words to the king.” ¹⁷ And they asked Baruch, saying, “Declare to us, please, ^(DF)how did you write all these words? Was it ^[s]at his dictation?” ¹⁸ Then Baruch said to them, “He ^(DG)dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink on the book.” ¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, ^(DH)hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”

The Scroll Is Burned

²⁰ So they went to the ^(DI)king in the court, but they had deposited the scroll in the chamber of ^(DJ)Elishama the scribe, and they declared all the words in the hearing of the king. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi ^(DK)read it in the hearing of the king as well as in the hearing of all the officials who stood beside the king. ²² Now the king was sitting in the ^(DL)winter house in the ^(DM)ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. ²³ And it happened that when Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and ^(DN)threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll ^[t]was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. ²⁴ Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were ^(DO)not in dread, nor did they ^(DP)tear their garments. ²⁵ Even though Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^(DQ)interceded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to ^(DR)take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but ^(DS)Yahweh hid them.

The Scroll Is Replaced

²⁷ Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after the king had ^(DT)burned the scroll and the words which ^(DU)Baruch had written at the dictation of Jeremiah, saying, ²⁸ “^(DV)Take again another scroll and write on it all the former words that were ^(DW)on the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned. ²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You have ^(DX)burned this scroll, saying, ‘^(DY)Why have you written on it ^[u]that the ^(DZ)king of Babylon will certainly come and make this land a ruin and will make man and beast to cease from it?’” ³⁰ Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, “He shall have ^(EA)no one to sit on the throne of David, and his ^(EB)dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. ³¹ And I will also ^(EC)punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity, and I will ^(ED)bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the evil that I have spoken about to them—but they did not listen.”’”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the scribe, and he ^(EE)wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many ^[v]similar words were added to them.

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

2 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to ^[a]what we have heard, lest ^(A)we drift away. ² For if the word ^(B)spoken through ^(C)angels proved ^[b]unalterable, and ^(D)every trespass and disobedience received a just ^[c](E)penalty, ^3 (F)how will we escape if we neglect so great a ^(G)salvation? That salvation, first ^(H)spoken by the Lord, was ^(I)confirmed to us by those who heard, ⁴ God also testifying with them, both by ^(J)signs and wonders and by ^(K)various ^[d]miracles and by ^[e](L)gifts of the Holy Spirit ^(M)according to His own will.

Jesus, the Author of Salvation

⁵ For He did not subject to angels ^[f](N)the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. ⁶ But one has testified ^(O)somewhere, saying,

For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now ^(S)we do not yet see all things subjected to him. ⁹ But we do see Him who was ^(T)made ^[i]for a little while lower than the angels—Jesus, ^(U)because of the suffering of death ^(V)crowned with glory and honor, so that ^(W)by the grace of God He might ^(X)taste death ^(Y)for everyone.

¹⁰ For ^(Z)it was fitting for Him, ^(AA)for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to ^(AB)perfect the ^[j](AC)author of their salvation through sufferings. ¹¹ For both He who ^(AD)sanctifies and those who ^(AE)are being sanctified are all ^(AF)of One; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them ^(AG)brothers, ¹² saying,

¹³ And again,

And again,

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in ^[k](AK)flesh and blood, ^(AL)He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that ^(AM)through death He might render powerless ^(AN)him who had the ^[l]power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might free those who through ^(AO)fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. ¹⁶ For assuredly He does not ^[m]give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, He ^[n]had ^(AP)to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might ^(AQ)become a merciful and faithful ^(AR)high priest in ^(AS)things pertaining to God, to ^(AT)make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For since He Himself was ^(AU)tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to help those who are tempted.